Best roads in Wales? (and places to stay)

[951TSE]

Adrien2207 said:

Thanks all for the suggestions!

@Claude455 - No worries at all!

FYI below is our updated Day 1

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/The+Bear+Hotel,+Hi...

Re. your routes - I would maybe...:
- add a run around the reservoirs of Elan Valley
- On the way back include the B4520 / B4519 south of Builth Wells

Let me know your feedback once you've done it!

The Royal Ship Hotel is okay, I've not stayed there but the food is good, landlord seems to know his stuff but the car park is really tiny so unless they can reserve spaces for you the only long term parking is a short walk down by the river in a public car park.

Street view of the entrance to the car park here: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.7435685,-3.8858885...

[Adrien2207]

Thanks. That is good to know as we will show up with 6 cars!

[951TSE]

if you don't mind staying a bit further south. This place http://www.plasdolguog.co.uk/ is nice and has room to park. Once again though only know it for the food and conference facilities no idea what the rooms are like.

[RJG46]

If worried about parking Knighton really wouldn't be a problem.

[Trefy5]

RJG46 said:

If worried about parking Knighton really wouldn't be a problem.

Knighton Hotel has been closed a few months (as has The Radnorshire in Presteigne)
Parking in Knighton is plentiful.
loads of good quality B&Bs in the area inc. hostelries like The Horse & Jockey, The George & Dragon and, now just for accommodation, The Red Lion.

[Adrien2207]

Thanks all for the recommendations!

[Claude455]

If everything goes to plan I'll be taking in this route on Friday:

https://goo.gl/maps/wxsQuKGJnXs

If I recognise some of the footage I think I might stumble across some of the roads Chris Harris drove the new Fiesta ST and yellow Aventador on.

Saturday and maybe Sunday too are set aside for just driving around and seeing what decent roads I can stumble upon, as well as taking in some of my favourites..

Is anyone else heading to Wales this weekend?

[Kewy]

Claude455 said:

If everything goes to plan I'll be taking in this route on Friday:

https://goo.gl/maps/wxsQuKGJnXs

If I recognise some of the footage I think I might stumble across some of the roads Chris Harris drove the new Fiesta ST and yellow Aventador on.

Saturday and maybe Sunday too are set aside for just driving around and seeing what decent roads I can stumble upon, as well as taking in some of my favourites..

Is anyone else heading to Wales this weekend?

Nice! Enjoy. The B4560 you're driving is often used by Henry Catchpole for some of the Carfection stuff.

Can be seen in this video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cI3cG-XXBU

[ddwilson7725]

The A470 - south. If you're going to do just one road in Wales, it really ought to be the A470, the main artery which runs all the way from Cardiff to Conwy, 186 miles, coast to coast.

[C70R]

I'm heading off with a few friends in a couple of weeks, and doing roughly this trip, minus the Pembrokeshire section.
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/the-great-outdoor...

I'm skipping the SW section because I know it well, and I don't rate the roads there particularly highly.

We're heading from London, and breaking it up into 3 days, with roughly 150 miles a day of fun driving.
Day 1: Chepstow-Aberystwyth
Day 2: Aberystwyth-Anglesey
Day 3: Anglesey-Chester

I suspect we're going to cover many of the usual suspects by reading that article, but always keen for a bit of insight.

In spite of growing up in Wales, I've never driven further north than the Beacons, so you could say I'm pretty excited.

My routes are...
Day 1: https://goo.gl/maps/qCDvkwy4U8m
Day 2: https://goo.gl/maps/n5GFUJGUe3n
Day 3: https://goo.gl/maps/JieakDimhB52

Edited by C70R on Wednesday 17th April 14:01

[Allyc85]

What cars are you taking?

On day one I'd go over the Abergwesyn Pass to Tragaron, and miss out the 1st part of the A482, which isn't an amazing road. That will give you a bit of time to go back and forth on the road from Devils Bridge towards Rhyader.

Day 2, take the B4391 from near Bala towards Ffestiniog, instead of the A4212.

Day 3 and I'm not sure if you know, but the Evo Triangle now has average speed cameras.

[C70R]

Allyc85 said:

What cars are you taking?

On day one I'd go over the Abergwesyn Pass to Tragaron, and miss out the 1st part of the A482, which isn't an amazing road. That will give you a bit of time to go back and forth on the road from Devils Bridge towards Rhyader.

Day 2, take the B4391 from near Bala towards Ffestiniog, instead of the A4212.

Day 3 and I'm not sure if you know, but the Evo Triangle now has average speed cameras.

Thank you.

The group are a TVR, my Mini and a FTO V6. Diverse.

[NathW]

Thanks all for the tips on this thread!!!

I did a day trip loop from Hay-on-Wye yesterday and it was fantastic. It was a fairly full day with over 300 miles covered. My favourite roads were:

B4520 Brecon to Builth Wells (this stretch was so good I did it twice again this morning before heading home!)
B4518 Llanidloes to Machynlleth
A4085 Garreg to Waunfawr
A483 Newtown to Crossgates

Looking forward to trying some of the other options in the region soon

Here's my route:

https://goo.gl/maps/c5uhE2AFnA8Y9m6D8

[C70R]

Well, we had a great trip - and, as expected, the best roads were those we found by exploring off our routes.

The B4407 (between the A5 and B4391 - the latter being a good drive in its own right) is going to go down as one of my favourite roads. Narrow, bumpy, twisty, unsighted in parts - but beautifully surfaced, exceptionally quiet and really challenging.

I must say that we were a bit underwhelmed by the Evo Triangle, after so much hype. We'd probably driven half a dozen better roads by the time we got there.

The Black Mountain Road was also a peach, but it was sadly ruined by a morning of torrential rain by the time we reached it.