Dragon Loop - Scenic Driving Road Circuit in Wales

[Wreford]

tropicalpalmtree said:

Would anyone like me to put up directions for the route with pictures of junctions where you need to turn etc? Or is the map okay as it is?

I found it quite easy to follow just having your map 👍

[TypeR]

Many thanks for putting this route up. I’m taking my daughter on a Welsh road trip next week and will join the Route in Welshpool and take an anti clockwise direction. 1st overnight stop is Bangor, and then I’m thinking about stopping again around Aberystwyth.
Can anyone recommend a decent place to stay around that area?
Cheers.

[scottos]

I did a trip over the weekend and used this as a basis, so thank you for sharing! Really enjoyed it once I'd got my head around the seemingly random speed limits!

[blueg33]

Some pics from my Dragon Loop ish trip in October

[InlineSix]

Hello there,

I am keen to return to North Wales after a short break last year, and drive this route in my newly acquired BMW Z4 but find the idea of following the map intimidating. I have an old Nokia phone, an old computer and paper maps; could someone please advise me?

Is it possible to buy a basic/used sat nav for the dash and put the route/directions into on the computer? If so, what recommendations /suggestions please?

Thanks very much.

[Krikkit]

A Garmin or similar would let you use route plotting in advance.

Or go old school and do yourself a little paper list of turns etc, they're not too complex

[ARHarh]

Why not just buy a cheap smartphone.

like this maybe?

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/2654887?clickSR=sl...

[TypeR]

Many thanks again for putting up the Route.
Managed a 600 mile round trip in beautiful weather.
Will be going again soon, this time on the bike.

[url]
|https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/33769/202504074682302[/url]

[InlineSix]

Krikkit said:

A Garmin or similar would let you use route plotting in advance.

Or go old school and do yourself a little paper list of turns etc, they're not too complex

Thanks for your response Krikkit. I have been looking at new Garmin or Tomtom for £100, used perhaps £50 on eBay.
The other option is a phone but which is easier for a luddite like me to load routes and operate?

I don't want my wife to have to read a list; too stressful for her and when she misses one, too stressful for me.

[InlineSix]

ARHarh said:

Why not just buy a cheap smartphone.

Thanks ARHah

[soad]

Wouldn’t bother with a basic sat nav - screen is far too small (and really low resolution), plus battery hardly lasts long (needs to be plugged in really). Nobody wants them either.

Made a mistake buying one from Amazon (for £49.99) five years ago, some kind of Garmin iirc.
Next week was using Waze - happy days! Much better than the standard iPhone Maps app.

Small notepad (with a soft cover - makes it easy to flip pages), or print out a larger sheet. Either should live comfortably near the dashboard?

[ARHarh]

To be fair all (well most) of the roads on this route are larger roads for the area and well signposted, so a list of towns / villages and road numbers to other towns will get you along the route fine.

[InlineSix]

Thank you very much, soad and ARHarh, that is very useful.
I will look at Waze (I think Tom tom app is free at the moment as well) so will find one of my son's old phones. I will make a list of roads as well.


Actually, come to think of it, do I need to sign up to a mobile network to use navigation or not?
If so, I guess sat nav would be necessary.

Edited by InlineSix on Tuesday 8th April 18:53

[ARHarh]

You will need a mobile network for it to work. With google maps you can download the maps you need, but I don't think voice works without a data connection ( this used to be the case but not sure now).

You can just get a pay as go sim put £10 and that will more than cover you I'm sure.

Mobile coverage can be patchy out in the Welsh hills, but it is OK for sat nav stuff on the phone.

[InlineSix]

Thanks once again ARHarh, that is useful.

I shall load the apps onto an old phone and see what works for me when driving over Dartmoor.

I have also picked up last year's Garmin DriveSmart 55 boxed as new with 1280 x 720 pixel screen for £36 to evaluate ; if it's no good I can donate it to charity and will not have lost too much.

I will return here with some photos after our roadtrip. Drive up from Devon Sunday 27th April, do half of loop, stay in quiet cottage in North, complete loop Monday and back home. Hope it doesn't rain too much.

Edited by InlineSix on Wednesday 9th April 19:29

[InlineSix]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH TROPICALPALMTREE and all other contributors. My wife and I had an excellent time driving this whole loop in two days (well I had more fun than she did) last Sunday /Monday. An experience I will never forget.

I would have enjoyed it in our 134 hp Subaru Legacy or our E39 525i, but was fortunate to have a manual BMW Z4 3.0, so two days of warm sunshine and the roof down made the trip so much more memorable.

I had to drive 4 hours to get to Crossgates (and 4 back home again the following day) , but it was worth it to enjoy stunning scenery, incredible, smooth, challenging roads and hardly any traffic. We stayed in North Anglesey which was peaceful but difficult to find a meal Sunday evening, and probably added an unnecessary two hours to the route. Someone recommended Capel Curig to Pen Y Pass, which we were pleased to drive twice and have three low flying fighter jets shock us.

I didn't trouble to 60mph cameras but may well have added a few points to my clean licence unable to keep below the limit in the numerous 20mph zones

After a few days in Snowdonia with our dogs last Summer we said this would be our last visit to God's own country for a few years, but we may return sooner......

Sorry but I don't seem to be able to add images.

Edited by InlineSix on Thursday 1st May 20:03

[illmonkey]

I am heading to a rally in Bala soon and figured if I'm driving into Wales, I may as well do another day or 2 and explore. The Dragon loop looks great, can anyone confirm if the adjustments mentioned throughout the topic have been made to OP's 1st link? This as an example

silentbrown said:

A490 NW from Welshpool is a much nicer road than the A483.

Has anyone made a route on google Maps, as the link doesn't give steps on the drive, just reference points

Probably take the Z4 as the weather is fit to be nice, so can get the top down


Also, that link has been passed about more than Bonny blue! 150k views! well done

[ARHarh]

I can confirm the A490 from Welshpool out to Bala is included on the map linked at the start of the thread and it is a much nicer road.

[illmonkey]

Thanks!

I did plan the route today and spotted it, but nice to have confirmation it's the rifght bit.

[NomadicTurbo]

Is it possible to export the Google Maps route as a gpx file into a TomTom?

I want to force the route on a Satnav, that won't try and re-route me based on live traffic, like Google does. I want to have Waze open on my phone at the same time