We made it back to Douglas at 1330 and drove right up to the check in booth. There were about 10 other bikes there for the fast ferry (3 hours) to Liverpool. There is no passport control or customs. Again you ride on and the staff secure the bikes. The crossing was a bit rough for the first hour, but calmed somewhat after the captain slowed the vessels down to 36 km/h and shifted course out of bad weather. The ship unloads right downtown into traffic. This had just started flowing, when it started pouring again. The rain gear is holding up well luckily.
We had a short 60 miles to go to Llandudno. The sun is shining, but as we have found in Wales if you wait 5 minutes the weather will change to pouring rain.
We headed south 20 miles to the village of Betws-y- Coed, which is the gateway to the Snowdonia National Park. We stopped in the visitor’s center for a map and some route suggestions.
Today we had sun, 5 degrees, rain, 12 degrees, poring rain, and hail almost in a continuous cycle!
We did have a sunny break for a spot of tea with a view of the Castle in Caernarfon.
We booked it north around most of the urban sprawl to get to the Lake District of England.
On the way we took a side trip over the Horseshoe pass and back and then stopped at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. This is a navigable waterway that directs the Llangollen Canal 136 ft over the River Dee. It was built in 1805 and is 1007 ft long, 11 ft wide, and 5,25 ft deep.
Here we toured the south Lake District on the way to the B&B. This included the ferry across the lake to Windermere.
We then had some time for some tramping and a brew at the village pub.
The next day we did almost 350 km XXX route to try to get in all the high passes.
This includes the famous Hardknott Pass, which rises 400 m on a single lane of switchbacks with a 30 % grade and then repeats this on the down side at 25 %.
