Green Lanes and Welsh Hills β a Wet Winter Loop
174 kmthe best part of a wet day on the road
An early, grey, properly wet Saturday in February β the kind most sensible people spend indoors β and the little Honda CRF300L out the door at first light for a mixed loop of mid-Wales: tarmac lanes and a green-lane byway, about 108 miles of it, out one way and home another. The lens has rain on it half the day (no apologies β that's winter on the borders), but the roads were empty and the hills did their thing. No GPS on this one, so the map below is reconstructed from the footage. Tap a thumbnail to ride along.
A wet Saturday, February 2023
Shropshire β mid-Wales hills + byways β home
Out before eight, down through the Shropshire border villages and over into Wales (the ARAF painted on the tarmac is your first clue you've crossed). The morning's highlight came early: a green-lane byway off the tarmac β wet, rutted, exactly what a CRF300L is built for β before dropping back onto the lanes and a long run through the hills. Even soaked and out of season the Welsh roads weren't empty of bikes: a good few oncoming riders nodding through the drizzle, and a handful of overtakes where the road opened up.
Through a string of stone-and-colour Welsh villages, past hill farms and bare-tree valleys, and the long way home as the light started to go. Not a postcard day β a real one. The kind the wee Honda shrugs off and asks for more of.
No GPS logged this one, so the exact roads (and the off-road spur) are inferred from what's on camera β if you know these lanes and I've drawn it wrong, tell me and I'll fix the line.
Photos
Shorts
Every clip
The raw mini-montages β one for roughly every ten minutes of the ride.