The start, Saturday 15 June

Birmingham to Barmouth by train

Outside Tyr Graig Castle Hotel

The day dawned to a cloudy sky with the prospect of rain, and so it happened on our way to New Street Station, with a short but very sharp shower that wet us through. We stocked up with sandwiches for the journey and took the lift down to our platform where, after a short delay our train arrived, all of two coaches with a strict limit of no more than two bicycles, that was me, Tom and another chap who was hoping to get to Machynlleth and then cycle to Dolgellau and climb Cadair Idris. We all piled on before anyone could tell us not to.

The train should have had four coaches but for some obscure reason they had only been able to find two. At Machynlleth those four coaches should have divided, two going south to Aberystwyth and the others going north to LLanelli. In the event our two were the ones intended for the south, so we had to alight at Machynlleth and wait for two other coaches from some remote siding eventually arriving for the northern stretch.

Unfortunately, already waiting on the platform were three other cyclists. The vigilant and assertive station manager was definitely not going to allow five bicycles onto our short train, but Tom and I were the only ones with bicycle reservations, so we apologised and left the other three on the platform waiting for the next train to Harlech.

Barmouth duly hove into view and we cycled up the hill to our hotel. Tyr Graig Castle was built by a Victorian manufacturer of sporting guns at the whim of his wife who liked the view from the point where they had stopped for a picnic. Or, at least, that was the story printed on the place mats in the restaurant.

We cleaned up and went for a damp walk down to the beach. Thankfully the weather gods decided that enough was enough and didn’t really trouble us again until the final day riding into Yarmouth. We returned for the first of many excellent evening meals and we were joined by my brother and sister-in-law who had taken part in a 10km run earlier in the day. We ate well during the tour and possibly even put on weight, though the prevailing logic was the one had to “feed the machine” if one was going to finish in one piece.

At this point Tom discovered that one of his hearing aids was missing, possibly having dropped out during our struggle getting bicycles on and off trains. This was a problem as he was used to having his satnav deliver audible route information through his hearing aids. Clearly frustrated by not having realised this earlier in the day we wondered how on earth its absence had gone undiscovered.

Tomorrow the ride would begin.