So the day arrived for day 1 of the cycling challenge. Off to Wrexham for the train,  Charlene (yes, my bike has a name) had never been on a train before so she was really excited.

She waits patiently in the waiting room, only me and a discarded meal, coke bottle and used nappy for company !!!!  But the heating was on in there so it was toasty.

Trains are great but only if you are completely free of any clutter like, rucksacks, bags, prams or in my case a bike.

The view was great on the train,  castles and the sea,  I love Wales,  it has loads of castles,  some are made of sand & some are really big and made of stone !

We had a bed each in our luxury penthouse suite at the Auckland Arms in Menai,  I strongly recommend it for any young farmer out on a real ale driven hooly of a night because the 30 odd just below my room sounded like they were having a fantastic night !!!

Went out for a spin before an early night to check out the local area,  it is lovely around Menai and the people are so nice,  you really feel the friendliness of the Welsh folk.  Every says Hello and smiles.  Maybe it was my lycra and bright yellow cycle shoes that did it,  guess who forgot to take a change of footwear and had to hobble down to the local chippy for my pre ride feed !!!

If you don't have time to read and look at the rest of my ramblings I totally understand so here is the spoiler for those wanting to cut to the chase.......

I DID IT !!!   157.5 miles done and sorted,  Day 1 of 4 in the bag.

One person who I must thank for this is IAN LAND.  He travelled up from Chirk 70 miles away at 4:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning to support me by coming along for the Anglesey loop of 90 miles !!!!!!  You are a superstar and I thank you, the miles clicked by and were a pleasure.

The Anglesey loop was stunningly beautiful, I knew it would be but I hadn't realised how stunning this little island is.  Some of the houses could have been from Malibu rather than little old Wales.

Cable bay...stunning.

Back to the Menai Bridge, stage one completed.  Sadly time for Ian (the sane one) to get back in his car.

Stopped for a rest and snapped a few pics...

I had to stop here just between Conwy and Llangollen, mostly because I started to feel dizzy,  I don't know whether it was down to exhaustion or the amount of sugary drinks and things I had gone through in the last couple of hours.

Familiar places spurred me on, the famous viaduct of Froncysyllte.

So job done,  first of 4 big rides done for the charity challenge...

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