Biking from Cardiff airport

stokell said:

I'll be biking in from Canada to Wales for a bike tour, probably this autumn, but perhaps sooner. The Tourist Information Centre in Cardiff give this info for biking from the airport:
From the airport, take the A4226, then the A4050, then A4231, A4055, A4160 into Cardiff. Cardiff will be signposted along the way and is about a 14 mile journey.

Anyone with a better route? I'm always a bit queasy about travelling on A highways close to airports. Local knowledge please!

Cardiff Airport is quite a way out of town, and the transport links are notoriously rubbish. There will be a train station opening nearby pretty soon, but I don't know if they'll let you take your bike on board.

If you don't fancy the directions given, than your options are:
1. Follow the main road to the first r/bout and then head down into Barry, from there head through Sully and Cosmeston into Penarth, then maybe take the Watertaxi into Cardiff, or ride down Penarth Rd into the centre of Cardiff. This is a pretty urban route, so the traffic isn't all that light, but you'll get plenty of good views of the Bristol Channel and Cardiff Bay.
2. Head north towards the village of Penmark, then through Llancarfan, Dyffryn, St Lythams, turn right at the main road towards Wenvoe, then left at the 1st r/bout and you'll come into Cardiff via the Ely suburb. This way has some steep little climbs but is all on country lanes until you get into Cardiff.

Having said all that, Cardiff is only a little airport, so the A-Roads nearby are not of the kind of scale you may be used to at big airports. They're single carriageway, 60mph limits and the traffic isn't all that heavy. One of our local road races runs past the airport without any difficulties.

Whereabouts are you staying, and where do you plan to head to on your tour?

rob of the og said:

Cardiff Airport is quite a way out of town, and the transport links are notoriously rubbish. There will be a train station opening nearby pretty soon, but I don't know if they'll let you take your bike on board.

Which railway is that?

rob of the og said:

If you don't fancy the directions given, than your options are:
1. Follow the main road to the first r/bout and then head down into Barry, from there head through Sully and Cosmeston into Penarth, then maybe take the Watertaxi into Cardiff, or ride down Penarth Rd into the centre of Cardiff. This is a pretty urban route, so the traffic isn't all that light, but you'll get plenty of good views of the Bristol Channel and Cardiff Bay.
2. Head north towards the village of Penmark, then through Llancarfan, Dyffryn, St Lythams, turn right at the main road towards Wenvoe, then left at the 1st r/bout and you'll come into Cardiff via the Ely suburb. This way has some steep little climbs but is all on country lanes until you get into Cardiff.

I now have the Sustrans Celtic Trail map and it shows an off road route starting at the Porthkerry Country Park ( I think Canadians call them a Conservation Area) and running at times parallel to the B4267 and across the Cardiff Barrage into downtown. Does that trail exist?

rob of the og said:

Having said all that, Cardiff is only a little airport, so the A-Roads nearby are not of the kind of scale you may be used to at big airports. They're single carriageway, 60mph limits and the traffic isn't all that heavy. One of our local road races runs past the airport without any difficulties.

60 mph is 100 kph if I remember the conversion correctly. I really don't like getting blown around by fast moving lorries. I also think it shortens your life expectancy.

rob of the og said:

Whereabouts are you staying, and where do you plan to head to on your tour?

I'll probably B&B overnight in Cardiff because I'll be groggy from the 'red eye' overnight flight. After that I've got a Hennessy camping hammock and was hoping to do a bit of stealth camping. I'll be coming over in October and I'm already prepared for the weather.

It warmed up to -8 on Saturday night so I camped out in the back yard of our house. It was plenty warm, so Wales in October should be okay.

I was going to follow the Celtic Trail to Chepstow, then across the channel bridge to England. There is a CAMRA beer festival in Swindon in mid-October. I thought I'd do that before peddling to the airport.

stokell said:

Which railway is that?

It's the Vale of Glamorgan line, but it's still under reconstruction at the moment, and I'm not sure when it will be opened.

stokell said:

I now have the Sustrans Celtic Trail map and it shows an off road route starting at the Porthkerry Country Park ( I think Canadians call them a Conservation Area) and running at times parallel to the B4267 and across the Cardiff Barrage into downtown. Does that trail exist?

I've never ridden it. I can see the bits through Porthkerry on my local maps and that looks like a good way of getting away from the immediate airport area. I'd check about the bit over the Barrage as I know they're opening that up stage-by-stage at the moment and last time I tried you couldn't ride the whole way over - may well have changed by October, but at any rate there's the Watertaxi which you can catch from the Penarth end of the Barrage that takes you over to Mermaid Quay, which is where the Taff Trail cycle route starts (that's a (mainly) off-road route which goes up from Cardiff to the Brecon Beacons mountain range)

stokell said:

60 mph is 100 kph if I remember the conversion correctly. I really don't like getting blown around by fast moving lorries. I also think it shortens your life expectancy.

Yup, 100kph.

stokell said:

I'll probably B&B overnight in Cardiff because I'll be groggy from the 'red eye' overnight flight. After that I've got a Hennessy camping hammock and was hoping to do a bit of stealth camping. I'll be coming over in October and I'm already prepared for the weather.

It warmed up to -8 on Saturday night so I camped out in the back yard of our house. It was plenty warm, so Wales in October should be okay.

lol, don't worry about the temperature, just bring plenty of waterproofs. It's mild all year round here but it rains loads! October can be warmer than July sometimes, but it's usually really windy.

stokell said:

I was going to follow the Celtic Trail to Chepstow, then across the channel bridge to England. There is a CAMRA beer festival in Swindon in mid-October. I thought I'd do that before peddling to the airport.

Excellent - the route over the bridge is amazing, you get blown around a bit in the wind up there but it's great fun. And from my student days I can definitely recomend anything that CAMRA organise!