Riding this Perm is currently NOT PERMITTED as it crosses into Wales'.
The Llanfair 400 might be a great bike ride but if you're not ready to go quite that far, you can undertake it as a either as Poynton to Holyhead 200 or Holyhead to Poynton200. Or if you want a Perm to take you to (or from) the Irish Ferry, then this is the one for you.
Poynton-Holyhead (westbound)
The Poynton ride starts with an easy crossing of Cheshire, slightly undulating where it crosses the mid-cheshire ridge at Delamere Forest, but from there it's all down hill to Mickle Trafford. The Cheshire Greenway takes you through the centre of Chester on a traffic-free but well engineered cycle path.
After a first cafe stop in Shotton, you encounter the main climb of the day, out from Flint up to Halkyn Mountain. Despite the name, this 'mountain' is only 263m high from where there are great views of Liverpool and the Wirral.
Descend to St Asaph and ride past the spectacular 'Marble Church' then join the coastal path beyond Abergele for a traffic-free ride to Colwyn Bay.
The next part of the ride is perhaps the most scenic, with a ride past the castle in Conwy, then a short climb over Sychnant Pass to Penmaenmawr, and onto Sustrans path 5, which avoids the busy A55 Expressway using old packhorse roads and modern cyclists' bridges.
Cross the Mennai Straits on the Britannia Bridge, then it's an easy ride over Anglesey, with the Aluminium Works chimney getting tantalisingly closer as you reach journey's end.
Holyhead-Poynton (eastbound)
Alternatively, you could start from Holyhead, crossing Anglesey on quiet gently undulating roads, heading towards the spactacular mountain scenery of Snowdonia which perhaps look even better when you remember you don't have to climb them! After crossing the Menai Bridge to reach the mainland, you then avoid the busy A55 expressway using Sustrans route 5 and quiet roads.
The 25km stretch from Colwyn Bay to Prestatyn uses the coastal cyclepath. There's usually plenty of room to avoid leisure cyclists and dog walkers, but watch for sand drifting across, and you can divert onto the A547 and A548 if these are too much for you.
You avoid Chester city centre by using the Greenway, a 15km traffic-free cycle way on which you should be able to make excellent progress - this is how all cyclepaths should be!
After calling at Tesco in Helsby, perhaps for a coffee and cake, make your way across north Cheshire through Frodsham and Stretton, skirting Manchester Airport using the cyclists' tunnels.
Four 200s derived from the Llanfair 400
An audaxer's bike outside a Welsh railway station
Some Useful Café Suggestions:
Lymm, Popular 2000 M56/M6 services Helsby, Tesco cafe Connahs Quay, Corner cafe Abergele, McDonalds and Petrol Station (24 hours) North Wales, plenty of cafes between Abergele, Pensarn, Colwyn Bay and Rhos-on-Sea
Some Useful Café Suggestions: