The Llanfair 400 might be a great bike ride but if you're not ready to cycle quite that far, you can undertake it either as Poynton to Holyhead 200 or Holyhead to Poynton 200. If you want a Perm to take you to (or from) the Irish Ferry, then this is the one for you. The ride counts towards both the PARTY award, and the Peak Audax SR award.

The Poynton start has an easy crossing of Cheshire through Delamere Forest to Mickle Trafford. Use the Cheshire Greenway to take 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 but there are great views of Liverpool and the Wirral.

Descend to St Asaph and ride past the spectacular 'Marble Church' at Bodelwyddan before 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. You avoid the busy A55 Expressway by using old packhorse roads and modern cyclists' bridges.

Cross the Mennai Straits on the Britannia Bridge and cross Anglesey to reach destination end; Holyhead.

If you start from Holyhead, you set off by crossing Anglesey on quiet gently undulating roads, heading towards the spectacular mountain scenery of Snowdonia. They look even better when you remember you don't have to climb them! After crossing the Menai Bridge, you then avoid the busy A55 expressway using Sustrans route 5 and quiet roads.

There is a 25km stretch from Colwyn Bay to Prestatyn using the coastal cyclepath. You can divert onto the A547 and A548 if there are too many leisure cyclists and dog walkers.

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.

See http://www.delphcyclist.info/Llan200Perm.html for full details.