Moel y Parc from Afonwen

Super quiet road but I'd not divert to it if doing a road ride as it's a dead end. I've only ever ridden it as part of a tough gravel ride loop and each time have found this climb ridiculously hard & unrelenting. Last time had me with a foot down and short walk to remount. As mentioned, the surface is challenging at times and it leads to tracks that are ok on a gravel bike but will be better on a mtb. So, quiet & tough ✅. Divert to an up and down on a road bike, ❌. Pictures from the bridleway once the road stops.

There is nothing to commend this climb beyond just being an exercise in climbing steep ground. The road condition is awful which, combined with the unrelenting steep gradient, makes for a tedious ascent. There are plenty of deep potholes, the tarmac is badly broken, not to mention loose grit and other detritus. It is just possible to follow a line through. There is some clean tarmac, which, mercifully, is on the steepest section (my GPS hit 25％). It's also a road to nowhere as the tarmac, such as it is, ends at the entrance to the Moel y Parc transmitter station. If you're on a gravel bike or MTB another 1km will take you to the western side of the Clwydian Hills and some fine riding on bridleways overlooking the Vale of Clwyd. Sadly, if you're on a road bike it's a cautious descent back the way you came.