Exciting stuff for us over in North Wales!
Does anyone know when in 2012 - Spring, Summer...?
Bike Forum
Blaenau Ffestiniog Mountain Bike Centre
-
Posted 8 months ago #
-
The machines have just moved on site this week to start work on the uplift road. This will be followed by construction of the downhill tracks which will lead down to llechwedd.
The tracks will be graded from full on downhill to trail centre type single tracks be accessible to riders of differing levels of skill.
The visitor center cafe will also be built towards the end of the year.
The plan is for the centre to be open next spring.
A new web site is to be launched soon here is a link to the holding page so stay tuned.
Posted 8 months ago # -
AWESOME.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Sweet I may well give that a go when it's open.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Brilliant news - thanks.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Planning a "Trailcentre Road Trip" for North and Mid-Wales next October.
Perfect timing.
Posted 8 months ago # -
I vowed never to set foot in BF again. Awful place. Don't expect a warm welcome.
Is there an alternative start?
Posted 8 months ago # -
I cannot wait!
Any ideas when the website will be up and running with a few early pics of what to expect?
Posted 8 months ago # -
Another trailcentre in Wales, how useful.....
Posted 8 months ago # -
Another trailcentre in Wales, how useful.....
What's the problem?Posted 8 months ago # -
Went to BF, only the once,parked in the pub car park,went in and the pub went quiet, 40 pairs of eyes staring at us, ordered a coke and a shandy, went to sit down, and everyone looking at us.
Decided to leave,went outside and somebody had painted my car green, went back in (internet forum thug mode on) and said in a very loud voice, SOMEBODY HAS PAINTED MY CAR GREEN, a man mountain of a chap stood up, 21 stone of solid muscle and little brain,IPAINTED YOUR CAR GREEN, says he, (Me in an internet weak liberal sort of voice) said, drying lovely it is,and bid a hasty retreat.
LOL, big thanks to max boyce
Posted 8 months ago # -
Noticed how the Snowdonia NP boundry skirts around BF?!
Seems a bit close to Coed Y Brenin to be necessary.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Sounds cool. I rode down a slate mine there in 1987! Up past the lake, in the old ghost village. Tartan lycra tights and all! Semi flooded. May not have been wise, but was fun.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Seems a bit close to Coed Y Brenin to be necessary.
Different kettle of fish to CyB by the looks of things - much more DH oriented. Funny how it's being made out to be a hellhole. I like Blaenau. It doesn't seem half as depressed as many S. Wales towns either.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Guess the DH will compliment CyB, but I think there's a planned blue route too, around the powerstation reservoir?
Grim Welsh towns...? Spent 4 nights at Dolgellau recently, that place isnt great on an evening. You're right though, you dont get Lake District tweeness up there.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Awesome, is the Rowan Sorrel thing where they were hinting at trying to get a chairlift, or a different project? Can't remember where that was.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Well the area needs something, went to BF for a holiday with some friends about 7 years ago, we had a good time but the town is a hole. There's so much slate every where it's like being trapped in a black and white movie, grey skies, grey hills, grey houses etc.
Posted 8 months ago # -
i actually like a night out in dolgellau, has a certain 'edginess' and so many police for such a small town
i went to uni at aberystwyth though so i have fond memories
dirt dit a spread on this new centre a few months back, i think its definately more of a dh place
and considering that cwmcarns 1 dh track in south wales is booked up pretty much 7days a week i think north wales could do very well out of a dedicated dh centre
Posted 8 months ago # -
I'm probably showing my class here, but I always though Dolgellau was [relatively] posh! As to Blaenau, I live in Bethesda so am used to slate tips and a bit of bleakness. Evidently not an aesthetic to everyone's taste.
@Grum - I think the uplift is for Methyr. Could be wrong though.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Sounds cool. I rode down a slate mine there in 1987! Up past the lake, in the old ghost village. Tartan lycra tights and all! Semi flooded. May not have been wise, but was fun.
Wasnt that in MBUK?
Posted 8 months ago # -
don simon - Member
Another trailcentre in Wales, how useful.....
What's the problem?
Well there's Penmachno not far away amongst others. Dont get me wrong, I have no issue with trail centres, but surely the more there are within a particular area, the more the others trade gets diluted?
Also it seems a bit formulaic to put one in N Wales.
Why not down south??Posted 8 months ago # -
Blaenau Ffestiniog; the Town That Colour Forgot.
'Everything's grey. The houses are grey. The streets are grey. The people are grey. The trees are grey. It's all grey.'
©Kevevs 2011.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Well there's Penmachno not far away amongst othersAs other have said, this is primarily going to be a DH centre and will attract a very different set of riders compared to CyB or Penmachno.
Makes a lot of sense to me and I'm looking forward to riding there.
As regards the Merthyr chairlift thing, I think getting uplift on the backs of flying pigs is more likely - but I'm happy to be proved wrong.
Posted 8 months ago # -
But thought it was Rhonda that was grey
Posted 8 months ago # -
We had a great holiday at Easter staying about 4 miles outside BF. There's a reason the National Park excludes BF - it is a hole, but you don't have to go far before you reach some stunning scenery.
I did a ride through the quarries as you can link up some of the access tracks and the old inclines - not classic riding by any means, but good fun and "interesting" as well as having a sense of industrial history to it. There is some great natural riding in the area too, which can be linked into Penmachno - hopefully you'll be able to do the same with this too. Bring it on!
Posted 8 months ago # -
The scenery coming over the hill from Penmachno and down past BF is simply jaw-dropping.
Posted 8 months ago # -
the more there are within a particular area, the more the others trade gets diluted?
Could be the complete opposite. A lot of NWales visits, for hiking/climbing/biking, are weekend breaks. But with the recession there may be a move toward fewer, but longer breaks. There is enough high-quality, easy access riding to support a week's MTB holiday in the area.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Looks like a great idea to me, north wales is brilliant but it doesn't have that much of this sort of riding. If you think of, say, Glentress/Innerleithen as a destination there's a huge variety of riding, whereas all the stuff we did around Mach was pretty similiar.
So sure, maybe it'll just draw in people who might have gone to Innerleithen instead... Or maybe it'll draw people who'd have gone to France. But either way, who's against more trails?
Posted 8 months ago # -
But either way, who's against more trails?
Posted 8 months ago # -
Bf is mostly slate and hilly so totally unlike llandegla or the other north wales centres, it has a lot going for it,fantastic grey scenery, a great train journey, to get there, a new set of roads over the crimea pass.
Its an area of high unemployment, and little retail trade,a few samll shops, so getting a cycle trails centre and cafe will hopefully be the bridge it needs to get going,bringing new visitors into the area, and hopefully spending some cash to spend on the new services that will be required.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Not trail centres really but there are other well know DH venues with uplift days in N.Wales such as Nant G and they seem to do well so I'm sure there'll be the demand for it!
Something similar has recently opened at Llangynog too I believe, though that might be less of a centre type affair too?
Posted 8 months ago # -
Why not down south??
There are bigger and better mountains in the North, the south is made up from overgrown slag heaps.
Posted 8 months ago # -
bringing new visitors into the area, and hopefully spending some cash to spend on the new services that will be required.
Trails are great, but there is a huge attitude re-adjustment required by the indigent welshers.
Don't expect much grub on a sunday, either. Trading on the sabbath is still a sin.
Posted 8 months ago # -
Why not down south??
The usual case for funding for this type of thing is to help regeneration of an economically deprived area - the South of England is generally the more prosperous area so not much of a case for funding.
saxabar - think you are right I was talking about Merthyr - and I too will be very pleasantly surprised if they do get a chairlift!
BTW - Dolgellau also seemed quite posh to me - but small towns can often have a slightly rough night out regardless.
Posted 8 months ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
