Will be near Coed y Brenin with the family for the next few days. We were there 2 years ago and the kids really enjoyed the Minor Taur blue trail and the skills loop. Kids are now 10 and 12, which of the shorter red trails should I try them on?

I’ve never ridden any of the blacks which should I do?

For your first Black at Coed y Brenin perhaps try the Tarw Du trail. It goes from the Visitor Centre and crosses you under the main road to the other side and is the original trail at CyB. IMO the least Black (more hard Red) than the MBR trail. Dragon’s Back is also another great trail at CyB, don’t be put off because it’s a red. You’ll notice it uses a lot of the same sections anyway.

For the kids the 3 Loops of Minor Taur are fab to re-do as they’ll be faster now. It’s a fun loop that. I love Loop 3 when it goes into the massive trees around the cliff edge.

I’d say try the Temtiwr trail next and if it’s too sort and they do really well on it take them on the Cyflym Coch if you have lots of time.

There’s very little difference between a Red and a Black at CyB – in fact many sections are used by both the Red and Black trails. In both cases there’s quite a big step up from the Blue to the Red/Blacks at Coedy.

Have fun!

Cheers. The kids have been riding some rocky moorland singletrack near home back in Yorkshire so we’ll see how we get on.

If they can ride the first bumpy red section out of the visitor centre (Pinderosa/Badger) with some confidence, then they should be capable of pretty much everything else on the reds (IMO of course).

If you were to do Temtiwr, there’s a tricky little chute under the bridge on Glide, one of the last sections shared by all the reds, but nothing else that really sticks in the brain.

I’ll check out that first section and see if I think they’re up to it, I don’t want to put them off by making them ride out of their comfort zone.

I was there with my seven year old, he did all the blues first day, went back later in the week and did Cylimm Coch (sp…. its the one with the little fox on it) which was a 12K loop, difficulty was just a step up from the blues, a bit steeper down, and a little rougher, but still all good for kids. There were one or two fire rod climbs that he didn’t have the endurance for, so we walked some of those, but he rode all the trails no problem. Suspect your older kids would manage those OK.

Also – it overlaps the Beast for a bit, so my lad came away telling everyone how he rode a chunk of a black trail, still thinks he’s a legend.

I should add – the chap in the shop recommended avoiding that bumpy section mentioned above. You just follow the blue until you pick up the fox signs after you coross the river, then follow that, it eventually rejoins the blue.

I always think of the first section as a bit of a qualifier for the rest of the trail. It’s not representative of the rest, or particularly fun, though, and I did what the Hon George is suggesting last time around the Beast.

I wonder why they’ve graded Temtiwr as the next step on the trail list as Beginning of the End and Glide (under the bridge) are hard.

I personally did Cyflym Coch as my first step up from the Blues (only been riding 2 years myself) and as above was chuffed to have done parts of the Beast.

I then did MBR myself but looking back Tarw Du would have been a better / safer choice. They’re all graded Black but I think Tarw should be Red now.

That bit under the bridge on Glide is proper scary. Poor kids being sent on that. 🙁

I’d recommend Cyflym Coch.

+1

I also agree about the first bumpy section of all the reds/blacks heading out that way. Fortunately there is an easy way to avoid that – simply do the first section of the blue, then do the start of loop 2 for 100m or so to where you meet a tarmac road. Turn left and climb up that road and you meet Temtiwr/Cyflym Coch after the nasty bit – the section from there is great and very gentle for a red, brings you out at the end of loop 2 of the blue, from where you can carry on with Cyflym Coch (which follows loop 3 of the blue there) or drop back onto the blue. My 8yo and 6yo rode that section with me last week. Not sure I’d recommend Temtiwr – from that point it bypasses the singletrack on the road and then has a lot of fireroad riding before dropping you into a pretty severe section back to the visitor centre (even the bit before the drop under the bridge is tough) – the very last section is good (also did that with kids), but that can be ridden from the bottom of the freeride area.

Cheers all.
After some discussion with the kids they decided me an the eldest daughter (12) should ride the Cyflym Coch trail and report back.
She managed really well and had a great time, she even rode the first bumpy/rocky section.
Hills would have been too much for the ten year old but she had fun doing the Minor Taur again and sessioning the skills loop.