15 miles and 2000ft feet is fairly hilly.

Swinley on the other hand is flatter than a flat thing at 13 miles and 500ft!

I love Penmachno but wouldn’t recommended it after all the rain and the wind blown trees.

Coed y Brenin would be my choice over Penmachno however…

Llandegla is running really well at the moment.

I included a lap of Llandegla Black and coffee in the cafe on my ride from home (Llangollen) last Sunday and Llandegla was running sweet. So much grip everywhere. You have to like getting wet because there are some big puddles in the open areas. I didn’t see any trees down on the Black / Red and there were no diversions on that route.

The new bits on “Final Assault” / Julia’s trail (lake to cafe bit on the Red) are a bit motorway for me. Pretty sure there was a sneaky new or re-shaped table in there which was fun.

Just have fun. Llandegla Black is pretty tame for a Black (Coed y Brenin Blacks are much harder than Degla). Once you get the 3 mile climb done (about 30 min) the rest of it is on single track.

Friend went today. We only live 20 mind drive away. Loads of the black was closed due to forestry work he reckoned.
Interesting. Not confirmed though? Do you (or anyone else) know if much of the red is closed?

Was there last night and only about 50yards of the red was closed for repairs everything else was open and running well in these mild conditions.

It’s a fun, popular, successful trail centre.
🙂
It’s rideable by and has trails suited to pretty much everyone, sic or not.

Yes, it’s got a boring climb, but haven’t they all?

I love Penmachno too, BTW, my favourite trail centre.
Both fun, but very different.

Penmachno is my favourite too. But ride it at this time of year? With the amount of rain we’ve had recently? Not a chance! I’ve done that once, with the snow on the tops melting, and running down the trails like ice-cold rivers.

I have never been as wet and cold on a bike in my life. Couldn’t feel my feet or hands after a few miles. Horrible.

Llandegla is like an oversize BMX track. But surely that a good thing, right? Do the black, then have a brew and a bacon butty when your done, and laugh at the Audi drivers riding their spotless carbon Santa Cruz round and round and round and round and round and round the car park, while looking moody in their new Oakleys and matching flouro enduro gear 😀

Interesting. Not confirmed though? Do you (or anyone else) know if much of the red is closed?

At the top the first bit is closed.
once you get down across, the middle third of the red, by the jump section, is closed. the black goes the other way through it.
the old red is still avaialable…

Do the black, then have a brew and a bacon butty when your done, and laugh at the Audi drivers riding their spotless carbon Santa Cruz round and round and round and round and round and round the car park, while looking moody in their new Oakleys and matching flouro enduro gear

Haha nice 😆 😆 .

I went to Penmachno a few months ago for the first time, followed by Llandegla the day after.
Penmachno is better for the more remote feel, but it was not even remotely as fun, i’d rather do Llandegla twice.

I agree – rode Panmacho for the first time this year and didn’t enjoy it. I was surprised at how much I didn’t enjoy it given the love it gets from many.

‘Degla is OK. It does seem to hold up well in the wet which is a plus point at this time fo year. The skills area is good to muck around on for a while. The black sections are pretty good but don’t last that long – the red back to the cafe feels like a bit of a slog.

I’d rather ride CYB than either personally, but if you’r near it’s worth a visit.

Penmachno is an acquired taste.

First time I rode there I wasn’t blown away but now having been quite a few times, and raced there, it’s pretty good! Think I’ve only ever done the full loop once or twice and I’d much rather do just the first loop a couple of times. There is actually a way of getting all the best bits in and its only a short-ish loop. Basically the loop used at the Welsh Enduro Series.

The extension loop at Penmancho seemed pretty dull / pointless when I did it.

I may give it another whirl.

Cheers.
I’ve decided to go via Llandegla and do one of the loops there, still not sure how much of each loop is closed, mixed views on that here! Hopefully the people in the bike shop there will know, if there is one.

Fast flowy jumpy stuff is fun the odd time! Might get old very quickly if its all you had though.
I can’t compare it to the blacks at CYB as not been there in 15 years, I know Afan and Cwmcarn and Brechfa well though… and Mach. Not much hard on either of those, apart from one of the downhill lines in Cwmcarn going off the Cafall somewhere, tricky when it was covered in wet leaves anyway.

Trail info on the web site: http://www.coedllandegla.com/

(Also a map! 🙂 )

Bike shop/cafe also has trail info on their faceache, twatter and web site: http://www.oneplanetadventure.com/

Flatter than flat.

Duller than dull.

Rode it today on a ’99 HardRock with V-brakes and found it pretty fun. I wonder if you’re overbiked?

Surprised by the lack of love for Penmachno. It’s so old it almost feels like a natural trail – replete with diluvian puddles! Nice flow to it, feels like you gain elevation without having to pedal much. Physically demanding but much nicer gaining altitude than at ‘Degla.

Well I had a great time doing the red / black loop at Llandegla. Great fun fast flowy trails, and that fade away north shore section! 🙂 🙂

We went to Llandegla today, it was great. There was a short section of red closed, and the long-term diversion still in place, but the B-line is open. Rose most of it with my forks accidentally locked out!
Really enjoyed myself.

Glad you guys had fun at Llandegla 🙂 Fun is what it’s about. Llandegla is fun and particularly holds up well through winter.

Went on Saturday and thought that it was holding up well considering the amount of rain we’ve had – it was certainly better than Cannock which is currently more in a canoe than on a bike.

Some like Llandegla.
Some like Penmachno.
Not so many like both.
Make of that what you will

Drove up to Penmachno a couple of months back and did Llandegla on the way up. Chalk and cheese but both still fun.

A fair few parts of Penmachno were hub deep in water even back then, dread to think what it’s like now.