I’m in Chester with work for a few days, and it’s a bit of trek over, so Is it worth a poke around?

FWIW – thought Penmachno was grim, so hoping to avoid anything similar – slighlty put off by MTB Wales website that talks about “miles of fireroads in the forest, with spectacular views……” in addition to Marin Trail

The Marin is wonderful.
But if you found Penmachno “grim” probably it’s not for you.
Penmachno is ok, not mamazing but ok and personally I believe the MArin is better.
Llandegla is closer to you and probably more to your style.

Agree with above

What’s grim about it?

iolo said exactly what I was going to say – I love Penmachno so as I also like the Marin trail you’ll probably hate it.

I would also say head to Llandegla

Llandegla is only 20 miles away… good flowy fun. IMHO 7.5/10

Marin is about 55 miles away… lots of climbing, mostly on fireroad, then more climbing on fireroad with ok trail sections and a fast flowy finish. IMHO 6/10

Penmachno is about 50 miles away… bit of a dig on fireraod to start then into a series of excellent singletrack sections. Some climbs on fireroad and a tough but good traverse. Loop 1 is great, Loop 2 not so much and very wet. So Loop 1 is great but can be wet but very rock based so ridable, fantastic trail sections and a real sense of being out there. As you can tell I like it… IMHO Loop 1 9/10 Loop 2 7/10

From Chester I would probably go and play at Llandegla, it has a blue, red and some black plus skills, jump and pump areas. Add to this a cafe, loos and bike wash it may well be the best option.

If you thought Penmachno was grim and want to avoid similar I’d give the Marin a miss.
Personally they are my two top areas to ride.

Hindle Pie – Member
What’s grim about it?

POSTED 27 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Errrrm, bit wet for me on 2nd half, uninspiring with limited downhill bits until the end and a flat slog around the top – was a couple of years ago, so maybe not doing it justice

Just to be contradictory I do not like Penmachno at all but I love the Marin!

Penmachno is great (the none extended version at least)
Marin is dull – fire roads galore (more of a family trail I thought)

I like then both equally! If you are in chester for a short while you could probably do them all and then see which on you like the best?

Rode the Marin saturday for the first time in a fair few months and it is a great trail, but very old fashioned as in it has no tabletops, skills areas, cafe or any facilities! Still a lot of fun though.

Rode the Marin saturday for the first time in a fair few months and it is a great trail, but very old fashioned as in it has no tabletops, skills areas, cafe or any facilities!

How on earth did we ever manage to have a good ride before all of those apeared in the countryside!

How on earth did we ever manage to have a good ride before all of those apeared in the countryside!

we built our own

I know! I need a bacon sandwich and a coffee after every ride.

Really enjoy the Marin trail. I tend to ride up from Betws, so yes there is a long (long!) fire road slog, but some of the sections are great fun – especially the bits near the car park. I think I prefer it to Degla in the round.

Each to there own I guess.

Penmachno definitely messes with your head. To me always feels quite isolated and a bit….mean. Maybe it’s just because the weathers been absolutely filthy every time I’ve been.

I loved the Marin (and it’s just minutes drive from Betws y Coed, or you can probably start and finish the ride from the chip shop?). Yes it’s oldschool and has an inexplicably huge amount of fireroad but some of the descending is damn near perfect. I’d done an uplift at Antur the day before and tbh they were equally good days out.

I love Penmachno, especially when its wet and warm so is really overgrown. If you didn’t enjoy it then you weren’t going fast enough.

I’ve done Penmachno and Llandegla.

Both good but very different but a big thumbs up for Llandegla. It’s all a bit man made but if you like fast, bermy, jumpy stuff it’s well worth it!

I live 10 mins from Llandegla and would say it’s fine if you are after something straightforward to find and ride. The full loop (including all the black sections) can be done easily under 2 hours.

It’ll be a good hour from Chester to get to Betws Y Coed and whilst i’ve not done the Marin, I have done Penmachno and it is good, but didn’t light my world up TBH.

There are also plenty of options to ride up World’s End and Llangollen, but you’d ideally need to either find a route/map or get someone to show you round.

Twelve50 bikes in Frodsham (20mins from Chester) have a Weds night ride out I think (usually to Delamere). One Planet Adventure (Llandegla) have a Tues night shop ride (but the next one is a week tomorrow) and Weds night is also BBQ night at Llandegla.

I am going to try and get to Llandegla on Thursday if I can (evening) depending on work, if you wanted someone to show you the way round (not that you can get very lost!).

There are some fun sections on the Marin Trail, the last descent is great fun, but the bit that always sticks out in my memory is where you climb for a while on fire road, get to the crest of the hill, and then descend down another long fire road, losing all your elevation, and at the end you ride up a tarmac road again.