just got the go-ahead from the wife to take a few weekends away in the summer, and given that apart from a quick ride round afan’s ‘the wall’ i’ve never really sampled the welsh delights… so what would be the must do ones and routes (poss north wales is out as i’ll be travelling up from cornwall)?

Penmachno and marin makes up one day and gets my vote!

Brechfa. Best I’ve done anywhere.

Define “a few weekends away in the summer”?

If it’s 3 or more you could do them all:

Trip 1 – Marin/Penmachno/CdB
Trip 2 – Mach/Climax/NyA
Trip 3 – Afan/Brechfa/CwmCarn
Trip 4 – Go back and do the three you enjoyed the most 😀

More importantly, what state of affairs is it when you have to get the “go-ahead from the wife” to ride your bike somewhere fun? 😯

Once you’ve done the above trips you can become s STW “expert” in Welsh trail centres. Educated enough to inform everyone which ones are worth going to and which are not. Therefore saving them the trouble!

I was very impressed with the new Beast at CyB earlier this year. I had thought all Welsh trail centres were dull and sanitised, but that isn’t.

But I would have thought you could get to the Peak District quicker and that’s real riding.

Brechfa and Nant-yr-Arian are my favourites.

They are all good though, but for different reason the two above stand out for me.

Brechfa is indeed ace.

My pick would be a weekend taking in Nant Y Arian and then Machynlleth. That would give you the best mix of open space mountain biking and loony tunes trail centre fun and games. There’s bits you can session at both centres (Italian Job or High as a Kite at Nant and the last DH at Mach) if you fancy a bit more fun!

brechfa!

but dont tell any1 they will ruin it

My favourite is Nant yr Arian, but it seems to not have as high a profile as most of the other centres. Coed y Brenin has a lot of trails to choose from. I wasn’t that taken by Brechfa but I was really tired when I rode it so that may have affected my opinion of it quite a bit.

For a north wales weekend I’d go:
Fri (pm) – Llandegla, slot car singletrack before the weekend hoards
Sat – Marin-machno, trad trail centre riding
Sun – Beast of Brenin, something a bit more bike park

Wotcha Gav,

Brechfa – absolute killer!

Climachx plus extra dyfi forest bits!

Penmachno and Whites Level.

what state of affairs is it when you have to get the “go-ahead from the wife” to ride your bike somewhere fun?

2 kids, a house in the country miles from the nearesr shops and a wife that does’nt drive.

thanks though, i must be living in the dark ages as i hav’nt heard of half of the suggestion.

prob looking at 2, maybe 3 weekends or weekday scive-offs. decided to do no enduro events this summer, nor the 3 peaks, and go ride man-made manicured stuff for a change – might even look to fit in an uplift session somewhere.

of course if anyone also fancies a bit of a 40+ fat blokes sick-note session in wales sometime over the summer drop me a line.

shellac – tracks have dried nicely down this way of late, even the high moors are dusty and easy going.

If you go for nant y arian, may be worth taking waterproof boots, I was up over the hubs and BB in some of the puddles there last Wed. Brilliant ride though.