I am off to North Wales for a few days to meet some friends but I am getting there a day before them.  It seems like a good opportunity to ride my MTB for the first time in months.  What’s Penmachno riding like at the moment?  I’ve been once before and it was very overgrown.  The other option would be the The Marin Trail which I’ve ridden a few times and enjoyed.  Thanks in advance.

It’ll be overgrown and underwater for long sections. The same as it always is. Marin is still fun, or at least I think it is, everyone else seems to think that it’s Booooorrrriiiingggg (in the style of a sulky teenager)

I suspect on a modern 600mm travel 200 Giga Watt e-bike with 12″ wide tyres, the Marin trail just appears as flat as a motorway..

However, on a more old school bike it’s a great trail.

Take your flippers and snorkel (probably)

Penmachno is ace!

… when it hasn’t rained for weeks

The rest of the year its just a series of streams

I’ve never been to Penmachno but want to, someday.

It certainly has something of a reputation but what does this mean in reality, jokes aside?

Underwater as in impassable without swimming? Axle deep? The occasional 2″ puddle? Ridable? Unridable? Ridable but miserable? Wet sections? One giant lake? Etc etc

Whole sections of the trail can be entirely underwater, just like mini singletrack streams. When everywhere else is bone dry, somehow it’s still waterlogged. That’s my limited experience of three visits. I’ve still enjoyed it though. Apart from when I had to fix a puncture in a cloud of midges 😫

If you go in the summer when its dry, its fantastic. Lots of lovely swoopy singletrack.

The problem is that the singletrack literally becomes a series of streams as the water drains off the hills

We once had the frankly stupid idea of riding Penmachno in January as the snow was melting on the tops. By the time we got a mile or two in my decent winter kit (gore-tex boots, Sealskinz) had given up and I was completely saturated and absolutely freezing. I have never ever been as wet and cold on a bike before or since

Bits of the trail have become outlets for nearby springs, in that they’ll naturally follow the path of least resistance. As @binners suggests, it depends on how much rain there’s been.  So it can be anything from a mild annoyance as your feet and legs just become wetter and wetter from water splashed up, to stretches in the winter that can be perilous if you come to a stop, or loose your balance, because it’s going to be ankle deep (occasionally shin deep)

Gwydir Forest (the Marin) is the better choice, there’s a fair bit of off-piste to explore as well as the decent waymarked trail.

And you can section the best bits of the marked trail really easily too.

My experience of Penmacho is that you leave the car park, cycle up hill and end up back at the car park.

you leave the car park, cycle up hill and end up back at the car park.

see also the Marin trail. Good fun though.

Does it have to be a trail centre?

If I was heading to North Wales with a day to myself, I’d do something like Drum Mountain, which IMHO is one of the best rides in the UK

I went last weekend, and its draining quite well

Was there last weekend. The last long run to the car park is closed. It looked like there had been a landslide, which I wouldn’t imagine will be fixed anytime soon. I wish we’d gone to the Marin…

I seem to remember the last section was the best bit, so if that’s closed I’d go elsewhere. Llandegla over marin!

my only memory of the place, wet and overgrown.

i’ve got a fox t-shirt that i wore that day, when ever i wear it, a few hours later it brings back the smell of that ride..

wet foist :0(

A group of us went there for a weekend of north wales riding. The whole route was wet. Water up to the pedals, long, wet grass and low hanging branches. We were all soaked and by the end of the ride one of us getting on for hypothermia. This was in July. Never again.

It’ll be overgrown and underwater for long sections. The same as it always is. Marin is still fun, or at least I think it is, everyone else seems to think that it’s Booooorrrriiiingggg 

Yep, as per everyone else I’d suggest it was wet, no matter the weather, as sections of the trail are lower than the surround ground (I’d suggest renaming it as “the sheep dip”).. I’d still rather do it that the (whole of the) Marin , which wasn’t just boring, it’s just rubbish, except the last 1/4 which is fabulous.. Go do the last 1/4 on repeat and forget the rest.

Dear me there’s some right snowflakes on here. Nearly got hypothermia in July?  If thats true (and I doubt it is) then thats 100% the fault of the person not being properly prepared. And nothing to do with the trail itself.

Don’t let this nonsense influence you in anyway.

I’ve ridden it in every season and like anywhere if you go unprepared you can get caught out.  Shock horror and a huge surprise! A ride into the welsh wilderness in the mountains isn’t all sunshine and cocktails and you got wet. Boo hoo.

Also, anyone telling you the Marin is better than Penmachno is absolutely bonkers. I would ride PenMachno and if you still want to do the Marin do the first climb and then go straight down the last descent which is on your right. Don’t waste your time pedalling around the rest of it, the last trail is the only one worth doing and is very good. The rest is utterly pointless if you’re looking for good trails. Probably the most over rated trail i’ve ever ridden.

I’d do something like Drum Mountain, which IMHO is one of the best rides in the UK

Anyone got a gpx for that? A quick dig turned up a few but all seemed to go up and down the same track to the top of drum which always feels a smidgen silly.

wet. as it always is. but fun