Marin Train…Worth a Long Drive? How does it compare to…

show me where the mountains are in Kent & I’ll explore the **** out of them

I’d love to help but I’ve never been, it’s too far away 🙂

😀

Marin was one of my first trail centre rides and probably the one I enjoyed most, as some have mentioned it feels quite in the middle of no where at times.

I’ve ridden lots of places since then but I still remember the feeling of heading back into the car park with a real sense of achievement.

Zilog i am in kent and we have a stack of great riding… if you are struggling to find it shout.

And whatever you do pease don’t stop at Swinley!! Get up to Wales and ride Penmachno and Marin.

Its a mostly fun ride once you get past the firetrack climbs with all the enticing single track going off it and assuming your fitness is ok. Something mine is so so at on proper hills given they are rare round here.
Doubt I would do 3 hours each way for it though. Would look to overnight and play somewhere else as well.

agent007 – Member
…at Llandegla ….and then have one of the over-biked full face brigade nipping at your heels the whole way round.

??? Surely you would be nipping at their heels, at least on the ascents?

In my own experience, I’ve seen a lot of said people in the car park at DEGLA 😉 and a few of them pushing/gasping/waiting on the big climb, but I’m not sure where they are on the descents. They certainly don’t catch/overtake me, even if I am on the XC 29er.

I enjoyed it when I rode it as part of a weekend in Wales. Penmachno Saturday morning then Marin in the afternoon followed by The Beast at CyB on Sunday before heading home for a roast in the evening. I live in Northampton so it’s a minimum 3 hour drive but worth it for 2 days of riding.

I went to the Marin Trail a couple of weeks ago, for the first time in about 10 years, at the end of a weekend riding at CYB and clambering on the Snowdon Massif.

The Marin Trail was ok. The new bit was excellent, but much of the rest was fire road and/or quite forgettable. Some of the southern part was quite pleasant.

-As one of my friends pointed out, it illustrated just how far things have improved at other trail centres.

Interestingly, as somebody who often has a good recollection of these things, I had hardly any memory of the Marin Trail at all, other than the (good) Dragon’s tail(?) and the (fairly good) final descent, from the previous 2-3 times I’d been there.

I wouldn’t make a special effort to drive to the Marin Trail, but would to Penmachno and CYB.

always worth pushing up the last decent to do it again

…or you could ride to the top.

Incidentally, has anyone ever managed to clear that steppy, footpath section

My understanding was that it was designed to make you walk it, as it goes through/near? to a SSSI. I’m sure there were signs at one point.

Marin is a great trail, one of my favourite in North Wales. Yes there are fireroads, but the descent are well worth it, and the new bit is loads of fun.

funny that whenever the Marin comes up for discussion on this forum it’s always marmite.

aye, true dat, almost as bad as Penmachno

I love the Marin tbh. I get the criticism too though. It’s not so much about quality often as value- the descents are awesome but you do have to work for them, it genuinely does feel like it has more climbing than equivalent centres elsewhere… But that doesn’t mean the ride isn’t good, it just means it’s more expensive in terms of effort. Therefore, value, return on investment.

I remembered expanded the Marin trail by adding a descent by one of the lake on the west side of the trail. “Natural” and man made trail on the same day, best of both worlds.