My girlfriend suprised me yesterday with a mountain biking weekend in North Wales. I did’t have any time to prepare or plan so Im now in a log cabin trying to decide where would be best to go on the bike to make the most of the 3 days. Which routes should be on my shortlist? Either natural or trail centre. Thanks

CyB today might be good but with imminent snow forecasted i’d probably not bother tomorrow!

having looked at the map I think CyB will be the best for convenience today. Which trail’s the best?

I’ll deal with the snow if and when it comes. Could make things interesting, or turn it into a hiking weekend. It’s all good 😀

Depends on how much time you have – The Beast is quite a long ride with a fair amount of climbing. You can cut a long fireroad stretch out after the tea shop halfway round, by going straight up the road. They should be able to show you, once you get there if you aren’t sure.

Otherwise, I’d do the MBR.

you can buy a map from Ultimate outdoors in Betws for £2.50 I think.

All the trail centres are fun round there, but my fave natural route is the Pont Scethin route which starts near Coed-y-Brenin. It’s a natural route which goes quite high up so probably not do-able if there’s snow about. There’s various bridleways and byeways around Conwy and Penmaenmawr, e.g. near the druids stone circle, which might be better with snow as they are lower down and close to the coast. Sorry I don’t have links to them, maybe google or try to get a copy of a guide book.

Do the mbr, as said easy for convenience! Watch out for that drop on false teeth tho 🙄

thanks guys, think i will be doing the MBR today, and possibly followed by Minataur for an extra quick spin. Will look at other routes tonight for the next couple days. off now 😀

Enjoy Coed y Brenin, tis good.

I’m doing The Marin Trail at Betws y Coed tomorrow, I know there are some who say it’s boring but it’s been a long time since I’ve been there so I’m looking forward to it even if it will be cold/snowing/raining/windy. There’s also Penmachno at Betws y Coed.

Unless you get a very early start I’d avoid Coed Llandegla at the weekend as it’ll be busy but it is good fun especially with the new trails.

I enjoyed the Marin trail when I was down there. All the climbs are fire road pretty much but the descents are really good fun singletrack.

CyB grades seemed a bit soft in general.

+1 for Dega, it’s a proper good blast!!
Oh and what do you mean about the grades at CyB Chris?

Nice one, that’s what I wanted to hear. It really has been a very long time since I was there so I can barely remember it. Fire road climbs are boring but TBH they don’t bother me too much as I’d rather just get to the top as quick as possible than take the scenic route, as long as the down bits are fun it’s all good 😀

A few sections of the Marin are closed at the moment including the top of the first /last climb and descent loop. Trails are all very dry and fast though.

Just got back from coed y brenin, gorgeous day for a ride. Not cold at all once you get going, plus hardly anyone about. Considering another trail at cyb tomorrow or possibly pen mancho. Will save coed llandegla for next week I think. As far as the grading of the mbr trail, I was expecting more techy sections for a black, but overall a good trail. Jumping into the hot tub with mrs creamegg now and a few glasses of wine. Could get used to this 😀

Hope the hot tub was nice! Let us know if your over Llandegla way next week, we live next to the forest and it were not busy will show you about the place, good excuse to get out on the bike!

thanks, will do. not 100% certain on my plans for next week but will be visiting family in west wales and was plannin a trip in N wales for a couple days but havent decided where yet. in cyb at the moment so would like to do something different.

I did the Marin Trail yesterday and there are indeed a few sections closed although I think it only reduces the route by approx 2km. It was icy in patches but nothing too bad, it was raining quite a bit too rather than snowing so should be good conditions again today as shown below. Really great ride so will definitely be going back again in the not too distant.

wrightyson – Member
+1 for Dega, it’s a proper good blast!!
Oh and what do you mean about the grades at CyB Chris?

Just compared to what I’m used to, grades not as challenging. Black not very black.

Coed y Brenin’s fab… TBH the only place we visited in our week in Wales that I’m really dying to get back to. We didn’t have a bad ride (Nany y Arian, Climachx, Penmachno all very good) but it was the standout.

OTOH all those rocks might become a bit of a slippery deathtrap with snow and ice involved.

Interesting how few mentions any natural trails get in north Wales, compared with somewhere like the Lakes. To be honest, I dont know that many, but would always try to ride one or two on any biking trip to the area.