Thinking about a weekend away. 3 day outing in August/September looking to cover 3 trail centres over the 3 days. Dont want to travel too much when we are there as we need to travel from Scotland. Also looking for cheap accomodation in that area (Hostel, Campsite or WigWams)Any help would be much appreciated.

Betws y Coed is probably your best bet, marin train, Coed Y brenin, Llandegla is only an hr or so away too.

Stop in machynlleth at Tally’s place.You’ve then got Coed Y Brenin and the Climacx/Mach 1,2,3 on the door step,Nant yr Arian just down the road and a day trip to Betws for the Marin and Penmchno.
P.s Not worth the hour+ to llandegla 😕 .

From Hill climbers post I have looked at

– Coed y Brenin – MBR trail 18.4 KM Black trail
– Betws-y-Coed > Marin Trail – 25km Red trail
– Coed Llandegla – (Black) 21 km/13 miles

Can anyone point me to local towns, post codes etc for the above. Cant see much on the net. Looking to plan a road route to see potential travel distance.

Rorschach thanks, will also have a look at your suggestions.

Personally, I would drop either the Marin Trail or Llandegla in favour of Penmachno. It’s way, way better.

Yes, do penmachno, but make sure you do the long loop!

Llandegla black has far too much uphill for not enough down IMO

If you’re coming from riding ‘scottish grading’ I’d be a little wary of how that translates to the welsh centres!I don’t think I will be contradicted -apart from the “you’re not riding it fast enough” crew (55mins is quick enough ta!)- when i say that llandegla is’nt really a black grade trail (only 9-10km of it is officially black anyway).CyB is more in line.
Look here for all the info http://www.mbwales.com/
Penmachno is’nt on there but it is fully waymarked (its only 15mins from betws) and is considered by people with taste 😉 as a hidden gem,as mentioned before, do both loops!

Trail centres are all mapped here:

http://www.justgoride.co.uk/Content/TrailCentres/ or http://www.justgoride.co.uk/Content/TrailCentres/Centre.aspx?id=32 for Betws-y-Coed.

I’d stay at Betws, ride Marin (twice round for a half decent day out), Penmachno on another day (it’s within easy reach of Betws so don’t take the car). Then I’d be looking to do some real riding in the hills like this perhaps:
http://www.justgoride.co.uk/Content/Routes/Viewer.aspx?id=462

I’d stop for a ride at Llandegla too, but I’d be passing that on my there from the midlands.

Out of hours Snowdon/Rangers Path excursion is a must when travelling that far if the weather is kind.

So is Pont Scethin,Llyn Colwyd,Bwlch maen Gwynedd etc but thats a whole ‘nother kettle of fish.

Get the Bikefax Snowdonia guidebook – the natural routes round there are soo much nicer than the trail centres. Better views, more fun and a real challenge.

You HAVE to do a route on Conwy Mountain, the descent from Drum to Llanfairfechan is the best bit of riding I’ve ever done.

For a trail centre, Penmachno is ace though.

+1 for Rusty Spanner’s ideas – why come all that way to ride trail centres in forests? Your call, but would be a shame to miss out on the best bits of Snowdonia.

Going to North Wales and just riding the trail centres would be like going to Paris and eating at McDonald’s.

There are loads of locals on here, I’m sure they’d be happy to suggest some amazing routes.

Oh, and get an Ice Cream from Georgio’s in Llanberis.
The gits have put the prices up but it’s still worth a trip.

Try the Gallt Y Glyn for a great pizza and a pint deal if you’re in the area (Wednesdays – Sundays, I think) & the Pen Y Gwyrd is worth a trip for the views alone.

+ another one for going the natural route. So much better riding to be done with great views.
check out http://www.mbnw.co.uk for more info

The majority of the guys I’m going with are trail centre junkies but I am sure I can pursued them to hit some natural trails if it is easy to find your way about them. Let’s just say none of us are very good with a map lol. Open to suggestions and any gpx files would be appreciated. I have view ranger on iPhone so should help guide us round!!