[Closed] North Wales - Best Riding spots

Penmachno was a little damp last week but will have dried up further due to the good weather. Well worth a visit if you’re in the vicinity.

Pont scethin for a natural route?

Just to say don’t be tempted to ride Mach 3 - I did it last weekend and it was a massive disappointment. Endless fireroad climbs and no good downhill to make up for it. Also endless sheep ****!

Llandegla hasn’t got much tech - the black sections off the red are quite good but it’s still not really tech. I’m not going to rush back. Maybe there’s some off piste local stuff but we didn’t find any.

CYB blacks are pretty rough / rocky / technical, although not wildly steep. A few years back we ride the MBR and Tawr Du either side of lunch. I felt brutalised by the end - maybe next time I’d do the MBR and then one of the reds instead to make it a slightly easier day.

For North Wales tech, the answer has to be Snowdon! You've just got to make sure you are outside the agreement times.

I only know the three you listed but you have them in the right order of priority.
Penmachno is favourite but ALWAYS wet - any water runs into the trail so waterproof socks and shorts if you've got them.
Marin - everyone will tell you about long fireroad climbs but they're ok and obviously you need to cycle up if you want to ride down! Penmachno climbs are more scenic though. Final section to sawbench is great.
Llandegla - enjoyable but a bit short. If you're near Coed y Brenin, it's quite a long drive for a shorter trail.

For North Wales tech, the answer has to be Snowdon! You’ve just got to make sure you are outside the agreement times.

I didn’t mention Snowdon above because whilst the descent down the Ranger Path is tech it’s not that long and the place is overrun with walkers at the moment. Have you seen all the queuing to get to the top in the news?

I did enjoy Snowdown when I did it a few years ago - but it felt like I ticked that experience off but wasn’t in a rush to do it again.

I live in North Wales - not sure why anyone would want to do Snowdon other than to say you have done it. Its not the best ride even before you factor in walkers and their dogs.

I think you have the best of it listed above. Plenty of routes around Snowdonia but would likely involve a lot of footpaths - Bridleways are limited and I prefer the routes mentioned.

This thread really does bring to life how dire the natural legal riding in North Wales actually is.

Such a shame that they canned that consultation into opening up access to mountain bikers.

I thought Snowdon was a massive disappointment when I did it a few years ago. Views were nice though.

Some fantastic, natural stuff.

We found routes from this place and religiously ticked off most of the old Bikefax guide book.

Theere's of superb mixed routes that range from mild, including some excellent marked cyclepaths, to 'should have brought the mtb....'.

With imagination, it's just one, huge playground.

As before, the Bikefax book was a great basis to learn and explore, all levels catered for.

I’d love to explore more of the natural stuff but with limited time want to maximise bang for buck

In that case, personally, Penmachno is the wildest and most rewarding, but if I can ride it, it's not tech. But fun and feels out there.

Marin is ace, but a bit on/off. Well worth it for the good bits though. Again, if I can ride it......not tech.

Not a massive fan of CyB, not sure why, but Llandegla on a quiet day is great fun.

Gotta be Penmachno from that list. Great trail, not much fireroad, and lovely wooded bits. It’s basically riding up a stream bed for half of it, so as mentioned it’ll be wet. Whenever you ride it.

Cheers all

OP What did you think of ClimachX? It's the only one I've not done from that list.

This thread really does bring to life how dire the natural legal riding in North Wales actually is.

Such a shame that they canned that consultation into opening up access to mountain bikers.

Not sure if serious - there's tons of legal natural riding in North Wales. you just have to know where it is.

https://flattyres-mtb.co.uk/route-guides/north-wales-mtb-routes/

ClimachX was good but about 10 years ago

Not sure if serious – there’s tons of legal natural riding in North Wales. you just have to know where it is.

Yes, completely serious. Just look at the thread. The OP requested info on the best trail riding in North Wales. After various contributions we have 5 trail centres, Pont Scethin and Snowdon.

Can you just try to imagine someone asking for recommendations for the best riding in the Lakes/Peak and getting trail centre recommendation outweighing proper riding by a ratio of 5:2 ?

Admittedly that's not just because the natural stuff in Wales is relatively shit, it's also because the trail centres in the Lakes are relatively shit..

Yes, completely serious. Just look at the thread. The OP requested info on the best trail riding in North Wales. After various contributions we have 5 trail centres, Pont Scethin and Snowdon.

Can you just try to imagine someone asking for recommendations for the best riding in the Lakes/Peak and getting trail centre recommendation outweighing proper riding by a ratio of 5:2

I've given you a link to a whole load more (seemingly ignored because it proved you wrong)and there is so much more than that too, so its far from 'dire' like you said. Just because this thread hasn't produced ten pages of recommendations doesn't mean it isn't there. Can't believe that needed pointing out. Definition of ignorance.

sandboy
Full Member

Penmachno was a little damp last week but will have dried up further due to the good weather.

Lol. Love Penmachno but I swear it's built to be wet, it is uncanny.

South Wales is your answer...

there’s tons of legal natural riding in North Wales

Hmm, a local here (Gwynedd) who'd like to see more legit trails given the amount of mountains there are. As it stands, yes, there are of course lots of locally built spots, natural trails, and other stuff to get up to, but the council really let us (and the leisure industries) down with the consultation.

OP, you'll have an ace time at Penmachno. The new extension gives the whole thing a good balance of XC out-there, trail riding, and faster enduro stuff (esp. towards the end).

Here’s a couple of natural routes I’ve enjoyed in North Wales. Conway mountain upto Drum mountain, just make sure you’ve got fresh brake pads in as they’ll be on fire by the end of the descent.

The big loop round Snowdon from bikefax guide done it twice once in a day and once bike packing over two days adding in some of the Marin trail to spice it up.

Assuming your looking for man-made stuff rather than natural riding..

Two days at dyfi, one on the corris side and the other over at aberangell side - see trailforks.

Either the mbr or Tarw Du routes at coed y brenin are good for a quick blast - seems most people prefer mbr but I do rate Tarw Du.

Also well worth following your nose in the woods around the marin trail - some very good stuff in there.

You can do some off piste stuff round CyB which is great.

Pont secthi (already mentioned) and cadir Idris is worth doing.

But yeah if you like trail centres then CyB is your best bet. I like the Tarw Du the most. Could even try and recreated the mythical Pink Heifer:)

How about parking up in Llangollen and doing landegla with a worlds end finish? Or do the Marin with some of the 'sublime' off piste that exits, it can be spotted by using strava heat maps. Or you can park at the ugly house and just ride the off piste bits but be warned the climb back up is lethal!

I did a fare bit of research for a group trip recently. This is what I sent to the group.

I havent rode Clwydian Hills, love Marin, Llandegla but not done MegaDegla. Will give Penmachno the benefit of the doubt and try it one more time. Do like CYB and Cadir Idris was a lot of fun although tedious and a fun quick blast down.

Clwydian Hills.
Its in the Llandegla area and needs a little more research but I've found;
Singletrack Route (35km)
https://www.komoot.com/tour/162898340/zoom

MBR Killer Loop (30+km)
https://www.ridenorthwales.co.uk/listings/mbrs-killer-loop/

Few route options;
https://www.ridenorthwales.co.uk/agents/the-clwyds/

Llandegla or we could give MegaDegla a go which is Degla plus a bit
Option 1 - as a taster - https://www.strava.com/activities/913692567
Option 2 - full MegaDegla - https://www.strava.com/activities/184873937?hl=en-GB

Marin and Elins Revenge - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/10819606
(again a little bit different)

The Beast of Llangollen
Depending on what you’re after, I rode the beast of Llangollen route last year and whilst being one of the hardest rides I’ve done, it was definitely one of the most memorable. A couple of the descents were incredible, including one which was up there with the most technical I’ve ridden.
https://flattyres-mtb.co.uk/route-guides/north-wales-mtb-routes/the-beast-of-llangollen/

Also;
Made that. Nice route but is 30 miles. Some hard climbs. Great views.
https://osmaps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/route/9039594/Glyn-Berwyn-Wayfarer

Conway Mountain - https://flattyres-mtb.co.uk/route-guides/north-wales-mtb-routes/conwy-and-the-north-wales-path/

Penmachno - https://www.strava.com/activities/2312655983

More South;
CYB - i.e. Dragons Back, Beast, etc.

Cadir Idris

Ended up doing Penmachno, Beast (Coedy) and Cadair Idris on successive days.

Glad I borrowed an ebike as that was a lot of climbing and it was nice to have legs for the descents for once