Snowdonia next week…

Hi all, I am staying in snowdonia with the family from tomorrow for a week and taking the bike. I missed out on a snowdon assault last time due to the weather not playing ball, but would like to tick it off if I get the chance this time. I know there’s a bike ban between certain hours, but wondered if there are any other restrictions due to bliddy covid?? I did marin and cyb last time too, mbr trail I think, was fun and seems to be the most popular option for best bits of all the routes, would happily ride it again unless there is a better option? I was surprised at the amount of fire road drags compared to South Wales centers, but the techy downs were worth the effort. Bit gutted that antur and Revs aren’t operational being uplift only… Penmachno?? Not been before, seems it has its lovers and haters. ‘wet’ seems to be the overriding theme… 😂
Any other recommendations? Bearing in mind it’s a family holiday with some biking rather than a biking trip, so rides will generally be early or late, 3 to 4hr windows. Also, any must do family stuff we should do/visit? Cheers for the info dudes

I did North Wales for 3 days biking last year with a mate. We did the MBR and Tawr Du with a quick lunch stop in the middle. That felt like a brutal day to me and if I were going again I think I’d do the Beast trail instead. I believe it’s a combo of some of the MBR and some of the Dragons Back (red graded).

There was a fair amount of long fireroad climbs but I prefer that to steeper / more technical off road uphills tbh – try and save energy for the good (downhill) bits.

I think I actually enjoyed Snowdon more than CYB – unless there are any Covid changes you need to be off the main mountain by 10am. The earlier you start the better as there can be a queue to get to the very summit! We set off at 6am to go up the Llanberis path and it was reasonably busy by the time we reached the top. We then rode down the Ranger Path and only saw 2 people on that one. Ideally we’d probably have started another 30 mins earlier I think.

For me that’s the ideal combination of routes – if you went up the ranger you’d probably have to push the bike most of the way as it’s so rocky (coming down you can ride all of it) – but you can ride the majority of the Llanberis. There were just 2 sections I pushed / carried up – 1 where there are some big rock steps and another where it was really steep and gravelly.

It’s east a bit but I fancy trying Llandegla at some point – or south west you have Nant-y-Arian. I fancy trying that centre at some point too.

One option to avoid crowds is park at Snowdon ranger yha, up the zig zags, telegraph to llanberis then as above. Means you finish with the zig zags too, which you don’t get to ride if start and finish in llanberis.

One option to avoid crowds is park at Snowdon ranger yha, up the zig zags, telegraph to llanberis then as above. Means you finish with the zig zags too, which you don’t get to ride if start and finish in llanberis.

Very much this!

I think it’s much better to go up Snowdon in the evening. When I did it last August everyone was coming down as I was setting off and once past the mountain track gate I pretty much had the place to myself and then when I reached the summit I did have the summit entirely to myself. Also if you go up in the evening the first steep tarmac path isn’t subject to the ban so you can set off at like 4 from Llanberis.
I’m up there the week following and just put up a thread for similar ideas.

Snowdonia Riding: Moel Eilio? Nr Llanberis.

I would avoid Snowdon at the moment, it’s very busy and there are calls to close it completely:

After lockdown it has gone totally crazy here in NWales. Its much busier than it would usually be. If i was going up Swowdon i would leave beris at 3am and be up ‘beris path and down Ranger and Telegraph before it got insanely busy.
Ian

Got any pics of it being busy up the hill?

Or is that just based on some twatty parking on the weekend?

I went up Telegraph road about 3 days ago….i could see tons of people going up Llanberis path. I went in via llanberis and all the car parks were v full. I didnt think to take photos. The car parks at pen y pass were full and they were turning people away. I didnt check the park and ride at Nant Peris but i havnt seen the bus running when i hqve been out. This however doesnt mean it isnt running.
Ian

Heading to NW Monday for a couple of days, on looking at the advice above I will give Snowdon a miss this time I think. I’m thinking of the Marin trail and The Beast. Does that sound about right for a couple of choices?

N Wales is ridiculously busy at the moment.

On Sunday the whole of the pass apparently had a line of cars parked up one side of it, and there were ques at the top of Snowdon.

Even out of Snowdonia was mad. I went for a run on a hill where I wouldn’t normally see anyone and it was busy, and it took me 2hrs to travel approx 3 miles on narrow country lane

Llandudno was absolutely rammed on Monday, most people I’ve seen outdoors since lockdown by a country mile! Not sure what caused it, but there were huge tailbacks on the A55 heading in as we were heading back to Prestatyn at ~1500.

Wasn’t crazy busy at Llyn Brenig on Sunday, but they had a single loo and you could easily be queueing for 10mins+.

Stwlan Dam private road climb is rated as one the very best in the UK, stunning views from the dam, if you can ride up Moelwyn Mawr and/or Moelwyn Bach that tower above it then you’re bound to be in for a treat.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53536557

Police have been getting some cars towed away today from near Snowdon.