Trail Centres – Wales

Weekend away coming up.
Heading up from the South East with a couple of days based at Betws y Coed.

So far the only part of the plan is to stop at Llandegla for a spin on the way, whats the best route or combination?

Then is seems the Marin and or Penmachno are on the doorstep, are both achieveable in a day?

Then i have half an eye on Coed y Brenin*, but seen that LLangollen is kinda on route on the way home.

If we cant cover the lot, which would you skip?
Is there anything else i should be considering?

ridden CyB a few times, keen to ride different stuff

Does Wales still accept real sized wheels? or will we die 🙂

I think you’ll be pushed nowadays to do those trails on a 26er.

Depends what you enjoy.

Cyb is rocky, quite technical.

Marin is more old school, more flowy.

Penmachno is inbetween the two, and usually wet.

I live local and enjoy all of them.

Penmachno and marin is possible in a day, id drive between the two eather than ride. Youll need a fair level of fitness as both trails come to around 54km with around 1500m of ascent.

I think you’ll be pushed nowadays to do those trails on a 26er.

just googled llangollen, maybe not

marin-machno, thereby finishing on the wetter one, or machno-marin if attempting both in a day?

Remember you have antur stiniog which is 20mins away from betws y coed as well if you want something different.

Penmachno is wet so id do marin first, then lunch, then penmachno.

I was kinda under the impression Antur was all FF lids and body armour type stuff? is it comparable with the harsher trails at CyB?

*off to see if its uplift only*

The ban on Snowdon hasn’t started yet.

I know it’s not a trail centre but rode the Marin last weekend (and have done Penmachno before) and Snowdon is a far better day out.

looks a little “triple crown” but i will suggest it – thanks.

just googled llangollen, maybe not

Llangollen or Llandegla? One is a no access private race on super technical DH Venue one is a swoopy jumpy trail centre with a cafe

Snowdon is a good shout, i guess it still needs to be a silly early start on a weekend. Might see if we can hang back and have a go on Monday

Mikew – Gollen. Just spotted it on the map and recognised the name from something bikey. Google reminds me of the poor spectator incident 🙁

If you can stay until Monday you should have the mountain almost to yourself. We have been in Snowdonia all week and it is very quiet at the moment. Did Cadair Idris today, the weather was gorgeous but we only saw a pair of walkers who were on their way down, otherwise it was just us. We did Snowdon mid-week in January and only saw one other person. It really is the best time of year to do the big mountain routes.

The mountain railway would make a fortune if they took bikes up. I reckon people would easily pay 50 quid.

Yep it was a poor indecent, just worth saying they are making sure nobody rides Llangollen outside of races as it’s private land.

I reckon people would easily pay 50 quid.

Oi stop pitching in will silly starting prices it’s only 20 Quid single for a walker.

Antur is uplift only but the reds and blues are great fun. Marin trail was good when we did it last year. Did CyB too which was good but lots of fire road climbing to link up the good bits..not sure I’d go back there. Snowdon is on the list of rides to do this year.

Penmachno was great fun, I much preferred that to CyB.

Have I missed something?! have trails now suddenly got much more difficult with the advent of 29ers and 27.5?! You’ll be fine on a 26.

If you have the time head down to Nant yr Arian. Completed a tour of Wales last summer, and rode this on the way up from Brechfa to Coed y Brenin. The only thing was is that you finish from what I remember Mask of Zorro with a bloody great fire road climb, before heading in to the final bits of singletrack. Well worth it though, with views at the top over to the sea at Aberystwyth.

Penmachno iirc has currently got a lot of diversions & closures so that might affect your decision. I’ll be in the area in 2 weeks, can’t wait!
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/penmachno-10

just googled llangollen, maybe not

Llangollen…is a no access private race on super technical DH Venue

just worth saying they are making sure nobody rides Llangollen outside of races as it’s private land.

Not true – they’re open for business! They have a number of tracks, a couple of which are relatively tame, and are loads of fun on a trail bike. A couple more which are steeper and more technical and then the NPS/BDS track, which you’ll have seen the videos (and also where that unfortunate incident happened). This track is not open outside race weekends, so this is where confusion about no access stems from.

Definitely worth a visit – it’s a great venue and very different to Antur Stiniog.

It is a Full Face only venue, like all uplift centres…

Give Martin a shout if you fancy it: http://onegiantleapllangollen.co.uk/

cheers for the clarification, saw some stuff from Si about people riding out of races jeopardizing access. So must have been the other track.

Yeah its only the BDS track mate – you wouldn’t wanna ride that anyway…unless you like hugging trees!

Great grass roots venue – well worth a visit!

done a few weekends based in Mach, so unlikely to venture down to Nant yr Arian – although i love it.

bad news that parts of Penmachno are out

I don’t like penmachno. I seem to be in the minority.

I’d go for the Marin any day.

Llandegla is OK but I live nearby and have done it to death. Plus the fact on a weekend it is heaving.

I ride them all on a 26 steel hardtail.. You’ll live.
Apart from Antur of course.
Penmachno is good and feels quite remote in week. Marin is nice. Llandegla black or red are fun add on the blue to finish off its sweepy fun.

I’m going to email the mountain railway people and suggest it and ask why they don’t and we’ll see what happens.

Antur (at least the blues and red – only been once and didn’t get onto the blacks) is totally doable and great fun on a 26 hardtail, although I was advised against riding the red on a hardtail by other rieders in the uplift bus!