Traws Eryri on a gravel bike?

As per the title, is Traws Eryri possible on a gravel bike, or is it too technical?
I’d be happy to try it but i have a mate who is less confident as he mainly rides road.
To qualify that he’s ok on the fire roads and more gentle bridleways in south lakes.

Gravel bike (with sensible gearing for climbing) is the best choice IMO.  There is stacks of road, up and down, and a good chunk of the rest is fire road. There are a couple of very short sections which he’ll push down, but then, I pushed down one of them with a fully loaded FS.

In its present form, very much a gravel route.

As above. I did to Traws on mine and at no point was I under biked. That was including the red routes in both trail centres we passed. My CX bike would have been nicer being somewhat lighter and better handling than my Camino. I know the rest of the route and would happily take the same bike again.

I suppose a different, but relevant question, would be whether it’s more enjoyable on a mountain bike? There’s a subtle difference between stuff being ‘rideable’ and being ‘fun’.

I can ride pretty much all my local trails – west edge of the Peak – on my Camino and i’ve ridden Cut Gate on a cross bike, but on balance, a mountain bike is more fun and definitely more forgiving on the rougher stuff. Not ridden the route in question, but a mate who has favoured a mountain bike when asked.

Thanks for the replies. Ill start looking a bit harder at planning.

@BadlyWiredDog

I would say no, you spend most of your time climbing on tarmac or smooth fireroad, and I can only think of a few short stretches where you’d be underbiked, or it would be harder on the hands.

Thanks, it’s on my list for 2025 and was havering between gravel and hardtail.

My daughter rode it on a gravel bike in November. She’s 9, you’ll be fine.

The official route: yes.

The better route with optional off-road diversions: I wouldn’t fancy doing it on a gravel bike.

We did the route plus the two missing bits, a bit of blue at Coed Y Brenin, Y Slab and Conwy ridgeline. There is plenty of tarmac, gravel, etc. I did it on my Canyon Dude on Jumbo Jims and the descents were way more fun on that than they would have been on my gravel bike.

So I guess it depends on whether you stick to the original route without the missing bits and extras or not and how masochistic you are 🙂

I wouldn’t fancy the Jubilee Path down to Betws on my gravel bike either 😉

Three of us did some of it (Mach to Trawsfyndd) in September as part of a longer ride including the Elan Valley with a variety of bikes, full suss Stumpjumper 2.3 tyres, Bombtrack no suss 2.6 tyres, Ribble gravel bike with narrow tyres but with tread. We were fully loaded with camping gear for a 6 day trip.

Each bike had its benefits in different places, the Ribble was great on the tarmac and rubbish on the technical descents, e.g. the one down to the Mawdach estuary. It also suffered in the muddy sections, sinking deep into the gloop. There isn’t one right bike for this trip, each has it benefits and drawbacks depending on a particular bit of the trail and the weather. You takes your pick and live with it, you will enjoy some bits and not others, just get on with it and enjoy the overall journey.

))))the technical descents, e.g. the one down to )))))the Mawdach estuary.

The most technical bit, which ironically is on the NCN.

I did the Traws Eryri with @mugboo up there^^

I rode my 29er 140mm fork hardtail with 2.6 Rekons which I thought was the best tool for the job. Sure a gravel bike would have been quicker on the road sections but we did the ride over 3 days and were in no hurry. Some of the off road bits would have been awful on a gravel bike.

We also had support so weren’t loaded up with gear which made the off road descents more enjoyable.

Is the choice basically two longer days or three more relaxed ones?

We did it in three, I’m not sure I could have done it 2 days with the extra bits we added in!

I’ll try and find my Strava from the trip and give you a breakdown of how we did it.

))))the technical descents, e.g. the one down to )))))the Mawdach estuary.

The most technical bit, which ironically is on the NCN.

I remember the descent to the estuary was a mixture of doubletrack and tarmac. Bit rough in places higher up, but not the most technical.

Most technical bit for me was the bit just above the campsite dropping out of the back of penmachno forest.

@martinhutch did you do the missing bit through the old quarry before Penmachno and Conwy Mountain at the end?

This was our 3 days,

Day 1

https://strava.app.link/335Oii2dnPb

Day 2

https://strava.app.link/mmoYW9benPb

Day 3

https://strava.app.link/NNm4ksnenPb

@simon 3rd linky not worky.

How does your as ridden compare to the ‘official’ route pls? This is on our list for next spring – on hardtails, one a 26er (shocked emoji)

I wonder is it marketed at gravel because that’s where the market is?

I wonder is it marketed at gravel because that’s where the market is?

Cycling UK seem to have positioned it for MTB bikepacking though. See the pix on here and the FAQ I’ve quoted:

https://www.cyclinguk.org/traws-eryri

Which kind of bike is best?
We’d recommend a hardtail mountain bike for riding Traws Eryri. The wide-ranging gearing is the most handy part here, allowing you to winch up the many steep inclines that you’ll face along the route.

Personally I’d want to do it on a gravel bike, and I’m not fussed about adding in trail centre loops – I’ve ridden those plenty anyway.

I tend to prefer riding routes like these on a rigid 29er with fast 2.25 XC tyres and alt bars that have multiple grip positions. It’s like a gravel bike but way more fun on the descents, the bigger tyres and handling suit loaded riding better ime, has a ride charachter I just prefer for this kind of touring and a nicer ride position for enjoying the ride generally. I love drop bar bikes for road rides, still I’d have to be doing 40-50 miles of tarmac in one go on my 29er to start to feel like I’d rather be on drop bars (over a 3-7 day ride effort level with average bikepacking kit on it my av speed seems only ~5% slower on tarmac on the 29er). All in all I’m more into ATBs than ‘gravel bikes’ for things like this, having tried both a fair bit.

I mean, it’s not really marketed as gravel, given how much of the Cycling UK site stresses it’s really best on a hardtail – in their opinion, but they are usually a little conservative for understandable reasons.

Gauging skill/experience off-road is really hard to do; compared to road cycling (largely a test of fitness, not that there’s anything wrong with that), what people class as easy/hard off-road wildly varies, especially if they’ve just bought a gravel bike with whatever tyres it came with. If you’re technically skilled (and many people on this forum are, by and large, at least “very competent” off road compared to the majority (unlike me)), then some routes are fine on whatever you’ve got – or are boring when overbiked. One person’s regular Sunday loop is somebody else’s “unrideable”.

cf: I have seen equal numbers of people complaining that CUK’s King Alfred’s Way route is “absolutely not a gravel route” (too rutted/rocky/etc) as I have seen saying “it’s absolutely fine, what are you complaining about”. But for a lot of people riding that route, it’s the biggest/hardest/roughest thing they’ve done, and there position is understnadable. (My opinion: it’s classic UK gravel, in that it is all 100% rideable by _somebody_, who might not be you, and that off-road distance riding in the UK always comes with the likelihood you’ll walk some of it).

I’ll try again with day 3

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/7zq4q0zxnPb

@boblo we did a bit of CyB on day 1. We also did the “missing bits” – the old slate mine and the Roman road. And at the end we went up and down Conwy Mountain to finish off.

https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/traws-eryri-mysterious-missing-bits

Plus we took a detour down the Jubilee Path out of the forest into Betws y Coed, we had to walk a couple of bits!

This thread has piqued my interest. Think I’ll go and ride this route in January. Probably do it over 3 to 4 days owing to lack of daylight.

Think I’ll use my drop-bar MTB… 2.1″ tyres, low gears and full mudguards! Will look to stay in accommodation to keep load fairly light.

Any recommended B+Bs, pubs or hostels?

Cheers

Any recommended B+Bs, pubs or hostels?

Used Ivy House B&B in Dolgellau and Lledr House Hostel near Dolwyddelan. Both were fine, but the hostel was self catering only.

The Eagles Bunkhouse in Penmachno is a good halfway stop, but was fully booked when we went.

did you do the missing bit through the old quarry before Penmachno and Conwy Mountain at the end?

If it’s where I think, then no, I mostly did the ‘official’ route, although if I’d planned it out in advance rather than just grabbing my kit and going on a whim, I’d probably have made quite a few adjustments. I know the Dales and Lakes very well, but North Wales is a bit of a blank canvas to me.

For the 1st missing bit, Manod Slate Quarry, leave the official published route at Bont Newydd and ride on the road to Llan Ffestiniog. From there a long climb up to the quarry, then descend through the quarry to Cwm Penmachno and rejoin the official route.