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Heading generally north east on the Traws Eryri trail in the Ffestiniog/ Penmachno area the 'official' route uses the fast tarmac A and B class roads on which tbh I'd very much prefer not to ride because of the traffic. I've read that negotiations might be going on to get access over via The Snowdonia Slate Trail instead.
The official route misses out the seemingly obvious route north east from Llan Ffestiniog up Cwm teigl and down via Manod quarry into Cwm Penmachno. I know Cwm Teigl as far as the quarry at the top. I Know Cwm Penmachno. But I don't know how rideable the link from the Manod Quarries to the Cwm Penmachno quarries is. It might be a good gravel trail but air photos seem to indicate that its a bit of a boggy morasse in places.
Has anyone got an first hand experience of the missing link please?
Ta in advance, Ambrose
some pics here from a fair few years ago
I rode that track 5-6 years ago on a project linking up all the Welsh trail centres in a bike packing stylee (so I had a bar bag and a seat pack on the bike). It was fine after a couple of wet days heading up from Machynlleth. Interesting industrial ruins, very Ozymandian.
Thanks everyone, it looks like it's possible then. I'll be heading up from Ffestiniog and down to (Cwm) Penmachno so Tractionman's slaty climb will be a descent.
Take it you haven’t seen the detailed articles their off-road team wrote explaining it?
https://www.cyclinguk.org/blog/traws-eryri-mysterious-missing-bits
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7ff7babf39ff4d60bcdf39d35cd3eeca
@kevog, many thanks for that, I haven't seen it before. It's a good read that pretty much sums up what I thought would be the case (in both instances) regarding access rights. The video content is useful too, especially the Manod area content. 👍🏼
Yeah, it shows the immense amount of work those guys must have put in to develop the route
shame they seem to have laid them off
Interesting, have been riding that track for over 30 years. A few years ago the muddy sections have been replaced by slate tracks. The Snowdonia Slate trail runs through the area along the very same track so there must have been negotiations with the landowners.
Unable to post a link but search llwybr llechi Eryri
Track is ridable however the incline is steep / but no problem for most MTB riders easy to pick up punchers lower down also.
Many thanks to bikesandboots for the Bing tip.
I rode a bit of that a couple of weeks ago on the way up to Drum.
In the past I used to be very conscientious about ROWs but nowadays I am much more sensible.