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Got a free day on Sunday so anyone know if this is worth a 2 hour drive? Never been there before and read a short review that sounded good
One of my favourites, you need to enjoy/be happy to put up with lots of fire road climbing though. Otherwise a lovely XC trail with some stunning scenery.
^^^ This ^^^
Lots of people whine about it being hard work doing the ascent,but I enjoy the place.I guess it depends on what type of riding you usually do
We went back there at the end of October,first time in years.
I really enjoyed it & will be back again this year.
Old School XC trails. Plenty of fireroad climbs and XC single-track. I love it, but I also rate Penmachno so shows I have no taste 🙂
My lasting memory of it was endless boring climbs rewarded by......well, not much really.
Beautiful scenery natch.
I prefer Penmachno.
The new bits are great, but I'd only drive two hours if I was doing a much longer ride that included it. Or at least more than one lap.
Get there for 8'ish, carpark faff, do 2 laps, more carpark faff, go for lunch at the falls cafe, go home. Good day out.
Do marin...eat lunch...do penmachno. Im a local and both are ace
I really like Marin/ Gwydir. Yes, there are a fair few fireroads but you will never be bored. Get hold of a map because there are so many variations possible that can give you a great return for all that uphill effort.
The final bit back to the carpark at Penmachno is purely wonderful though. Do it!
http://www.penmachnobiketrails.org.uk/trails.html
http://www.mbwales.com/listings/marin-trail/
if you have the fitness id also do the loop 1 at penmahno after lunch seeing you are travelling quite far. youll get wet though.
I just do the shortcut (lots of times). Fireroad climb followed by an amount of descent which feels disproportionate in a very good way!
Well worth it, penmachno will be a Rocky boating lake this time of year
Depends what else you could reach in that time.
For example, I'm half an hour from the Peak so wouldn't drive 2hrs for a trail centre myself.
If I could normally access thetford say, then w hours to a Welsh style trail centre would be a regular trip.
Once off the fireroads it's good fun. I love a good climb but, the seemingly endless fire roads numbed the ride for me a little I wouldn't rush back to be honest
Used to be a great trail with amazing views, the new sections have bumped it even higher in my estimations!
There are lots of fire road climbs, but there are lots of descents too. Just dig in and get 'em over with.
Penmachno is good, but you might be better in a kayak at this time of year.
Marin is a great old school trail. Not ridden it since the rename and the new section but a trip is planned. Penmachno is fun but does get rather damp as has been said. You also meet some interesting (in a completely crazy kind of way) people in the carpark at Penmachno mid week. The guy who was telling me to be careful because the Taliban were training in the forest springs immediately to mind.
was thinking of riding it at night next week, on my own! just a bit dubious whether my lights will last 25Km!? and wtf i do if they dont! suppose if there is so much fire road climbing i can turn the beam right down to preserve power... or would i be better off just lapping the Gwydir Bach bit?
Rode Penmachno for the first time last week and it was wet!
Was staying in a holiday cottage within sight of it and the wetness was the only downside really. Good fun.
Dai Alti I think was the really wet bit that went on for ages.
Did I say it was wet? 🙂
Most of the really wet bits on Prnmachno are on loop 2. Loop 1 is about as bad as everywhere else after some rain.
Did a bit of loop 2 but bailed early and went to the Conwy Falls cafe 🙂
There was a rocky section of stone slabs that was very slippery in the rain.
I'm having a little mini road trip this weekend and tossing up whether to ride Llandegla or Marin on Friday afternoon before heading across towards CyB and riding there on Saturday. Err'ing towards the Marin at the minute...
Marin>Llandegla all day.
Thats what I'm thinking but I've not ridden Llandegla for years and years - theres loads of new stuff there since last time I went apparently which was 5+ years back. But I'll be on my own so maybe a pootle around the Marin and then some food in ByC is a better plan.
how much better is the full loop than 2 or 3 laps of the short one?
It's great.
There are climbs yes- but if you don't like climbs- you're in the wrong hobby.
The new section is brilliant so is the end.
After a good ride search for the ty hull tea room and have an afternoon tea. Really good!
Hills above Penmachno are interesting, tough slog up but if old abandoned mines are your thing well worth the effort (the trail back down is great).
Done it a couple of times riding between penmachno and Coed y brenin