[Closed] North Wales trip

It's worth doing a couple of laps of llandegla, if only to justify the cake.

Where are you sailing into? Im guessing Liverpool and not Holyhead? Otherwise the llandegla to Betws will be a long way around.

Have you booked Antur? I think you must preboik at the moment. The Coed y Brenin morning, Antur afternoon sounds quite tough.

Its quute a lot of riding in that and you may find it tough.

Ian

I would skip llandegla and go to Abergwyngregyn..J9 i think on A55 and go and ride up Drum and the mountains in Conwy

We land in Heysham, and victually pass ‘Degla on the way to B+B in Betwys.

Betws y Coed is a nice place to stay in.

As for the riding - doing two trail centres a day will be tough especially as you are riding on 4 consecutive days.

Coed y Brenin - gotta go there
Antur Stiniog - for the the downhills
Marin - fire road climbs with some good singletrack as well
Penmachno - some good tracks, take some mudguards, it will be wet. Quietest trail of those listed.
Llandegla - good centre, easier tracks than the other trail centres.

I'm down with three mates this coming Sat and Sun.

Penmachno is fave for saturday - Marin is wet - although unsure how wet it will be - will take my arse guard. Sunday is Deggers as everyone enjoys hooning round it twice.

Marin's not wet? Never really that wet at all. Penmachno is wet even in the sun - but tbh wales has been pretty dry all summer.

Having said that, weather this week doesn't look fantastic. But you'll have a good time anyway 🙂

Right now we have rain.....but Marin only ever has couple of puddles, Antur never holds water, penmachno always wet

Coming from IOM, so wet trails aren’t an issue. Love a bit of slop. Having said that, we’ve been bone dry all year.

I was down in Wales last week and had pretty much the same itinerary as you. The only recommendation I would give is to not underestimate Antur Stiniog: it was great fun but beats you up: maybe hit it fresh in the morning then head back over to Brenin for a short or long loop depending on how you feel?

I’m assuming that AS still has the old guy mincers blue dot runs? If they now all have “enforced air” features, we’ll probably give it a miss. Did the blues many years ago on a standard “Tallboy” and was OK. More info on this would certainly help. We’re about 190 years old between us LOL

We’re about 190 years old between us LOL

🤬

It had various blues, and a green last month.

Blues are still there. The reds are great and there a probably a couple more since you last went. All ridable on trail bike/ HT.

As above though, its still a work out.

Have you booked it?

Ian

No, not booked yet. Last time we went late, and booked 2 or 3 uplifts I think. If we went in the morning, for half a day day, would that be similar i.e. 2/3/4 uplifts ???
And, do I need to book now for 8/9/11 October?

id ride Llagnollen over Degla, Revs over Stiniog. Coed is decent if you manage to tailor the loop to pick up all the best bits; but just enjoy Betwys - some of my favourite riding in UK right there!

Antur Stiniog - doesn’t have any mandatory gaps on any of the reds and blues - you can roll everything pretty much. There are a few drops on one of the reds but they aren’t enormous and all have chicken lines to the left. The new red is great off to the back of the centre - quite rough / lots of tables and berms. Won’t be very muddy even in biblical rain (I know as I did this abo it a month ago) but pack really decent waterproofs and a change of clothes for after as it is exposed up there in bad weather.

I rode Llandegla for the first time this year and was a bit underwhelmed. The blues are barely blue, the reds and pretty much blues and the blacks are red in most places. CYB is significantly harder. That said there is a new red section which I reckon you could join the Degla blue with the part of the red trail where the blacks are. So you could do one whole lap of the red taking every black option then if you wanted another lap you could ride the blue until the mew Michelin sponsored berm trail that I think takes you to the red and just hit the black options from there.

Edit - in a pouring wet miserable day we got 10 runs in. If dry and a little easier I reckon we’d have got 12 in. We actually did 8 runs before lunch and 2 after I think before admitting defeat / being a bit broken. It isn’t massively difficult blues / reds but it is rough and takes it out of you (riding a 150mm front / 130mm rear trail bike).

CYB I’ve only ridden Twr Du and the MBR. Both were rocky and rough and doing them either side of lunch on one day was a pretty gruelling day I thought. I’d probabably ride the MBR in the morning if I went back and maybe one of the reds in the afternoon.

We rode a day at Machynlleth (Mach 3 marked ish trail) and I can happily recommend you avoid it as it’s crap. Maybe as a gravel ride for the views it might be alright but it’s not got any decent downhill sections on it and seemed like endless fireroad climbs and sheep poo.

It's the National downhill series 9-10th October at Antur Stiniog if that helps with your decision making. Uplift is closed for the weekend.

Was at 'Degla with my 9-year old yesterday, he flew round the red and had an absolute whale of a time, it's not exactly 'tech-gnar' but it's brilliant bermy fun with a fair bit more elevation than the average blue, I was on the hardtail so it suited me down to the ground.

Coedy was riding really well as well.

Sorry, typo on my behalf, Marin IF wet not 'is wet'

Love a bit of slop.

Penmachno isn't slop, its just like riding through a stream.

When we did the long weekend in Wales (staying at OldSkool), we called in at Antur on the way down. Got beat up and shaken then went to the digs.
Day two was a composite loop of Coedy, essentially, I think, the Black (Beast?) with that little nodging of fire road cut out. This was pretty much a big day out for us. Nice miday stop at the cafe in the trees.
Day three, leaving day, we did do Penmachno and I rather enjoyed it. only got as far as the bottom loop as I was super goosed by this point and predicated, and wished not to tempt a fatigue fall.

I've done Marin separately with my son, a bit underwhelmed for me, lots of climbing and seemingly, certainly felt like a short changed number of decent descents. That is likely why the locals looked to be just doing the fireroad climb, then the schralp down the last descent.

I (at 51) wouldn't even attempt that proposed itinerary, I'd be schnackered (as is so tired and empty you'd even eat an orange kit kat).

Was at ‘Degla with my 9-year old yesterday, he flew round the red and had an absolute whale of a time, it’s not exactly ‘tech-gnar’ but it’s brilliant bermy fun with a fair bit more elevation than the average blue, I was on the hardtail so it suited me down to the ground.

Coedy was riding really well as well.

I think we passed you both! Me and my three pals were there in the afternoon. We went past you on the first downhill section. Your lad was doing really well and was cruising past my mate on the big climb

We d done cadair Idris on Saturday, camped at shell island and were going penmachno yesterday but my mate needed a derailleur hanger and only shop was at degla. Been ages since I'd ridden there but loved it

Great heads up there. Cheers for that. See if I can get us booked in Friday 8th

Hopefully, last question:

As Penmachno and Marin are probably a trail too far in one day, can someone talk me through the pros and cons of both please (facilities, trails, length etc)so that I can make the best choice.

We are 3 x fairly experienced and fairly fit oldish Geezers 62-66 years old.

Many thanks in advance.
P

Marin is an old school XC route/trail centre. Bit more fire road than most.
Penmachno is a nice day out. Both are good.

Both Penmachno and Marin have had improvements in recent years. Penmachno for my money is the more XC of the two, with Marin now having faster and jumpier sections. Both good, but Marin edges it for me – esp. if the weather isn't playing ball.

They're roughy the same length though if both both loops of Penmachno are joined-up (the join is well signed and Loop 2 drops you back onto 1). No facilities at either!

We are 3 x fairly experienced and fairly fit oldish Geezers 62-66 years old.

If you are the same bunch that I showed around before BotB the other year*, then there's a bit of modesty going on...

*The other year!! That was at least 5 years ago? Plenty of time to get fat and lose skills, so I'll retract my initial statement! 😀

The very same Idlejon. Thought about you last weekend. Showed us some ace stuff, Swansea wasn’t it, then BOTB?
Not an ounce of fat (well, maybe an ounce) Skippy’s still doing some pretty gnarly enduro stuff, and we’re all still pretty fit.
Cheers mucker.

As Penmachno and Marin are probably a trail too far in one day, can someone talk me through the pros and cons of both please (facilities, trails, length etc)so that I can make the best choice.

We are 3 x fairly experienced and fairly fit oldish Geezers 62-66 years old.

If you're reasonably fit then they should both be easily doable in a day. ( tbh you could tag on the MBR as well if you wanted to push the boat out;-) )

Penmachno was very wet, puddles above axels, and one that stopped us that was over my knees on the bike. My mates description, like riding a jack hammer down a log flume for 3-4 hours.

We enjoyed it, then did Deggers next day. As a precaution I re-lubed the hubs, BB and Jockeys, and degreased the chain and cassette. We were under water rather alot.

Ah, that may be a problem.
One of us (me) is on an E-Bike, and I’m assuming if it was axle deep, that means it’s motor deep. FFS, think we may have a curse on the weekend 🤣
Going to be a horrible crossing; Antur not an opttion; Penmachno loop 2 shut and loop 1 flooded; looking like CYB and Marin + more beer than was expected. “Every cloud”
Thanks for the “heads up” fossy

"Antur not an opttion"
Go to Dyfi Bike Park,roll up around 9.30 and ask at the siop if they can fit you in.
If not,go to the climax acroos the road,climb to the top and open up trailforks and have a blast.

This is still the answer.....

Looks like things must deteriorate rapidly, we rode Penmachno 3 weekends ago and rode both loops no problem. There was a diversion on loop 2 but still rode majority. It wasn't 'flooded' anywhere but main issue was overgrowth on trails.

We also rode Marin, CyB and Pont Scethin

As above, include climax and dyfi forest.

If I was you, I'd look at Marin, 2x days at coed y brenin, then climax/dyfi. If you don't mind heading little further south, there is also nant y arian.

Personally, I'd miss out llandegla

Penmachno was open other than the top of the purple (loop 2) which had a diversion. It was like riding in a river most of it - it had been raining for a few days last week, but was only showers on Saturday. We did need to walk some of the slate drop offs near the end as it was way too slippy.

Marin is much dryer if on an ebike. Marin is much 'wider' - Penmachno is only 6" wide in places, and the top loop is overgrown. You can't really not concentrate on it, otherwise you'll come off the trail.

Still need to do the Conway route and the Clwydian routes

If Dyfi Bike Park's not on your list because it's nails and you're not into that, have another look. I'd much rather ride Super Swooper all day than the blue/red and Antur. No mandatory air, but plenty available if you're looking for it.

Just a heads up and a thankyou for all your advice/input.
We’re home now after a fantastic 3 days riding.

Day 1 Antur Stiniog (they emailed late on to say the they could fit the 3 of us in last minute)
Day 2 Coed y Brenin
Day 3 Marin
It was more than enough for us old codgers, and accommodation in Betwys y Coed was perfect. If anyone’s looking for a lovely, clean, modernised B+B, well priced etc, food amazing, look no further. (Ring direct and speak to Hazel btw):
https://www.coed-y-fron.co.uk/