Coed-y-Brenin - What time does the car park open?

fasterthanaspeedingbullet

Never been before but there's a good chance that we're off to Coed-y-Brenin on Saturday

We prefer the early starts, the forestry commission website says the visitor centre opens from 0900 on a Saturday but we want to get down there before then.

Does anyone know what time the car park is open?

Cheers

FTASB

Anonymous

I'm not sure if it actually closes at all to be honest.
But, to be safe, try phoning the visitor centre, or bike shop, and asking. The number is on the FC's website I think.
EDIT: hmm, not sure where to find the phone number now, they seem to have a multitude of websites, all of which are useless.

I was there on Sunday, and the cafe/shop/centre was closed, don't know why, but anyway, the car park and the trails were still open.

EDIT again:
found the website for the on-site bike shop, they should be able to help you out.

http://www.beicsbrenin.co.uk/

fasterthanaspeedingbullet

Nice one, cheers, i'll phone them up in a bit

Anonymous

oh, I might see you guys there on Saturday. I'm thinking of doing the Dragon's back again, the Addams family sections (Gomez, morticia, pugley etc etc) on that trail are awesome! Biggest grin I've had in a long time

all depends on whether I'm going alone or not though, My riding buddy doesn't feel up to coedy yet, so we'll be doing Llandegla if he's coming out.

fasterthanaspeedingbullet

Righto, i've just phoned the visitor centre and he reckons there's no time restrictions on the car park, it's open all the time.

It's still not 100% definite but if we do end up there then we'll be there for about 0800, not sure which trail to do though. Like i said, we've never been there before so might go for a red route rather than straight into the black.

Anonymous

I'm sure you'll be able to find somewhere to park at any time of day. I don;t recall any gates or anything there.
how fit are you guys?
There's three trails that are for "proper" mountain bikers, that is to say, the others are great for inexperienced people, but if you're into your riding, you really should be doing either the Tarw, MBR, or the Dragon's Back.

The Tarw trail is pretty good, there's some very technical sections, and some nicely flowy singletrack, however, I think they're lost some of the charm of the original "Red Bull" route. The newer sections feel very artificial, and they've diverted away from the dual track (which was where I spent far too much time playing about in my teens!), which was in itself a later addition to the original loop.
Last time I rode it, it was very badly maintained, so watch your eyes as there's thorn bushes that occasionally stick out onto the trail. However, it definitely has a "wild" feel to it these days.
One of the things that spooks me about the Tarw is that you pass the original trail centre on the way. It looks as though it had shut after business one day, and that Sian and Dafydd forgot to come back. It brings a tear to my eye, since I remember the place absolutely buzzing, with impromptu trials displays, and a great community feeling.
It's hard to grasp the importance the place once played, I mean, this was, effectively, trail centre Genesis.

The MBR route is excellent. Each and every climb is rewarded with an excellent descent, along some truly fantastic singletrack. There's a good blend of flowing trails, and some pretty technical sections. None of it is difficult to clear, if you go at a comfortable pace, bu the fun comes when you crank the gas up, and go a bit mental! Then it's as black as black can be.
The MBR is my current favorite trail overall.

The Dragon's Back is an excellent route, but there is a lot of fireroad sections, and the ratio of fireroad to singletrack seems higher than any other trail. That's not to say it's not enjoyable, as the scenery is stunning, and the singletrack sections that it does have, are, quite simply the best I've ever ridden in about 15 years of MTBing.
It's hard to describe, it's not that there's a big shortage of singletrack, it's just that the trail is so long (31K I think) that it feels like there's a lot of forestry track to link the singletrack together. Most definitely worth a go though.

The Beast takes in pretty much all of the MBR and the Dragon's Back. Nuff said :shock:

delcol

fasterthanaspeedingbullet you are a legend. you just answered my question.

i'm thinking of a trip to cyb this weekend would have to be sunday though due to work and family commitments,. i would like to be there super early around 7-730. does cyb get super busy on a weekend. i never been before.

i did my first trail centre the other week went to llandegla wanted to go there super early but the car park only opens at 900 got there just after and it was packed it didn't help that there was the mbuk race on,..
i was a little dissapointed with llandegla i thought it would of been better than it was..

Anonymous

Delcol, CYB gets fairly busy, but the car park is freaking HUUUUUGE.

Curiously, I swear it was busier in the old centre, back in the day, but that might be because it was a smaller car park.

Anonymous

FTASB, that orange pro looks really really nice, especially with the colour matched rotor carrier. sweet!

delcol

thanks yee...

i hope to get there this weekend.

fasterthanaspeedingbullet

yeehaamcgee wrote:

FTASB, that orange pro looks really really nice, especially with the colour matched rotor carrier. sweet!

Cheers mate My one and only bit of bike bling!

Anonymous

Well, apparently, my riding buddy has done something proper nasty to his wrist (I reckon his girlfriend isn't giving him enough loving ) so I'm all set to head off to Coedy on my lonesome again this saturday Just need to go pick up my rear wheel from my LBS on the way.
(he always drags behind anyway, so I go faster on my own!)

taliesyn

yeehaamcgee wrote:

One of the things that spooks me about the Tarw is that you pass the original trail centre on the way. It looks as though it had shut after business one day, and that Sian and Dafydd forgot to come back. It brings a tear to my eye, since I remember the place absolutely buzzing, with impromptu trials displays, and a great community feeling.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but are these Sian and Dafydd who used to own Beics Betws, and both rode for Marin if I remember correctly? If so, that's a blast from the past for me

Anonymous

I don't think they ever owned Beics Betws, although I might be wrong. Its Sion that onwed Beics Betws all along I think. He seems permanently overwhelmed!
Sian has worked there on and off. She's working there at the moment, actually.
I haven't seen Dafydd since I stopped riding a few years ago.

But yeah, It sounds like you've got the right people! I really like Sian, she's always giggling like a mad thing, she's one of those people that just make you feel happy. I don't think she's ever known my name, but she seems to remember me every time I see her!
Dafydd was a similar character back in Coedy, they're both fantastic people who deserve to go down in MTBing history.

taliesyn

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I don't think they ever owned Beics Betws, although I might be wrong. Its Sion that onwed Beics Betws all along I think. He seems permanently overwhelmed!
Sian has worked there on and off. She's working there at the moment, actually.
I haven't seen Dafydd since I stopped riding a few years ago.

But yeah, It sounds like you've got the right people! I really like Sian, she's always giggling like a mad thing, she's one of those people that just make you feel happy. I don't think she's ever known my name, but she seems to remember me every time I see her!
Dafydd was a similar character back in Coedy, they're both fantastic people who deserve to go down in MTBing history.

Ah cheers

When I used to go to Beics Betws (I'm talking back in 89-90 now). I was under the impression that it was their shop at that time. Could be wrong though

I actually bought a bike there in 1990. An '89 Diamondback Apex which incidentally I've still got (I never throw anything away ) and it's recently been 'done up' so it looks a treat. I keep meaning to take it to Betws again so that I can hammer it around the trails there and relive my youth

Pic of said bike :

Anonymous

ah, you've known Beics Betws longer than I have then. I think I first knew of it around 1994-95 ish. Something like that.

taliesyn

I used to live in Blaenau Ffestiniog at the time so I used to ride there and back. I really hated the Crimea Pass

fasterthanaspeedingbullet

It's definately on for tomorrow now :P . We're one man down now though, due to a football injury last night .

Had a look at the website and, due to timings, we reckon we'll be doing the Tarw or MBR trail.

We should get to the visitor centre car park for 0800 ish so say hello if you see us .

Anonymous

Well, there's no way in hell I'll be there for 08:00, I've got to pick up my rear wheel, and the shop doesn;t open till 09:00!

Oh, and of those two trails, I'd reccomend the MBR route.

fasterthanaspeedingbullet

Just re-read your trail review from your earlier post - MBR it is then! Sounds good to me!

Can't wait :P :P :P :P :P

Anonymous

Well, did you enjoy yourselves? I think I saw your bike and someone else's, on top of a red car (it was about 1pm by the time I arrived!)

fasterthanaspeedingbullet

Did we enjoy ourselves?!?!? Yeehaamcgee, your recommendation made our weekend!

I know the 'natural' trail riders will disapprove but i can honestly say that the MBR trail is definately the best trail i have ever ridden so far.

Me and my mate had a permanent fixed grin on our faces all of the way around. If you didn't see us then you would have heard us, yes, that was us screaming and shouting like a couple of lunatics.

I can't remember what it is called, but we clocked one (continuous) downhill section at over a mile long - fantastic!

We popped into the bike shop and the visitor centre afterwards and found everyone to be really friendly. My mate picked up a nice Endura jacket and I picked up a very nice bacon, onion, mushroom & cheese melt, mmm. :P

Also nice to see some friendly faces from the H4H Snowdon ride, how did your ride go?

Oh, yes, that was us in my mate's red beemer.

Thanks again mate, we'll definately be going back again :P

sparrowlegs78

Looks like we MUST do MBR when we go on our hols there in July seeing as the campsite leads right on to it.....well looking forward to it now

fasterthanaspeedingbullet

yeehaamcgee wrote:

The MBR route is excellent. Each and every climb is rewarded with an excellent descent, along some truly fantastic singletrack.

This just about sums it up nicely

Anonymous

I must say, I had a slightly less than stellar day!
Tiny gash in rear tyre sidewall (and I mean tiny) that the tubeless sealant couldn;t cope with, so i had to fit a tube.
then my rear mech hanger got bent, and I also damaged my rear mech.
then my front tyre let go of ALL it's air on a bend, meaning I have less skin on my left hand side now than I should!

But still, enjoyed the (rather costly) ride!

Glad you enjoyed it!

delcol

made coedy yeasterday. what a place it,s heaven.

long drive to get there 2 plus hours but well worth it..

got there just before 9,am we opted for the mbr route, what a route the single track more than justifies the climbs the decents are amazing.
we got talkin to a girl who worked there at the centre who recomended we do the 8 km route beginging with t cant remember its name but that to was good it started off on mbr and finished on mbr.

we both had an excellent day excellent trails excellent set up and i agrre the carpark is bloooooooooooooody huge... well worth £3 to park and ride..

will defo be back.