Coed y Brenin - making the most of our day
Help appreciated.
We're visiting Coed y Brenin in a couple of weeks for the first time. We're relatively new to dedicated MTB centres and have only done the red routes at Sherwood pine in the past. We're all on hard tails and the party contains me who has a good level of fitness/riding experience, my two lads of 13 and 12 who are enthusiastic riders and my brother-in-law who I'd class as inexperienced.
Wanting to get the most of our day and was planning on getting there early and doing the Dragons Back as our main ride and then spending any time left at the Foundry/Skill area. Any advances?
Anyone recommend this place for food both breakfast and lunch?
Thanks for any pointers. We're staying at Llanrwst which is about 50 minutes away if that sways your thinking.
We're visiting Coed y Brenin in a couple of weeks for the first time. We're relatively new to dedicated MTB centres and have only done the red routes at Sherwood pine in the past. We're all on hard tails and the party contains me who has a good level of fitness/riding experience, my two lads of 13 and 12 who are enthusiastic riders and my brother-in-law who I'd class as inexperienced.
Wanting to get the most of our day and was planning on getting there early and doing the Dragons Back as our main ride and then spending any time left at the Foundry/Skill area. Any advances?
Anyone recommend this place for food both breakfast and lunch?
Thanks for any pointers. We're staying at Llanrwst which is about 50 minutes away if that sways your thinking.
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Comments
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Firstly if staying in Llanwrst do you know about the Marin Trail which starts just over the bridge in Gwydyr Forest?
http://www.mbwales.com/listings/marin-trail/
Literary 10mins ride from the village to the start.Not as technical as C-Y-B but still much more technical than Sherwood Pines.Quite a lot of Fireroad but still OK and worth doing if you're there and will give you an indication how different the trails are to what you're used to.
Obviously being North Wales the Trails are also much hillier than SP!
Plenty of options at C-Y-B.I'd avoid the Beast as is quite long and there's a lot of Fireroad if you don't know the shortcuts.0 -
Did CyB two weeks ago, I'd do the Blue run to get warmed up 3 different loops 8km then on to the Red Fox 11km red trail. Then you can mix and match some blue and red if you have more time.
Excellent centre, good parking, cafe and bike shop!0 -
Penmachno's also not far down the road either, but you'd need to drive there.ibbo68 wrote:Firstly if staying in Llanwrst do you know about the Marin Trail which starts just over the bridge in Gwydyr Forest?
http://www.mbwales.com/listings/marin-trail/
There is a cafe stop half way around though (as long as the owners aren't on holiday).ibbo68 wrote:Plenty of options at C-Y-B.I'd avoid the Beast as is quite long and there's a lot of Fireroad if you don't know the shortcuts.
There are also some signposted escape routes at CyB if you need to cut it short - they're on the PDF trail maps at mbwales.com .0 -
Thanks for your replies. We've got the Marin trail on our list. Believe there's a small and larger loop so plan to ride the smaller one as a night ride and the other one morning. Are the routes easy to follow?
Good advice about maybe not doing the Dragon. May do shorter routes but more of them.
Promises to be a fun week.0 -
The Marin was just one 25km loop last time I did it.Very well signed and easy to follow..as is Penmachno and all routes at C-Y-B.simono5 wrote:Are the routes easy to follow .0 -
Consider the beast but avoiding the long fire road section, just go straight on past the cafe you pass mid way round.YT Wicked 160 ltd
Cotic BFe
DMR Trailstar
Canyon Roadlite0 -
The short route just seems to be the first part of the main route. After the first/second descent, you go back up the fire road then do the last decent back to the car park.ibbo68 wrote:
The Marin was just one 25km loop last time I did it.Very well signed and easy to follow..as is Penmachno and all routes at C-Y-B.simono5 wrote:Are the routes easy to follow .0 -
thistle (MBNW) wrote:
The short route just seems to be the first part of the main route. After the first/second descent, you go back up the fire road then do the last decent back to the car park.ibbo68 wrote:
The Marin was just one 25km loop last time I did it.Very well signed and easy to follow..as is Penmachno and all routes at C-Y-B.simono5 wrote:Are the routes easy to follow .
Thanks for everyones thoughts. Our plan for the smaller Marin route is to do this on Saturday night. This worries me a little as;
1. We'll be riding from 7pm at the earliest I'd guess. Probably closer to 7:30pm.
2. Will have a 12 and 13 year old with me.
3. It's dark by 9pm
4. I've never done this ride before and riding an unfamiliar route with bike lights worries me
How much of a bad idea is this night ride? Is the small Marin a route that I simply can't get wrong?
Oh and whilst I'm at it, the initial hill from the car park looks about 3km long? Is it all rideable even for the kids?
Thanks all, appreciate you taking the time.0 -
It's all rideable if the kids are reasonably fit/capable.
Have they done any night riding before?
If yes then they should be fine.If no then you might want to rethink?0 -
Thank you. It's a yes to all these. Will give it a go and plan to progress with a little caution.ibbo68 wrote:It's all rideable if the kids are reasonably fit/capable.
Have they done any night riding before?
If yes then they should be fine.If no then you might want to rethink?
Hopefully we're on the route with enough time to finish before it goes dark.0 -
For anyone stumbling across this thread. Quick update.
Brilliant time in Wales. Totally fell in love with the place as did my two lads.
Gwydir Bach (night ride) - what a blast. Hit the trail's at 7pm so we were done before it went really dark but it was great fun riding at dusk. I'm glad we took a photo of the route map on our phones as we needed it once or twice when we were out. Other than a couple of checks of the map it was pretty straight forward to navigate round. The hills came as a bit of a shock but all rideable other than a short push up a really steep fire road.
Gwydir Mawr - I made the mistake of planning this the day after the night ride. The kids were soon tapping out on the climbs so we cut the ride short and just knocked around on the trails for a couple of hours. We'll be back some day to finish what we started and wish I'd given my two a rest day between rides but never mind.
Coed Y Brenin - Decided to complete two rides with the Foundry dropped into the middle over lunch. Cyflym Coch was a perfect route for us. Loved all the single tracks and found it a lot of fun. Following an hour around the training centre/Foundry we hit Temtiwr. Less impressed;
1. The majority of the fun part of the ride was what we'd already completed.
2. The rest of the ride was a punishing climb over the mountain and back to the car park.
3. Once we hit the car park the ride finished through an extremely rocky section which was beyond my skills and rather than sack it off I gave it a go and was sent over the bars twice due to my incompetence!
It was good to be able to buy route maps at the information centre. £5 all day parking and a free bike wash all added to the day. Shout out to the bike shop who had a reasonable stock of essentials and friendly staff.
Overall a brilliant day if a little bruising for someone that should know better!
Would have liked to be out on the bike more but don't think I'd have got away with it. We added in a walk up Snowdon to round off a great week. Llanrwist was a perfect base.0 -
Glad you enjoyed it!It is a nice part of the World 8)
We always use Betws-y-Coed as a base mainly out of habit!0 -
Hi, I know its not Coed Y Brenin, but I always like the Marin Trail trail too. Read this blog about it; http://www.outdooractivesports.co.uk/20 ... yr-forest/. I know the guys at www.outdooractivesports.co.uk, and they know the local area well. Worth a read and / or a share. Tar0
