Llandegla, Coed Y Brenin & Penmachno

[Tubby G]

Afternoon. We have a few days off next week and are planning a trip to North Wales, staying near Coed Y Brenin

Never been to Llandegla, Coed Y Brenin or Penmachno. Any tips or advice for first timers ? Are the bike shops there well stocked and reasonably priced with items such as tyres, derailleurs ?(just in case!)

Any particular order to do the routes in to get the most of the day ? Going to Llandegla first, then off to Coed to the accommodation, hopefully charge the bikes enough for an evening ride, then Coed all day the next day (with a lunch time recharge), then Penmachno day after, then Llandegla again on the return journey

 

[Keggie]

Afternoon. We have a few days off next week and are planning a trip to North Wales, staying near Coed Y Brenin

Never been to Llandegla, Coed Y Brenin or Penmachno. Any tips or advice for first timers ? Are the bike shops there well stocked and reasonably priced with items such as tyres, derailleurs ?(just in case!)

Any particular order to do the routes in to get the most of the day ? Going to Llandegla first, then off to Coed to the accommodation, hopefully charge the bikes enough for an evening ride, then Coed all day the next day (with a lunch time recharge), then Penmachno day after, then Llandegla again on the return journey

There is a bike shop at coed y Brenin
Most if not all the trails cross each other all over the place so you can mix and match
Manitor is blue good warm up
Mbr (the first man made mtb trail in the uk )and The Beast are black I think , can be as long as 32km it’s not a bike park so no jumps but it is technical in places
Get a trail map
Haven’t been to the other two sorry
If you’re staying near Dolgellau The Lemon Grass is a good curry house

 

[Tubby G]

There is a bike shop at coed y Brenin
Most if not all the trails cross each other all over the place so you can mix and match
Manitor is blue good warm up
Mbr (the first man made mtb trail in the uk )and The Beast are black I think , can be as long as 32km it’s not a bike park so no jumps but it is technical in places
Get a trail map
Haven’t been to the other two sorry
If you’re staying near Dolgellau The Lemon Grass is a good curry house

Thanks. I’m hoping Trailforks is fairly up to date, usually is for the well established and older trail centres

We’re staying less than 1/2 mile from the trails so won’t need to drive there which will be nice. Happy to drive for a decent curry though

Llandegla is full of tables and has a new fast sweeping berm descent so we’ll get our jump fix there

 

[Doomanic]

CYB is duller than (yet another) pedal strike thread. It's rocky as hell and hard on tyres; it's the only place I'd voluntarily use an Eddy Current, after all it won't make the place any less unpleasant.

'Degla is pretty good fun, especially the jumps section. I have no idea if there's much off-piste there, but I'd be surprised if there isn't.

Penmachno and Gwydir Mwr are good and would be my choice over CYB.

 

[Tubby G]

CYB is duller than (yet another) pedal strike thread. It's rocky as hell and hard on tyres; it's the only place I'd voluntarily use an Eddy Current, after all it won't make the place any less unpleasant.

'Degla is pretty good fun, especially the jumps section. I have no idea if there's much off-piste there, but I'd be surprised if there isn't.

Penmachno and Gwydir Mwr are good and would be my choice over CYB.

Haha yes I’ve seen mixed reports on Coed Y Brenin. Some say it’s ace, others, like yourself, say it’s duller than dishwater. Guess we’ll find out next week! As we’re staying so close to Brenin we can easily have a ride, then recharge and go elsewhere. I’ll look into Gwydir Mwr too ta

 

[Doomanic]

We did Penmachno and Gwydir Mwr on the same day as part of a 3 day break. We spent 2 days riding CYB (which was two days too many) and won't be returning. There did look to be loads of off-piste at Gwydir Mwr, evidenced by the guys on DH rigs in the car park so we will be heading back there.
Difi is nearby, but you'll need your big boy pants.

 

[Tubby G]

We did Penmachno and Gwydir Mwr on the same day as part of a 3 day break. We spent 2 days riding CYB (which was two days too many) and won't be returning. There did look to be loads of off-piste at Gwydir Mwr, evidenced by the guys on DH rigs in the car park so we will be heading back there.
Difi is nearby, but you'll need your big boy pants.

2023 is going to be the year for big boy pants and bike park tours. That’s the plan anyway

You’re putting me off Coed One reason I chose it is because it’s so rocky. We don’t get much rock so thought it’d make a change to ride different surfaces

 

[Doomanic]

@Hobo Mikey lives nearby I think. He might have something more positive to say.

 

[RustyIron]

Any tips or advice for first timers ?

Yes. Take plenty of pictures that you can share with us.

 

[Tubby G]

Yes. Take plenty of pictures that you can share with us.

Don’t worry, I’m snappy happy at all times and the GoPro lives fixed to my helmet

 

[Hobo Mikey]

Here we go, for the record I don’t live near by, I live where I park my camper. I work on campsites so work 8 months have 4 months off.
2020 and 2021 I was working on a campsite/ touring park in Snowdonia only a 15 minute drive from Coed Y Brenin so I spent as much time as possible down the bike park and I must admit loved every minute of it.
you only pay for the parking, there is a bike shop there, a cafe, toilets and showers, skills area which is fun gives you a taste of what’s to come. It’s not a full on down hill park ( no uplift) but has some great down hill sections. The scenery is stunning. You could spend a whole week there and not do all the trails.
The blue is classed as a family run and on the weekend will be busy, mid week it’s great, it’s in different stages and is 8 miles if you do all the stages, it’s fast and fun.
reds are great also and the blacks are a mix of everything. The beast is a great trail and very demanding in places, it’s a mix up of every thing. Taradu is one of my favourites with the slabs, a long up hill slog but rewarding on the down hill.
All this is only my take on it so go try it and and find out for your selves. ENJOY. I must admit I miss the place. Working this year on the Gower South Wales and it’s an hours drive to BPW, Afan or Black mountain etc or others which Ihave not done yet but will. Some pics of the last two years.

 

[Tubby G]

Here we go, for the record I don’t live near by, I live where I park my camper. I work on campsites so work 8 months have 4 months off.
2020 and 2021 I was working on a campsite/ touring park in Snowdonia only a 15 minute drive from Coed Y Brenin so I spent as much time as possible down the bike park and I must admit loved every minute of it.
you only pay for the parking, there is a bike shop there, a cafe, toilets and showers, skills area which is fun gives you a taste of what’s to come. It’s not a full on down hill park ( no uplift) but has some great down hill sections. The scenery is stunning. You could spend a whole week there and not do all the trails.
The blue is classed as a family run and on the weekend will be busy, mid week it’s great, it’s in different stages and is 8 miles if you do all the stages, it’s fast and fun.
reds are great also and the blacks are a mix of everything. The beast is a great trail and very demanding in places, it’s a mix up of every thing. Taradu is one of my favourites with the slabs, a long up hill slog but rewarding on the down hill.
All this is only my take on it so go try it and and find out for your selves. ENJOY. I must admit I miss the place. Working this year on the Gower South Wales and it’s an hours drive to BPW, Afan or Black mountain etc or others which Ihave not done yet but will. Some pics of the last two years.

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Thanks for your reply Hobo, photos look great and its good to get a positive review of Coed too

The plan is to have an early morning full battery ride, then back to the accommodation for a charge, lunch, walk in the area etc, then go elsewhere (or back to Coed) for another full battery ride, Penmachno, Marin trail etc

I’m looking forward to Llandegla too, looks ace on the YouTube vids

 

[St4nley]

Sounds like a great few days riding you have planned there @Tubby G, Llandegla has the best Cafe and bike shop by far so thats your best bet for anything you may need, trails are ok once you have done the long drag up.

Coed y Brenin is a great place to ride, very rocky and rooty but then you are in Wales! , has a decent well stocked shop as good as Degla, Cafe isn't great normally low on staff and longish wait for food. Blue route is an easy warm up, lets you see other trails as well before you ride them as they do cross in places, Cyflym Coch is good shortish red and MBR is the best of the Black, I can recommend finishing your day on Beginning of the end and Seven sisters.
You could probably drop in on your evening ride to do the Blue, or ride down the Mawdach trail from Dolgellau to Barmouth for Fish & Chips.

If you like Coedy you will keep going back.

Penmachno is more natural & remote, only parking then on to the trails, nothing else, same at Marin in Gwydyr forest.

Wherever you ride you'll have a great time.

 

[Tubby G]

Sounds like a great few days riding you have planned there @Tubby G, Llandegla has the best Cafe and bike shop by far so thats your best bet for anything you may need, trails are ok once you have done the long drag up.

Coed y Brenin is a great place to ride, very rocky and rooty but then you are in Wales! , has a decent well stocked shop as good as Degla, Cafe isn't great normally low on staff and longish wait for food. Blue route is an easy warm up, lets you see other trails as well before you ride them as they do cross in places, Cyflym Coch is good shortish red and MBR is the best of the Black, I can recommend finishing your day on Beginning of the end and Seven sisters.
You could probably drop in on your evening ride to do the Blue, or ride down the Mawdach trail from Dolgellau to Barmouth for Fish & Chips.

If you like Coedy you will keep going back.

Penmachno is more natural & remote, only parking then on to the trails, nothing else, same at Marin in Gwydyr forest.

Wherever you ride you'll have a great time.

That’s useful to know thanks, especially the cafes We are planning to eat at Llandegla as we’re going there on both the inbound & outbound journey, but not an issue at Coedy as our self catering accommodation is right next to the trails

Remote trails with no facilities isn’t an issue either, we’re used to that

 

[StuR]

8 of us did 5 days in that area last summer
We stayed in Dolgellau about 15mins from Coed y Brenin
Each to their own I guess but we absolutely loved it
Did pretty much everything at Coed
A lot of the trails are multi utilised , meaning that several sections make up a particular route, an alternative route uses several of the previous routes sections and adds or takes away other sections
Hope that makes sense
Loved The Beast , fair bit of fire road climbing. But to be honest it was quite welcome respite as there are plenty Techy bits to get your attention
Loved Cyflym Coch , a fast flowing Red
Cafe , parking and bike shop are all good

We also did an uplift day at Antur Stiniog , about an hour from Dolgellau
Need to prebook - Awesome place

Some went to Revolution bike park , a bit more hardcore . Also about an hour from Dolgellau and we'll worth a visit.
It's a prebook uplift as well

Another pedal up trail we did was Climachx at Machynlleth
Bit short but the decent is epic , so we did it twice

Thoroughly recommend the area , I'd go back in a heartbeat

 

[Tubby G]

8 of us did 5 days in that area last summer
We stayed in Dolgellau about 15mins from Coed y Brenin
Each to their own I guess but we absolutely loved it
Did pretty much everything at Coed
A lot of the trails are multi utilised , meaning that several sections make up a particular route, an alternative route uses several of the previous routes sections and adds or takes away other sections
Hope that makes sense
Loved The Beast , fair bit of fire road climbing. But to be honest it was quite welcome respite as there are plenty Techy bits to get your attention
Loved Cyflym Coch , a fast flowing Red
Cafe , parking and bike shop are all good

We also did an uplift day at Antur Stiniog , about an hour from Dolgellau
Need to prebook - Awesome place

Some went to Revolution bike park , a bit more hardcore . Also about an hour from Dolgellau and we'll worth a visit.
It's a prebook uplift as well

Another pedal up trail we did was Climachx at Machynlleth
Bit short but the decent is epic , so we did it twice

Thoroughly recommend the area , I'd go back in a heartbeat

I did look at Antur Stiniog but thought it’d be too much for my partner (and probably me!) as she’s only been riding & learning for just over a year, so the plan is to keep learning, practicing, trail centre tours this year, local off pistes, then go for the bike parks next year. We’ve also got trips planned to FOD and Glentress this year, but next year we’ll do similar trips to what we’re doing this year, but taking it up a level, DYFI, Revs, Antur in North Wales, BPW, Black Mountain etc in South Wales, Innerleithen (Adrenaline) in Tweed Valley

Practice & progress, that’s my motto. They have excellent coaching days at Danny’s Hart’s Descend Bike Park so we’ll get ourselves booked on a day’s course there soon too

 

[StuR]

I did look at Antur Stiniog but thought it’d be too much for my partner (and probably me!) as she’s only been riding & learning for just over a year, so the plan is to keep learning, practicing, trail centre tours this year, local off pistes, then go for the bike parks next year. We’ve also got trips planned to FOD and Glentress this year, but next year we’ll do similar trips to what we’re doing this year, but taking it up a level, DYFI, Revs, Antur in North Wales, BPW, Black Mountain etc in South Wales, Innerleithen (Adrenaline) in Tweed Valley

Practice & progress, that’s my motto. They have excellent coaching days at Danny’s Hart’s Descend Bike Park so we’ll get ourselves booked on a day’s course there soon too

Very sensible approach
Coed y brenin would be a great place to gauge your skills and confidence levels
Manitour is a steady blue warm up , flowy and pretty tame , loads of switchbacks if I recall
Of the red options, Cyflym Coch is a beaut
Although it's graded red there's nothing to scary on it
No drops or gaps etc , it all rideable if you have a reasonable skillset
You can take it steady on it or flat out
Guarantee you'll be grinning either way

 

[The EMF]

@Tubby G I did coed y brenon about 6 years ago on my Spesh Comp Hardtail and I loved it……..mind you the climbs were a ball ache back then. On your Ebikes it’ll be a blast.

 

[The EMF]

@Tubby G I did coed y brenon about 6 years ago on my Spesh Comp Hardtail and I loved it……..mind you the climbs were a ball ache back then. On your Ebikes it’ll be a blast.

Now I think of it, it must be nearer 10 years ago

 

[VWsurfbum]

CyB on an Eeb is epic!! love it, if you're staying nearby there's an old Roman road that leads into the top of the MBR (i can share the GPX if you like)

Deggy is about the best fun you can have on a bike IMHO, easy enough climb to start, fast, jumpy, berms and technical stuff, something for everyone.

Of all the times i've been to North Wales, i've never been too Penmachno, so would like feedback comparing the 3.

 

[VWsurfbum]

On my old GT, blimey, it's been that long!

 

[Tubby G]

CyB on an Eeb is epic!! love it, if you're staying nearby there's an old Roman road that leads into the top of the MBR (i can share the GPX if you like)

Deggy is about the best fun you can have on a bike IMHO, easy enough climb to start, fast, jumpy, berms and technical stuff, something for everyone.

Of all the times i've been to North Wales, i've never been too Penmachno, so would like feedback comparing the 3.

Yeah looking forward to Degla the most probably, it looks fairly easy but fast & jumpy on the YT vids. The black runs and the new Michelin berm section are the trails I want to sesh on repeat

When I looked at Antur Stiniog, the black runs looked like death! The blue & reds look ok but is it worth paying £40 x 2 for the uplift just to run down fast flowy trails on repeat all day. It’s only open on the bank holiday Monday when we’re there so it’ll most likely be well busy too, hence why we’re giving it a miss this time

At CyB we’re staying pretty much next to the ‘Hermon’ trail, so can pick up the rest from there quite easily. Also the couple that run the accommodation are mtb’ers so I’m sure they’ll have plenty of trail advice to provide. Just want to get going now, Hamsterley first though tomorrow, Turbo hour at Yearsley this evening, leave for Deggy Sunday morning

 

[VWsurfbum]

Well have an awesome time, I have a few more weeks before I go again.

 

[Bones]

We knackered a tyre withing site of the start!
Also we stayed at the old school house just up the road and it's an excellent place for the mtb brigade

 

[Bummers]

When I looked at Antur Stiniog, the black runs looked like death! The blue & reds look ok but is it worth paying £40 x 2 for the uplift just to run down fast flowy trails on repeat all day. It’s only open on the bank holiday Monday when we’re there so it’ll most likely be well busy too, hence why we’re giving it a miss this time

Think i've been to antur roughly 10 or so times now over the last couple of years. Don't let the youtube vids decieve you, whilst the blue jump trail (everything is rollable) & the green trail are smooth and flowy, the reds are more rough and rocky than the go-pro smoothed vids make out! You can happily spend a day there sessioning the reds. Scrubadub for example has a great mix of features and has chicken runs for them to allow you to get down it until you've got the confidence to tackle them.
We spent an afternoon there once just sessioning scrub until we had it sussed to be able to hit every feature safely. It was great for confidence building and a lot of fun! It certainly brings on your riding ability, what was once the limit of my riding is now the trail i hit first to warm up on.

 

[Tubby G]

Back home now after an awesome extended bank holiday weekend at Coed y Brenin. Have to say we thought Coed was ace. Mainly rode the fast flowy descents, Adams Family, Uncle Fester, Pink Heffer, Old Doug etc rather than the long marked rides such as the Beast or MBR

Our accommodation was right in the heart of the forest, on the river on the blue trail, Mostyn Cottage, couldn’t have been a better location

Didn’t think much of Llandegla, far too busy for us and the trails felt too man-made

Loved the Marin trail too. Didn’t make it to Penmachno

 

[St4nley]

Sounds like you both had a great weekend’s riding.

 

[VWsurfbum]

Yeah deggy is a bit too man-made but that's why it's fun.
That accommodation looks like it's just up from Ferndale? When the power goes out there at night it's so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face!
Was the Marin trail as wet as an otters pocket?

 

[Tubby G]

Yeah deggy is a bit too man-made but that's why it's fun.
That accommodation looks like it's just up from Ferndale? When the power goes out there at night it's so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face!
Was the Marin trail as wet as an otters pocket?

I think we just picked the wrong time to go to Degla for our first visit. It was absolutely rammed on the Sunday, zero trail etiquette, guys charging around on ebikes, cafe area was chaos. Toilets were filthy. NO BURGERS!!! 45 minute wait for Pizza

We went back yesterday on the return journey and the black & red trails were closed due to an Army Enduro event (Deakinator was there, Oi Oi) so we just rode the blue once and finally had our burgers at the cafe, which were well tasty !

Yes our accommodation was up the long track in Ferndale, just up from the bridge that crosses the river to get to the Uncle Fester trail and on the blue Minotaur trail. It was the fantastic location of the accommodation which made Coed for us. Having lightweight ebikes meant they only take 3-4 hours to charge so we could get two rides in a day

Marin trail (Gwydir Mawr) was dry as a bone, not a single puddle or mud to be found anywhere. Really enjoyed it, felt natural, quite challenging in places, nice fast descent line with jumps & drops to finish. Happily go back to ride it again

 

[Tubby G]

Mostyn Cottage – In the heart of Coed Y Brenin