3 day epic - Coed Brenin, BPW, Snowdon and Antur

[Jody]

Me and a friend are planning a 3 day tour of Wales and looking to cram in as much as possible, so hoping some people here have done any of the places we are heading. It started as a "lets do Snowdon" conversation and has spiralled from there. Reckon we can fit a reasonable amount in if scheduled correctly. It won't be this side of October due to the voluntary ban on Snowdon

The itinerary initiall looks like being:
Wednesday - Early departure from Sheffield to Coed Brenin, what ever we can fit in before the drive down to a hotel near BPW for early evening.
Thursday - BPW (uplift) all day then travel to a hotel near Snowdon for early evening
Friday - Snowdon early in the morning and then hoping to hit Antur for a couple of single uplifts if we are lucky enough to find it not fully booked.

If you were doing it would you choose anything different and are we over stretched for time. Is there anything at any of the destinations which are a 'must do trail'. Neither of us are into big gap type jumps but are OK with general bike handling. There is no point going round a 30km+ trail and finding out its a bit to gnar.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Id probabley skip Snowdon and do Llandegla?

 

[Jody]

Snowdon is one of the bucket list things and probably the only time I will ever get to take my mountain bike up a mountain. Although I might look into making it a 4 day epic (missus permitting) is Degla is worth an extra day.

 

[Levo-Lon]

My mate broke his frame on both vists to Snowdon ,but he is very much above average on the talanted rider stakes..
should be an Epic trip @Jody ,Wales is special when you get to go, i love it

 

[PeteXXX]

A mate and I had a couple of days in Wales last October. We did Coed y Brenin Black trail and Harlech on Day 1, drove to Caernarvon then Snowdon on Day 2.

We rode up the Llanberis Path. The initial mile on tramac is ridiculously steep! It's all rideable though, they say... Some parts are quite smooth, but lots of it are like this. ^

Our route down was the Snowdon Ranger Path (that's the 'path' in the pic above) as far as a bridleway that took us across a coll for a cracking descent back to Llanberis.

Here's my Strava of Snowdon if you want to check the ride profile.
https://www.strava.com/activities/418063470

It'll be a great couple of days if you get the weather right. We had a bit of rain on day one, but nothing too bad, then good weather for Snowdon until the summit, where it was 40 mph winds 2 or 3 degrees C and fog.

I'm thinking of doing it again sometime soon if I get the chance.

 

[Jody]

Thanks @PeteXXX Your post (and the Strava link) has settled my nerves slightly. Althought it looks steep, it doesn't look too much harder than a few local peaks loops in terms of gradient and distance of the climbs, although they are normally split into 3 climbs rather than 1. Terrain looks fairly similar also. Its booked for early Oct so fingers crossed we are really lucky and have a little bit of an Indian summer left over. Knowing our luck it will be wash out coupled with low cloud and howling winds.

I really can't wait. Missus is expecting so it might be while before we get another opportunity after this one.

 

[Jody]

My mate broke his frame on both vists to Snowdon ,but he is very much above average on the talanted rider stakes..

How on earth did he snap 2 frames?

 

[dan_bo]

Id probabley skip Snowdon and do Llandegla?

I'd be chucking in either Afan or deggers on that myself but still sounds ace. Enjoy.

 

[Jody]

I'd be chucking in either Afan or deggers on that myself but still sounds ace. Enjoy.

Just been looking at the location and Llandegla looks like it might fit in with the logistics but Afan won't. Would you pick Llandegla or Brenin for the first days riding, or are both good enough to warrant an extra day (and the wrath of her indoors)

 

[dan_bo]

Just been looking at the location and Llandegla looks like it might fit in with the logistics but Afan won't. Would you pick Llandegla or Brenin for the first days riding, or are both good enough to warrant an extra day (and the wrath of her indoors)

They're both well worth a visit IMO. I included Afan 'cos it's close to BPW and it's chuffing awesome.

 

[PeteXXX]

Have you thought about the Marina Trail? It's one of the original MTB rides, near Betws y Coed. Last time I tried it, we got snowed off! Too dodgy to continue to the end, sadly.

 

[Levo-Lon]

How on earth did he snap 2 frames?

456C and a commencal. He broke 2 commi frames as he had the early ones ,if you ever see him go down hill you would understand..
he makes me go cold..to be fair he wrecks just about everything.
id love to have 20% of his bottle ...mind you he has a very well paid office job so a broken bone ot 2 dont stop him earning unlike me ..self employed makes you take more care ...or something like that

 

[Jody]

They're both well worth a visit IMO. I included Afan 'cos it's close to BPW and it's chuffing awesome.

We may now have extended for an extra day

 

[Crackle]

The Marin trail is not far away from Snowdon nor is Penmachno. There is also a natural route around the two lakes near Capel Curing, google mtn bike routes Capel Curig and you should find a few pages describing it. It's still high and remote but perhaps an alternative if Snowdon is out due to the weather and it could be in October. We moved our annual North Wales meet to September precisely because October can be nasty.

 

[Jody]

Its certainly a worry @Crackle . We are only going in October due to the ban but have both said we won't risk going up Snowdon in bad weather. Its just not worth it.

We're fairly flexible other than the holtel bookings and the day at BPW, so I will look into the trails you mentioned. Heard good things about the Marin trail.