Landegla - why did we bother?

[Globalti]

Took my wife and son there yesterday, what a disappointment. Firstly we waited exactly ONE HOUR for the food we ordered in the cafe. The place is run by kids with no understanding of customer service or real sense of urgency - everything's "Kewl", even if it's bad or late. There was one fat bird in the kitchen who seemed to be able to do one order at a time only, even if it was just one of their "famous" bacon rolls.

The cafe itself was scruffy, the tables un-cleared and not wiped down. Kewl again, I guess.

The toilets were in a disgraceful condition. Kewl.

Litter: we must have passed fifty to a hundred plastic Lucozade bottles bought in the shop then thrown down by the trail, that was just on the bits of trail we rode. I guess throwing litter is Kewl as well.

There was little altitude so after half an hour of climbing, admittedly not steep, the downhill was disappointing and there were plenty of extra climbs thrown in, on both the blue and red circuits. I mentioned this to another rider I met and he replied "Yes, of course; there's much better riding out there in the hills". He's right of course, nothing beats a map and compass and the big wide outdoors. Don't know why we bothered.

 

[spence]

Interesting. Not been myself but have mates who have and they didn't rate it much. Stay on the A5 and head for Penmacho, great little trail.

 

[trio25]

I used to head there in the winter as the trails were sheltered and winter-proof. But now I can't be bothered, its like a motorway as well its so busy!

 

[02GF74]

There was one fat bird in the kitchen who seemed to be able to do one order at a time only, even if it was just one of their "famous" bacon rolls.

do you have any idea what is involved in making a bacon butty?

The bacon needs to be fried or grilled to perfection follwed by the complicated process of applying butter with a knife to a bun cut with extreme precision to ensure each half is the same thcickness.

Then the top of the ketchup bottle needs undoin, no easy task, followed by application of the aforementioned condiment to the bacon just before the bun is closed.

Why do you think none of the 5 star Michelin restaaurant or top celeberity chefs sell or make them? Simple. Far too difficult.

 

[Kirstie]

I enjoyed it when I went. But it was snowing and so probably was less busy than normal. Didn't think much of the cafe either. We waited ages for our food.

It's possible to weave it into a ride around the Clwydians, which are really great, as long as it's dry. Anything else and it's a foot deep in mud.

 

[yenrod]

Overrated -goto Clocaenog forest ! in the week: not a soul around.

 

[Globalti]

For me cycling on man-made trails equals skiing on the piste. I'm not saying I'm a mad bad off-piste skier but I do enjoy ski touring where you use the skis as a way of getting to otherwise inaccessible places. Same goes for a mountain bike.

 

[Bodger]

For me cycling on man-made trails equals skiing on the piste. I'm not saying I'm a mad bad off-piste skier but I do enjoy ski touring where you use the skis as a way of getting to otherwise inaccessible places. Same goes for a mountain bike.

I like the cut of your gib young man.
On the plus side all these trail centres mean that the hills get less of a hammering for those of us that prefer a little more in the way of solitude and smelling of the flowers.

 

[Globalti]

More to the point, the trails receive the litter that would otherwise be thrown in the Great Outdoors by MTBers who didn't come from a mountaineering or walking background and who have no understanding of the lore of the outdoors.

 

[dodgy]

I haven't been to Llandegla since last May or thereabouts. I went there with a couple of novices and I thought Llandegla would be ideal for a first outing. We went after work (I work in Chester) and it was fairly quiet and so was the cafe. To me, it's just too sterile, something which I imagine afflicts all trail centres?

 

[Kirstie]

The Marin trail is a bit dull. By far and away the best trail centre, and actually some of the most challenging XC riding I've done in the UK is at Kirroughtree.

 

[mondobongo]

The Marin and Penmancho are both pretty tame and a lot of grind for little or no payback. Cwmcarn is the uknown gem of the purpose built centres in Wales.
Nice meandering climb which stings in places, all the fun of the fair at the top with the Freeride area and then a fantastic downhill which I can reccommend doing at night catch the last uplift of the day for maximum enjoyment.

 

[dodgy]

Penmachno It's amazing how often you see it spelled Penmancho

 

[bonj2]

I haven't been to Llandegla since last May or thereabouts. I went there with a couple of novices and I thought Llandegla would be ideal for a first outing. We went after work (I work in Chester) and it was fairly quiet and so was the cafe. To me, it's just too sterile, something which I imagine afflicts all trail centres?

no, coed y brenin's much better, especially for a full sus.
in fact coed y brenin and penmachno are both a LOT better than llandegla, not just better but like in a different league really. For a beginner, or a lazy hardtail rider, then llandegla might be your best choice, but penmachno or coed y brenin are a lot lot better.
Llandegla's enjoyable to ride round, but only as enjoyable as not requiring much skill can be.

I was going to say coed y brenin's marginally better than penmachno but i think penmachno has got some real quality bits to it, in terms of technical niceties they've bot got things the other hasn't.
But cyb's got more quantity, and it's also got showers which is very civilised, while penmachno has a much more 'wilderness' feel to it.

apparently also gwydyr forest is pretty good just north of penmachno, don't think it's a proper trail centre but not sure whether it's got waymarking?

 

[Kirstie]

apparently also gwydyr forest is pretty good just north of penmachno, don't think it's a proper trail centre but not sure whether it's got waymarking?

That's the Marin trail. It's very obvious from the main road but the actual route is waymarked. There are several points where you can start it.