# Betws Y Coed Marin Trail



## Cubist (30 Aug 2012)

Cubester and I took ourselves off to N Wales on Monday for a couple of days' fishing and MTB'ing. Great little campsite, shout up if you need a recommendation to a smart, clean, quiet mixed campsite on a working farm.....
Absolute highlight of the break was riding the Marin Trail
http://www.mbwales.com/en/content/cms/bases/betws_y_coed/marin_trail/marin_trail.aspx 
on Tuesday afternoon.

It's billed on various sites as a good 'un, but both Cubester and I have voted it one of the best we've ever ridden. It has some truly long dull climbs (the start is about 20-25 minutes of granny grinding on forest tracks ) but the rewards are great long sections of truly challenging singletrack. 

Pigs might fly is the first section after the opening climb, and it was a bit of a surprise to be launched down steep, rocky, slate strewn singletrack. I was riding the 140mm Canyon for the first time on anything fast and loose, having only really ridden it locally up to press. Needless to say I overcooked the third bend and missed a line around a large boulder in the middle of the trail. I am pleased to say it's possible to unclip both feet and swing them forward as the back wheel rose up behind my head, the front wheel planted solidly in a large rock. I'm not sure frame makers measure stand over height from headtube to a point in front of the front hub but I ended up standing on the rock with the bike vertical behind me, bars across my knees. If nothing else it's taught me to moderate my braking more than before. 

The complete trail is a treat, with very much a "saw-tooth" profile, climb followed by tricky descent, followed by climb, followed by rocky descent. It was tight, it was technical, and the bike behaved impeccably. Cubester reports that although it was well within the capabilities of his hooligan Ragley, the length and sheer amount of rock meant he was pretty beaten up by the end. It's probably best ridden with a bit of travel, not exactly hardtail heaven. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to take the Cube round it.

Pandora's Rocks, Dragon's Tail, Pixies' Paradise, all named sections where the trail builders have managed to incorporate rocks in extremely entertaining ways, with some sections of "brake here and I'll die" and "how the hell did we make it through there alive" but all exhilarating stuff.

I love berms and there were some which incorporated slabs of rock, and some steep sided hardpack ones. I was amused (and occasionally horrified) to see tyre marks heading off on completely the wrong line off the middle of the berms themselves, where hapless souls had launched off the apex into the undergrowth/trees/oblivion!

The climax is the last big descent where the trail had, according to locals, been washed out over recent years. Now however there are a series of rock steps, doubles, triples, all perfectly rideable but where speed rewards the brave. A series of switchbacks and some more berms, followed by more rocks...... we ended up in the car park grinning from ear to ear, all the horrible grinding climbs forgiven if not forgotten.


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## GrumpyGregry (30 Aug 2012)

Nice write up.

Have you done Brechfa?


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## Cubist (30 Aug 2012)

GregCollins said:


> Nice write up.
> 
> Have you done Brechfa?


I was originally planning to go to S Wales and if we had, that Gorlech Trail was going to be the trail of choice. It looks great. 

A lad we met at Marin recommends Coed Y Brennin, and to be fair the Youtube footage of The Beast looks very tempting. We can be in N Wales in 90 minutes or so therefore they can be done on day out basis. Coed Llandegla is about the nearest to us.


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## GrumpyGregry (30 Aug 2012)

Cubist said:


> I was originally planning to go to S Wales and if we had, that Gorlech Trail was going to be the trail of choice. It looks great.
> 
> A lad we met at Marin recommends Coed Y Brennin, and to be fair the Youtube footage of The Beast looks very tempting. We can be in N Wales in 90 minutes or so therefore they can be done on day out basis. Coed Llandegla is about the nearest to us.


The Aged P lives south of Haverfordwest, which is only a shortish drive from Brechfa. I'm now thinking of taking the mtb to Wales with me (big sis puts me on her car insurance when I'm house/parent sitting) instead of the road bike and taking a look see.


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## Crackle (30 Aug 2012)

Keep meaning to get there, it's an hour 20 from me, easy to reach. I suspect I might be going down it a little slower than you though and watching out for the fark off big rock in the middle of the first descent!


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## Cubist (30 Aug 2012)

Crackle said:


> Keep meaning to get there, it's an hour 20 from me, easy to reach. I suspect I might be going down it a little slower than you though and watching out for the f*** off big rock in the middle of the first descent!


It's a whitish-yellow colour, three main sections and about 2 1/2 feet high in the middle. I nearly said "You can't miss it,........"


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## Crackle (30 Sep 2015)

Cubist said:


> It's a whitish-yellow colour, three main sections and about 2 1/2 feet high in the middle. I nearly said "You can't miss it,........"


Thread resurrection.....I finally got there, sort of.

I missed the rock but I saw it.

I only ended up doing a third of the trail as it was at the end of a weekend hillwalking and my right knee was hurting, especially after the first climb up but I thought I'd at least try it out. I ended up bailing when I was confident I could find my way back to the car park on the forest paths as my knee was too sore.

I have to go back and finish it but I found it quite challenging for my skill level, mostly the steeper bits and getting bounced off line. It was also a bit wet and skittery on the day and I actually wished I had a dropper seatpost for the first time. I've done other reds but I find that kind of sustained rocky/slatey trail quite hard.

Oh and I also forgot my boots, so was riding in my stiff leather walking boots.


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## Cubist (30 Sep 2015)

Good man! I have seen plenty of folk moaning about the Marin, but if you take it for what it is, an old skool trail without loads of uber technical challenges, it makes for a great ride out. I can confidently say I can't think of a better final descent at a trail centre. Brechfa's good in that respect, Llandegla has its moments, and Kirroughtree and Dalbeattie take some beating, but the final few minutes of the Marin are a hoot. You can climb back up the fire roads to repeat which is highly recommended. 

You're making me jealous now. Current health issues mean I have only had a couple of short easy local loops all summer.


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## Crackle (30 Sep 2015)

Cubist said:


> g me jealous now. Current health issues mean I have only had a couple of short easy local loops all summer


I was wondering on your progress back to health. You should update the Llandudno thread.

Yeah I crossed the trail a few times on my back to the car park, so it probably wouldn't take long to figure out your own loop. I did print and take a trail map which proved useful when trying to figure out if I could get another descent in without taking me too much further from the car but it was rapidly turning to mush in the drizzle and it needed the intervention of a dog walker to send me the right way. I only read about the final descent when I got back, otherwise I might just have tried to find it rather than skirting around on the forest roads.

Next time I shall lower the pressure in the tyres a bit more and ditch the rear guard which was preventing me dropping the seat too far. I shall also go when I'm not quite so worn out.

Old Skool: I remember reading about it when it was built and thinking I must get there one day. It was described as pretty serious in the article I read, which I think was in a climbing mag. How things change.


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