Coed y Brenin weekend

It has been far to long since I caught up with my old 6th form friend Loz so we cleared some space in the diary and headed to Coed-y-Brenin for a weekend of mountain biking.

To make a full weekend of it, and to give Loz a break from his drive up from Surrey, we used the Friday night to go for a long bike ride. He knew the area but I introduced him to some our mini alps of Edge Hill and Avon Dasset.

Earlyish Saturday we headed off to the mountain bike center at Coed-y-Brenin. Its not far from Dolgellau but the slow Welsh roads means its takes a while to get there. After the typical bloke bike faff we hit the Dragon trail.

The start from the center was far more technical then I expected or had ever experienced but I got through it and started enjoying myself. Some long climbs led to stunning views as we soaked up the sun. It felt more like August than October!

Video - View from the Dragon trail

What goes up must come down, as they say, and down we did come! I scrambled, jumped and shook myself senseless over terrain I wouldn’t classify as traversable. It was a case of gravity and stupidity overcoming logic but the reward was a huge kick of adrenaline. I think I’ve found a new sport to keep me going until ski season!

After a hard day’s riding we headed to the King George hotel, by the Barmouth toll bridge. It was one of those perfect moments; we were tired, the place was open, serving food and had formula 1 qualifying on the big TV!

Our accommodation for the evening was something different – a love to hate caravan!

The Windrush

The view from the Windrush

With views like that £13 was well spent. The ability to cook bacon in the morning was a bonus!

Sunday followed the same format as Saturday, but with different trails. I  came off a few times and hurt all over but I couldn’t get enough. Recommend the MBR trail for some serious technical stuff.

Bring on the next weekend!