Planning a weekend away at a trail centre, which one?

[Mr Bishi]

I'm looking at planning a long wekend away to a trail centre next year but having never been to one I'm not sure which was are the best/recomended and what sort of things I need to consider?

There will be 4 of us, with a mix of abilities and we are looking for mainly XC stuff but with some downhill stuff thrown in as well.

From what I have picked up so far, the ones in Wales seem to come well recomended so I would probably look for one around there but wondered which ones others have been to and recomend?

I see there is a new one opening soon that looks quite interesteing - Bike Park Wales http://www.bikeparkwales.com/

Also, does anyone have any recomendations on places to stay? Would need to be bike friendly, somewhere to store and wash the bikes etc, I like my creature comforts so a cottage or house would prob be ideal rather a hostel/camping.

[budgie smuggler]

Depends where in the country you are. I like North Wales personally, you have Betws-y-coed which has the Marin, Penmachno, Snowdon etc. Plus with short driving distance you have Llandegla and Coed-y-brenin, both of which are worth a visit. Penmachno is my favourite trail of the lot though, though the initial climb out of the car park is a bit of a stinker! (and there are minimal facilities on site, unlike the other more developed centres of CyB, 'degla etc).

[supertouring]

I did the one in Neath (Afan?) with a mate some years ago and had one of the best times on a bike.

Worth a visit.

[Mr Bishi]

We will be travelling from around NW London/Watford way so S Wales would be more preferential than N Wales if possible.

[robpearson]

budgie smuggler said:

Depends where in the country you are. I like North Wales personally, you have Betws-y-coed which has the Marin, Penmachno, Snowdon etc. Plus with short driving distance you have Llandegla and Coed-y-brenin, both of which are worth a visit. Penmachno is my favourite trail of the lot though, though the initial climb out of the car park is a bit of a stinker! (and there are minimal facilities on site, unlike the other more developed centres of CyB, 'degla etc).

I'm with you, Betws-y-coed has loads of places to stay and eat. I'd look at Dolgellau as another place to stop for getting to coed y brenin. There's a company in the area called snowbikers who do mountain biking and skills courses as well as having a B&B. I'd also recommend cae gwyn farm who have B&B, bunkhouse and camping about 2 mines from the entrance of coed y brenin. Dolgellau is the closest town, and has a big eurospar as well as a few other shops and restaurants.

[Gumstabber]

My "local" is Afan. But I've done several in n. Wales and 4 of the Scottish Stanes (South western ones can't remember the names). The trails in Afan are still my favourite. You can stay in Bryn Bettws lodge for W2 trail and the Wall or you can stay in Glyncorrwg for W2 and Whites level

Bikepark wales is a collection of short downhill runs of varying technicality. £30 for a days uplift but book in advance, there is a fireroad that you can ride up if you don't want to pay for the uplift. From Afan it's about 30 mins to bike park wales by car.

N.Wales and Scotland are still great centres though.

[Twistygit]

I agree with afan loads of trails, brilliant. There some others close that are good but i think afan is good for 4 days anyway

[Mr Bishi]

I've actually just been looking at Afan as it goes and it does look it could be what we are looking for. Need to check out some of the accomodation.

[budgie smuggler]

What's open at Afan at the moment? Last I heard Penhydd was completely gone?

ETA: I'm in Essex, and North Wales is worth the extra driving time IMVHO

[E38Ross]

Have done afan as well as coed-y-brenin and others like the marin near betws-y-coed and think I prefer afan to be honest. Both good gun though, the W2 is the pick of the bunch for me.

Ross.

[B1G GK]

Head towards Betsy Coed, youve got 3 centres on your doorstep and a plethora of natural stuff to go at.

[shouldbworking]

For next year? thats ample time to get over there try out a load and see which you prefer!

I visited machynlleth and enjoyed that for a mix of good natural xc loops with the climachx trail centre just round the corner and nant yr arian not far off.

If dedicated trail centres are a must it has to be the south wales ones, afan and then say FoD the next day

[Gumstabber]

Afan currently has White's level and the Wal and W2 open. I think skyline is full of diversions currently but could be wrong.

Look here for up to date info:-
http://www.afanforestpark.co.uk/default.aspx?page=...

Bear in mind that bike park wales doesn't open until 24th August and I would probably think that uplifts for the first weeks are hard to come by currently.

[P-Jay]

Afan's great but White's is a real mess, the replacement perm/temp climb is BRUTAL it's the old final descent so you can 'enjoy' riding stupid steep trail, and rock gardens the wrong way, before reaching the trail head and onto another long fire road climb, a muddy farm track climb to the top of the black section which is in a terrible state, as a black graded trail section is should be tough, but it's long, long overdue some maintenance, the berms are all blown out and it's really hard to maintain any speed. Once you're done on Black there's another long fire road climb, after that it gets good again, except 'Goodwood' (the 'North Shore section' which is closed because all the woodwork is broken. The new final descent is Alpine-good, not sure people of mixed ability would enjoy it though, it's pretty fking steep in parts and the penalty for mistakes is harsh, as I found out ha ha.

Penhydd is closed but should be back in Nov / Dec, there's a new trail called Blade coming early 2013.

The Wall is brilliant though, there's a mini-park mid-way around too which is good.

Skyline is st and always has been, but so little of it is still there, it's pretty much a 47k fireroad slog now.

Bikepark Wales is going to be awesome, but it's booked solid for weeks and again, even though it has Blue / Red / Black graded trails they're Bike Park / Downhill trails and will be a notch up from Trail Centre stuff, inexperienced might not enjoy it.

Cwmcarn is brilliant in any weather, Brechfa is probably the best ride in South Wales right now, but it's very hard in the wet.

[duff]

North Wales, especially CyB, has the better riding but it's a pain to get to from the South so I tend to go to S.Wales.

Afan has always been great but I think with the changes to Whites Level it's lost something (although the climb isn't that bad and I'm no fan of climbing), could be the feeling of speed has gone now the trees have been felled. Penhydd was great but is now shut and Skyline has some brilliant sections but I hear there are a lot of diversions now.

I would go to FoD and then Cwmcarn (that is a brutal climb) or just get up earlier and drive to CyB and maybe Machnylleth if you have time.

[Vans]

For XC i really liked Brechfa when we went a few months ago.

About 12 miles for each trail.

http://www.mbwales.com/en/content/cms/bases/brechf...

Then stop off at Affan on the way out of Wales.