A brief break in Betsw-y-Coed.

Life rolls on. Adventure can get pushed aside by the pressures of work, we try, and often succeed, to find time to get out and play, but sometimes you need to get out of your locale and play in a different sandpit. Last weekend we did just that.

Friday saw us pack up, head west and spend a couple of nights in the Vagabond bunkhouse in the Welsh honeytrap that is Betsw-y-Coed. We arrived in the cold, ate in the cold (dogs weren't allowed in our ill-chosen restaurant so we sat outside with our burgers wrapped in down under heat lamps) and slept in a damned hot room! A case of not wanting to upset our room-mate by turning the heater down, who in turn didn't want to upset us by turning the heater down... Saturday morning saw us make a rough plan over our cooked breakfast, which changed and changed again. Running was our agenda, Moel Siabod a likely goal, which was thwarted by a lack of preparation. We didn't have the appropiate map with us. Next plan, up the Miners and down the Pyg, with the option of the summit if we felt like it. But thwarted again we were as the bunkhouse owner told of snow and ice on high ground and the need for axe and crampon. We had neither, nor did we know just what the higher ground held as we arrived in darkness and did no research before leaving. So a plan C was planned, a low level run, short but interesting on ground new to us.

We set off in glorious but cold weather, heading west to Beddgelert. As we drove we could see the peaks, Siabod looked do-able but potentially icy on its northern face, Snowdon snowy on its higher flanks but possibly ok as well. (We later learned that it was ok with care, but someone had taken a fall that afternoon).

Parking in a layby near the copper mine we crossed the Glaslyn and headed upstream to Llyn Dinas on an easy path, then took a right up a stony track leading to Grib Ddu. The higher we climbed the wilder the terrain and the better the views, running being interrupted by snapshots and mapchecks (not always necessary but good practice nonetheless). We reached a saddle, the path went downhill, industrial relics were in evidence and, we saw the sea! Running down took longer than usual as prudence suggested we walked some rocky sections and I stopped to photograph a series of rope haulage towers, an important reminder of this regions industrial past. Down we went, reaching woodland and the Aberglaslyn Pass, before heading north alongside the Glaslyn on a rocky riverside path, stopping every now and then to take photos and spot lines (not that I could run that section, even in my best kayaking form). Our path skirted Beddgelert, and deposited us on a back road that led us to the copper mine, and our waiting car. Our run was a total of nine kilometres long and took us a shade over the 300 metre contour. And whilst it wasn't in any way hard, we enjoyed superb weather, explored new ground, saw the sea(!) and enjoyed just being outside together. A part of me did wish that we'd explored one of our first two options (running up Snowdon is on my list), but we'll be back another time.

Llyn Dinas. Note the frost in the foreground.

On higher ground, heading for the saddle.

Snapshot of a snapshot.

Once a quarry.

Left to rust, a reminder that industry once thrived in the Welsh hills.

Alongside the Glaslyn.

Betsw-y-Coed was still cold on our return in the afternoon, but cake and hot drinks in the Alpine cafe warmed us. Later we drove down to see a friend of ours in Cwm-Penmachno, then back to town for pizza (we found a dog-friendly pizzeria) and bed.

Sunday was our biking day. First of all though we headed back to Cwm-Penmachno so the dogs could be walked in the abandoned slate quarry, we wanted them to let off some steam as they would be spending a fair amount of time shut in the car. Then back to Bobs for tea and chat.
Copious amounts off tea drunk and chins fully wagged we headed back up the road to ride the Penmachno trail. Dani's never ridden in Wales before, and although I have visited a fair few Welsh trail centres over the years I'd never got to ride this one (although I have been around the nearby Marin). Fire road climbs are never particulary pleasant, but finding one at the start of a trail at least ensures that you're fully warmed up when you do hit the first singletrack section. We don't have much of the narrow stuff in the Peaks, and our visits to trail centres rare, so it came as no suprise that we're both out of practice when the trail slims down, so we opted for the shorter 20k(ish) loop. Dani didn't care for the drop-offs and step-downs, her confidence still hasn't quite returned after crashing and cracking a few ribs when racing at Cannock, not helped by her brakes being a tad lacking in power. By the end though she felt and rode much better, although we both agree that some coaching would help.

Fat bike thin trail.

The trails were actually quite dry, which I'm informed is rare for this trail, apart from one exposed high section which seemed mostly underwater. Like most purpose built trails it comprises of singletrack sections joined by fire roads, which are also used to gain height. I liken trail centres to a trip around Ikea, you're never quite sure of where exactly you are in the store/forest as the trail weaves around and around in disorientating fashion. One feature that stood out for me was how different each section was, for example one part of trail being an exposed gnarly rockfest, another sweet swoopy woodland singletrack, followed by a bonkers pump track leading to exposed smooth flowing loveliness.

Blimey, a girl on a mountain bike!

Dani admiring the view on her pink hardtail.

Before we needed waterwings...

Funny how I never stop to photo the really gnarly bits...

We did meet a couple of other mtb'ers, from Yorkshire, towards the end, and another biker hooning alone, but apart from those three we had the place to ourselves. Once our ride was over and we'd changed, disguising ourselves as normal respectable folk, it was off back to B-y-C for hot drinks and cake in the Alpine (nice place, good drinks, excellent cake, and dog friendly) before the drive home.

We had a really nice weekend away, and were lucky with the weather. Hopefully we'll be back in the spring for more small adventures.

Paul.