This Is Not Spain

Exploring a new trail under a glorious early spring sunrise was the plan, however an unannounced closure of the A55 meant we spent a sizeable chunk of the morning on the B roads of the Wrexham area. After deliberating whether Llandegla might not be to bad, we persevered and rolled up in Capel Curig under slate grey skies.

Ste unloads in the cold. We travelled Arthur Dent stylee as always

Nothing says adventure like a water board access road. They build those bastards straight up the hill mind, no switchbacks here. Ste grinds onwards.

Difficult to pronounce Welsh reservoir was frozen over. Kind of added to the epic feel of the place.

Ste in max attack, both for the camera and to stay warm. There was a cold old breeze coming of that reservoir.

Ain't nuthin' finer than riding wiggly singletrack below some cliffs. Alas this particular bit of singletrack however, did not go to far.

This bit of singletrack however was a winner. Flowing at the bottom with these slate laden switchbacks higher up. We pushed on upwards...

...until things got a little bit too steep and rocky. I bottled this slab of fear, although I was pretty pleased with my dab heavy trip down the rock garden in the background.

The trail switchbacked up the back wall of the valley. Ste says the steep switchbacks reminded him of Spain. The weather was distinctly Welsh.

Setting out to see if a trail is rideable based on some dots on a map and a picture of the interweb may seem like a bit of a gamble, but we got too see everything as we made our way up the trail, and when things got silly we just turned around. Was a pretty worry free way of taking a bicycle into the mountains.

The inevitable Tryfan / Mordor comment was made. Seems like a fair comparison to me, even though I have never been to Mordor.

'Fell-Tech' is probably my favourite type of riding. Dropping into one of the steeper bits.

Ste didn't take his bike quite as high. The trail below the switchbacks was top notch regardless. The drop to a very icy lake kept concentration up.

Neeeeooowwwmmm. Towards the bottom you could really let of the brakes

'Hey Ma, look where we went'. We where pretty surprised how close to the ridge it was possible to ride. We where only ten meters of vertical off I reckon.

We finished things off with a best of the Marin Trail blast. Still a glorious bit of trail, especially when it was so dry.

Ste keeps it pinned. Despite knowing the trail like the back of our hands, the combination of swoopy erodedness is ace. It was so dry there was even a bit of dust. The Marin is one of the best man made trails. Despite the somewhat crap start to the day, we ended up riding some of the best trails of the year so far.