Mountain Biking From Borth
Living on the beach with a large, flat salt marsh behind us means that there isn’t any great mountain-biking on our doorstep. We do of course have some really good trails nearby, but most of these are a 20 minute drive from the house and it would be really nice not to have to do that drive. So, yesterday I set of exploring on my bike.
I headed inland to Tre-Ddol, which involces a 4 mile slog along the flat road across the bog, once in Tre-Ddol I simply picked the nearest hill and cycled up it… And what a hill it was, brutally steep and I wasn’t quite ready for it. In fact I have to admit to being beaten by it, despite it being tarmacked and me being on a mountain-bike I was forced to get off and push the top part… I shall beat it next time! From here I cycled along some nice quiet country lanes amongst some nice scenery and some great views of the Dovey Estuary and then onto some nice rocky double track. next was a big climb along forest roads towards Moel y Llyn Towards the top I stopped and spotted a little trail through the woods heading down into Artists Valley. I thought I’d explore it ans seemed to stumble upon a trail that other bikers n=have been using. Towards the top were some half constructed boardwalks and then a tricky, rocky and rooty descent that got a little too steep and a little too technical for me in places… Again, i shall complete it one day.
This brought me out into Artists Valley where I follwed the road alongside the iver before heading back onto some nice double track and back towards Tre-Ddol. I finished off with some single track through the woods above TreDdol where there is some more constructed jumps and such like, most of whcih looked far too dangerous to attempt, athough i will be back to explore a little further up the hill to see if there are any easy options.
Then it was just a four mile slog back along the roads into the wind. Nothing amazing as far as the terrain goes, but a worthwhile ride all the same that I shall be repeating in the future.
