Tarren Ridge MTB Ride Trail Guide
February 27th dawned grey damp and windy, but the Ystwyth-MTB club had a ‘proper wilderness’ ride on the agenda. Things weren’t looking too promising as we drove to meet in Machynlleth. The Tarren ridge that we were supposed to be riding was shrouded in dark grey clouds and didn’t look too inviting.
Dave, John, Pete, Shem and I met in Machynlleth and proceded to get ready. We saw Tegid from the bike shop as we were about to set off and his expression when we told him where we were going kind of summed it up – We must be mad!
Mad or not we set off along the roads to Pantperthog and then up into Pennal Forest with Shem guiding us through the maze of forest roads. It seemed to take forever to weave our way up and through the forest, with occasional glimpses of the Tarren Ridge high above us, but slowly getting closer. Now and then it would come out of the clouds but more often than not it looked pretty grey and miserable up there. Maybe a cold, wet day in February wasn’t the best of days to ride this route afterall.
After a few slidey, muddy descents in the forest, lots of fire road climbs and then a steep loose climb, we broke free of the trees and straight into a biting wind and hailstorm. The trail ahead of us pointed up towards the top of Tarren Hendre which wasn’t visible through the clouds.
Looking South from the Top of Pennal Forest
Shem left us here and the four of us continued up, first along double track, then onto some single track and then boggy moorland as the climb ever steepened. Pete was out in front seemingly at home on the steep, soft ground, I followed him closely with John behind me and then Dave who wasn’t at home on grass and was having troubles getting his small chainring. Pete made it further up the slope than anyone else but I wasn’t too far behind, but in the end we all had to dismount and start the long, energy sapping, calf-burning push to the top.
Pete and I rode the last few hundred metres to the Summit of Tarren Hendre. It’s not much of a summit really just the top of a large rounded hill, but we’d made it and from here on it was mainly downhill. Pete and I had time to check the contents of a geocache I’ve hidden up here, but once Dave and John were with us we didn’t hang around long as the wind was freezing and we just wanted to get down a little lower and find some shelter.
We were soon grinning again though and the long slog to the top was forgotten as soon as we stared hurtling down across the soft grass moorland. A few little climbs that were all rideable and we were soon at the large Cairn at Trum Gelli where we to admire the amazing views out over the Dyfi Estuary and down towards Borth and Ynyslas. To the NW we could also see Tywyn and the Broadwater but looking that weay meant braving the biting wind we so we hunkered down behind the cairn and ate our lunch.
After lunch we descended a little more steeply over more boggy moorland towards the Roman Road. John managed to ride into an obvious rock on the trail that everyone else avoided with ease. John hit it, went over the bars, and landed face first in a boggy patch. Cold and wet he then realised that he’d punctured at the same time so we all helped fix that whilst getting very cold on the exposed hillside before continuing on our way to the Roman Road.
Off of the moorland grass and onto some harder substrate we picked up speed and started clattering over the rocks as we hurtled down off the hill towards Happy Valley. A couple of gates and some deep puddles slowed our progress now and then but gave us an opportunity to enjoy the views. The sun had now come out and the Dyfi Valley looked amazing, with patches of bright green lit by the sunshine and white clouds scuttling across a fresh blue, spring sky.
All too soon we were at the end of the Roman Road where we met a few guys from the Dysynni MTB club, said our hello’s and then continued on to the tarmac road through Happy Valley. It was now Dave’s turn for a puncture which we soon mended before setting off along the road to Pennal and then back up, climbing through the forestry before descending back down to the main road and into Machynlleth.
Tarren Ridge Route and Topo
Despite our fears of rain and a very wet miserable ride it turned out fine. A little cold and windy on the top and some stinging hailstorms, but the sun came out later and it was big smiles all round for all of us. Certainly a route worth doing, but maybe in the summer next time.
I had my GoPro camera with me too, so here’s a video of most of the main descent from Tarren Hendre to Happy Valley.
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Good report Al. I had a fun decent down through Cwn Alice forest on a surprise new fire road. If you fancy a different route over spring, we could use a friends private road up through tarren cwm fernol, which is only 3 miles to the top! A steep 3 miles though!