Traws Eryri Day 1 – Machynlleth to Dolgellau

by Alan Cole · Published Tuesday, October 6th, 2026 · Updated Tuesday, October 6th, 2026

A few weeks ago I had a message from Mike, an old friend from university, saying that he was bike-packing the Traws Eryri, raising money for Alzheimer’s Research. He asked if I’d like to join him. I obviously said yes, bought the kit I’d need, and last Tuesday, the day to actually do it, rolled around.

The route starts in Machynlleth and covers 120 miles or so of Welsh mountains to end in Conwy. There’s plenty of climbing, some technical descents, plenty of off-road riding, long stretches with no facilities and, of course, plenty of Welsh weather to contend with.

The first hurdle was getting to the start. Morgan came with me as he would need the car and had to be at work in Aberystwyth for 9am. We planned to leave me in Machynlleth just after 8am, where I’d meet Mike, who had spent the night in the White Lion. We only got as far as Tre Ddol where we joined a queue of stationary traffic and discovered the road ahead was blocked by an accident. It didn’t look as though we were going anywhere as the time ticked by, so even if we did, Morgan wouldn’t have time to drop me in Machynlleth and get back to Aberystwyth for 9am. So, I jumped out of the car, removed my bike from the bike rack, loaded up my luggage and set off – I would have to ride to Machynlleth!

It was a nice little warm-up of about 8 miles, but with 40-odd miles of Welsh hills ahead of me for the rest of the day, it probably wasn’t really needed. It felt OK at the time, but I was expecting to pay for the extra distance later in the day.

Machynlleth to Abergynolwyn

I met Mike, and after a photo by the clock tower we were off, following the River Dyfi on the cycle paths and quiet back roads to Ceinws. I obviously know this part of the world fairly well and had suggested that we add a loop of the ClimachX trail onto today’s ride. It would start the ride off with an extra climb and some decent single-track descents.

So, at Ceinws we headed off into the Dyfi Forest where we were able to see how mismatched we would be on the climbs. Mike was on an e-bike, so had motor assistance, especially on the climbs, but it was OK. He was obviously quicker on the climbs if he wanted to be, but was comfortable enough at my pace too. From my point of view there was no ego-fuelled need to be the fastest. Mike had a motor, so it wasn’t even a contest. I could therefore just plod along, putting in just enough effort to climb the hill.

We didn’t do all of ClimachX as a couple of sections at the end had significant forestry work taking place, but we did a number of sections of the trilogy itself, half of the final descent and then detoured off onto some off-piste sections to head down into Corris rather than all the way back to the start of the trail.

In Corris, we had hoped to stop for some supplies or a snack, but the shop was closed, so I suggested we head out onto the main road and grab a coffee at the Corris Craft Centre. It was quite a grey day, not quite raining, but not fully dry either. We grabbed a coffee and a Welsh cake, used the facilities and were soon on our way, climbing up to the top of the road where Cadair Idris, shrouded in cloud, came into view.

From here we dropped back down towards Tal-y-Llyn on tarmac around the sharp hairpin bend and then made our way to the north side of the lake where we splashed through the ford and followed the track alongside the lake. We’d thought about stopping at the Tyn-y-Cornel Hotel, but it was still too early, so we decided to push on to Abergynolwyn and hope the pub was serving food (the café there is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).

As we left Tal-y-Llyn behind, we found ourselves on the first off-road section of the official route, a leaf-strewn, slightly muddy track. Not technical at all, but somehow Mike managed to get a log stuck on his rear derailleur and bent it badly out of shape. He was lucky it didn’t ruin his wheel as well, but there was no way it was working in the shape it was.

We took some time to straighten it as best we could and eventually got it so that the chain would run through it and Mike could use the bottom half of his cassette without the derailleur fouling on his spokes. It was far from ideal, but did allow him to limp along for a while. We would have to get it fixed though, so made contact with the bike shops in Dolgellau and at Coed y Brenin. The one in Dolgellau couldn’t help, but Beics Brenin had a suitable derailleur in stock and would be able to replace it for Mike if we could make it that far tomorrow.

The next section of the route took us along the delightful back roads around and below Birds Rock. It’s always nice here and today we had an ever-strengthening tailwind that was literally blowing us along the lanes with barely any need to pedal. Although, with only a few higher gears at his disposal, Mike put his e-bike into a more powerful mode for any inclines just so that he could get up the climbs easily without putting too much strain through the chain and derailleur.

We dropped down into Abergynolwyn where I had a beef brisket baguette for lunch and Mike had a Guinness.

Cregennan Lakes, the Mawddach Trail and Dolgellau

After lunch we had a long, and sometimes steep, climb all the way up to Cregennan Lakes. We were now heading into the wind as well, which didn’t help. Mike went off ahead using his motor to help him up the hill and protect his derailleur. I took it easy, mindful of the fact that there was still a long way to go and I’d already done quite a bit extra. We didn’t get split up that much though and Mike waited at the gates.

The road turned to a gravelly track over the top and soon opened out to the amazing views down to Barmouth. It wasn’t the clearest of days, but we could at least see enough to give Mike an idea of how good the view can be. Despite spending three years at university in Aberystwyth, Mike had never been to most of the places we would visit on this trip. I had been here before in all types of weather.

From here we followed the track, which became quite loose, rocky and rutted in places, and then returned to tarmac roads to Cregennan Lakes. The wind, which had been increasing in strength all day, really made itself felt here. It was hard to cycle against it and, once we turned so that it came from the side, it was hard to stay upright. Although only a small lake, the wind was whipping the water up into waves and spindrift was racing across its surface in big clouds.

I got blown over at one point and just managed to unclip and put my foot down. As I did so my leg cramped up, so I had to get off to stretch it out. I then couldn’t get back on my bike as every time I stood on one leg to swing my other leg over the bike it would cramp again. I walked it out for a little while and then remounted.

Not long after I did, Mike got blown off too. He didn’t manage to get his foot down, so ended up in a heap on the floor, still attached to his bike and unable to get up. I had to stop to help remove his bike from on top of him and sort him out. Fortunately there was no real damage done!

We were quite glad to start descending and find some shelter as we plummeted down the steep switchbacks to Arthog and then joined the Mawddach Trail.

Things were much nicer down here, warmer, less windy (although there was still a headwind in places) and I think the sun was even trying to come out at times. The Mawddach Trail is also completely flat, so I spun along it easily, trying not to put in too much effort as my legs were now pretty tired. Not surprising really as I’d now covered close to 50 miles today.

I nursed them to the George III where we stopped for a couple of pints before finally riding the last couple of miles into Dolgellau.

We popped into the outdoor shop to say hello to Andrew (who met us later in the pub), then checked into Ivy House, our B&B for the night.

We locked our bikes away, showered and then headed into The Stag Inn for a pizza and drinks before retiring for the night as the rain started to pour.