Lon las Cymru training: Brenig & Alwen

I've been getting a bit sick of the same old boring routes lately whilst out on the push iron, so I decided to throw the mountain bike in the back of the van and take the fifty minute drive up to the Alwen reservoir in Conwy county. After all, with a new bike imminent, this would be my last blast on the mountain bike for a while.

The car park is situated right next to the 27 meter high, Alwen dam with its Game of Thrones like tower. I'ts tempting to begin the ride by crossing the dam under its 1900's arches but the best route heads away from the dam, up through the forest, following the length of the reservoir.

The route winds through the pine forest hugging the stony beaches and secluded micro coves, gradually climbing up onto the hills that flank the water. On a sunny day this place reminds me of Canada or Norway without the snow. The smell of pine, glistening blue waters and the purr of my tires on the forest floor feeds the soul.

Peeling away from the reservoir along a bridal way, there's a fairly easy traverse over to Llyn Brenig, the biggest of the two bodies of water. The reasonably flat and wide track gives you the opportunity to enjoy some amazing vistas West over to the mountain ranges of Snowdonia.

After following the track for a few miles I came to a junction where all the signs were weathered beyond recognition. I scanned my surroundings and concluding that I was at the highest point of my ride, I decided to take a left, following a sign that looked like a horse (denoting a bridle way), towards a juicy descent that surely led me to the next lake.

I'd rode up here a couple of times before but being part of a larger group and like the true daydreamer that I am, I never really took any notice of the route details.

The descent was as good as it looked and I could see the lake in the distance. Running out of gears, I free wheeled down a tarmac road, skipping round some speed bumps at high speed. A 4x4 was approaching in the distance so I pulled over to let them past.

As the car reached me, the window rolled down and two guys, with cockney accents proceeded to tell me I was, in fact, on private land and tear arsing it down someones drive way. They were the owners of a nearby trout farm and pointed out that I had taken a wrong turn at the junction and mistaken the trout sign for a horse one!

I now faced a beast of a climb back up to the junction. I wrapped the chain around the baby crank and peddled like a lunatic, imagining the two guys in the 4x4 placing bets at when I'd give up and push. Spurred on by whichever of the bastards was betting against me, I sweated it out to the junction without a single step on the floor. Boom, mini victory.

Remembering this part from my last visit, I came across this random, rotten train carriage with an equally rotten rowing boat inside. Wales does have tendencies of throwing these little quirky things at you when you least expect them.

Still none the wiser as to the story behind the decaying vehicles than my previous visit, I pedaled on towards the Brenig.

Llyn Brenig is a lot more popular than the Alwen, with its visitor centre, boating and fishing activities. The path around the lakes edge is flat but bumpy, churned up from the forestry machines that have left their stacks of logs neatly arranged in pyramids along the track.

An ugly construction rig dominates the view of the rarely still lake, but makes for an interesting view all the same.

The final leg of the trail toys with a nice section of downhill single track, dipping through streams and fords that submerge the gravel track, before linking up with the Alwen again and approaching the car park over the dam for a nice little point of interest to finish.

At the beginning of this post I said this would probably be the last outing on the MTB for a while and after writing this post I severely doubt that to be the case now! I've only reminded myself of how I need to ride this route at least once a month.

Have a great Easter everyone and thanks for reading.