Blog Posts in Category: Mountain Biking

North Wales MTB

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking, North Wales Short Link

We headed up for a weekend in North Wales with the Avon Mountaineering Club, however given the poor forecast we elected to take our bikes as a better poor weather option than walking in the cloud and the rain. Coed-y-Brenin On the way up we stopped off at Coed-y-Brenin for some quick trail centre action. We started off on the Minotaur which is a fantastic blue. Nothing too hard, but plenty of fun for all biking abilities with lots of little jumps, berms, interesting climbs and brilliant scenery. With the short daylight hours Katherine and I then decided to do a short route in order to make the most of the remaining weather. So we headed off to do Temtiwr which was a serious step up from the Minotaur, but was brilliant fun right from the start with plenty of technical rock sections. The climb in the middle was a chore, but the final descent was well worth the effort! We made it back in good time and go to our accommodation before the deluge started. The same cannot be said for everyone on our trip. The Snowdon Ranger My. Read the full article…

Biking in the Quantock Hills

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking Short Link

With another day of dry weather I headed down to the Quantock Hills with Becky for an afternoon of mountain biking. As with yesterdays biking the views were lovely, with plenty of autumnal colours around. We climbed out of Holford up the “Dog Pound” climb which took us to the top of the classic descent down Weacombe. Unsurprisingly it was much wetter than when I was last here with James in the middle of summer, however it was still lots of fun. After the climb back up Staple Hill we elected to head over to descent down Start Combe into Somerton Combe, before heading back to Holford. This was more difficult than Weacombe as it was narrower, but it was still very friendly and great fun. We were soon back down in the Dodders Combe, where we made the descent back down to the car in Holford. After biking we headed to East Quantoxhead to do a short walk along the beach. The geology on the beach was fascinating, and very photogenic.

Avon Dam & Scorriton

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking Short Link

Today we enjoyed a cycle up to Avon Dam and then onto Scorriton. This was our plan b, after aborting mid wales due to excessive amounts of rain being forecast. The route started up a small road, before a short descent which gave us an idea of what was to come, ie. lots of water! A lovely climb up the side of a valley then followed where we were able to watch a buzzard flying around. After a short descent we were back down onto tarmac for the easy climb up to Avon Dam. We made short work of this, before encountering the most technical part of the route, the rocky traverse around the Avon reservoir. After a damp climb up we enjoyed a fast and fun grassy descent down Abbot’s Way. After another short climb up a small tarmac road, and then a good track we were soon at the long descent down to Chalk Ford, and then onto Scorriton. We then enjoyed/endured the long 20% climb back up which seemed to go on for a long time! One last climb then took us up to Skerraton Down. From. Read the full article…

The Blorenge

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking Short Link

Last weekend I made the most of the good weather by heading out with my parents on a short mountain bike circuit around the Blorenge. It is always great to start at the top of a hill, rather than at the bottom. After a short warm up traversing the hill we were soon at the first descent. The first section was very overgrown with heather, and very rough and rocky which was interesting. After this first section was complete there was a lovely long section of single track which took us down to the Punchbowl. After an initial very steep climb which definitely involved a push up, the rest of the climb back up to the top was fairly straightforward. I was expecting the last short descent back down to the car to be fairly unexciting. However I was very much mistaken, the descent started by traversing along a terrace with fantastic views. It then carried on down a lovely grassy descent with lots of natural bumps and jumps. We were soon back on the initial traverse path and made our way back to the car. This will certainly be. Read the full article…

Glen Tilt MTB circuit

Alastair BegleyMountain Biking, Scotland Short Link

After a few days of walking I was keen to try out my new mountain bike in the mountains, so we headed to Blair Atholl where there was a short Munro for Becky and a good MTB loop for me. We started the day by heading up Glen Tilt together until Forest Lodge. Becky then headed up Carn a’ Chlamain and I continued up the valley. The biking up Glen Tilt was very straightforward up good estate tracks which enabled excellent progress to be made. The biking became more interesting as I turned off the main estate track and headed down to the Falls of Tarf. After an enjoyable section of rough estate track and single track I was soon at the river crossing, thankfully due to the dry weather recently the river was low and I managed to keep my feet dry. After pushing my bike up the very steep and loose hill behind the river crossing there was a long section of gently uphill single track towards the very remote Fealer Lodge. This section was surprisingly tiring, but very interesting, however it was a bit of a relief. Read the full article…