Good news for mountain bikers in North Wales as they now have two kilometres of gorgeous new singletrack on the Gwydyr Forest’s MARIN trail.

The trail cuts out a fireroad descent and tarmac climb and was originally planned in 2002. We reckon it was worth the wait though as it looks packed with modern trail features such as steep berms and decent sized jumps. It starts off as an up and down traverse, weaves its way carefully past an old heritage site before dropping off on its first descent. Unfortunately you’ll have to earn your turns with this one as it also takes in a 12 switchback climb, which gives the section its name ‘Dwsin Drwg’ Bad Dozen, before dropping you into the final descent.

Andy Braund, natural resources Wales MTB ranger, who manages the trail said: “I’m super excited to get this new section open. It solves some potential safety issues for us by taking riders off the fast forest road descent, where they could come into conflict with other users, walkers, horse riders etc. And off a steep narrow public road to avoid issues with cars and local farm traffic. Trailcraft MTB and BMX Track Construction Ltdwho were commissioned to design and build the trail have done a great job despite working in the wettest winter on record. They’ve created a great balance of narrow, natural, hand dug style trail in keeping with the Marins character, But also introduced some up to date sculpted flow trail that swoops through the forest. A fantastic addition to a classic old trail.”

With Antur Stiniog and Penmancho both less than 10 miles away, this makes for one heck of a pocket of mountain biking in the heart of north Wales.