While many people headed to Snowdonia’s honey pots over Easter Weekend, team Ty Beic stayed closer to home and the gloriously deserted Carnedd y Filiast.
The mountain (I checked, it is one), is about a 15 minute drive away and overlooks Llyn Celyn with views across to Snowdon and Clocaenog Forest.
The route up and down is about 8 miles and is extremely easy to navigate with a clearly defined track to the summit.
And that track is begging to be ridden. Next time…
One local rag described scenes on Snowdon as resembling “Alton Towers” and covered in “human excrement.” I seriously doubt this was true as the unnamed local rag has some of the worst reporting and standards of journalism I have come across. Whatever the case, Snowdon would have been crowded. Carnedd y Filiast was not, in fact we do not see a soul.
And to finish the afternoon, we called into Manon’s Cafe at the National Whitewater Centre for one of their delicious wood fired pizzas. No photos as I ate to too fast.
Ty Beic has joined Tourism Declares, an initiative that supports tourism businesses, organisations and individuals in declaring a climate emergency and taking purposeful action to reduce carbon emissions as per the advice from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030.
Ty Beic has committed to the following five actions:
1. Develop a ‘Climate Emergency Plan’ within the next 12 months, which sets out intentions to reduce carbon emissions over the next decade.
2. Share an initial public declaration of the ‘Climate Emergency Plan’ and update on progress each year.
3. Accept current IPCC advice stating the need to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030 in order to keep the planet within 1.5 degrees of warming. To ensure that the ‘Climate Emergency Plan’ represents actions designed to achieve this as a minimum, through delivering transparent measures and increasing reductions in the total carbon emissions per customer arising from Ty Beic’s operations.
4. Encourage suppliers and partners to make the same declaration; sharing best practice amongst peers; and actively participate in the Tourism Declares community
5. Advocate for change by recognising the need for system change across the industry to accelerate a just transition towards carbon-free tourism.
Please consider also declaring at www.tourismdeclares.com, and follow on @tourismdeclares on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin
A new normal service has resumed. It will be different, but just as good.
Most of the changes will happen behind the scenes with deep cleans and longer gaps between stays. If you want to know more have a look at the risk assessment and cleaning checklist. All guests will be sent further information after booking including pre and post arrival questionnaires.
The weekend before last it was the turn of the walkers. Many of my guests head for Snowdon (*sigh*) and so did these, but with a difference. One lot tackled the Snowdon Horseshoe, that’s a serious scramble, and my other guests ticked off Snowdon en route to Ben Nevis and then on to Scafell. 3 Peaks in 3 Days.
….is Revolution Bike Park or as it’s more commonly known, ‘Revs’
It’s one of the best downhill bike parks around and is where the world’s best downhillers come to practice. Revs is owned, built and run by brothers James and Tim Foster. Seeing a gap between family friendly trails centres and something for the more experienced rider they bought the land about 9 years ago and ploughed (pardon the pun) everything they had into building the park. A labour of love or probably more accurately, a battle with mud, lead and planning departments. But that’s another story. If you do bump into either of them, ask about their latest toilet project. Honest, it’s fascinating and you wouldn’t believe how difficult it could be to find water to flush toilets in one of the wettest parts of the country.
The Facts
100 acres of woodland and 300m of vertical descent
10 trails taking in Red (Advanced), Black (Expert) and Purple (Proline)
12 miles from Ty Beic, about a 25 minute drive
Open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays 10am – 4pm
Uplift only (no riding up)
The best coffee between here and Oswestry. According to Tim.
I have to mention it although I don’t want to and I have tried my best to resist. It’s less than 4 weeks away. As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan. At all. So if you do stay here over Christmas do not expect tinsel, baubles, flashing fairy lights or Christmas trees. There are some of those – Christmas trees that is and real ones too, still in the ground – in the woods behind the hill and there’s a holly tree outside the Stable. I have been known to provide mince pies but they’re not just for Christmas, I like them. I also like sprouts. Do expect a warm and cosy cottage (there’s underfloor heating), spectacular views, plenty of places and time to cycle or walk and peace and quiet.
The Barn is available until 27 December and the Stable until 26 December. Dogs (or cats if you must) are welcome in the Stable. £85 per night, minimum 2 night stay.
If you thought mountain biking began in California in the 1970s, think again. It was born 100 years ago in North Wales when Walter MacGregor Robinson, aka the ‘Wayfarer’, decided to mark the end of the ‘off-season’ with a weekend ride. On 30 March 1918 Robinson and a group of friends rode from Birmingham to Liverpool. Not ones for taking the easy option, although they did very sensibly decide to “dispose of Wrexham” they embarked on a route that took them over one of the highest passes in Wales. In a snowstorm. Robinson never refers to Nant Rhyd Wilym as such. He prefers to call it ‘Over the Top’ and that was the title of the article he wrote for ‘Cycling’ magazine a year after his adventure the popularity of which spawned a new interest in off-road cycling and the mountain bike boom was born*.
This wonderfully evocative article is written in Robinson’s eloquent, rhetorical and often humorous style. It is also strangely prescient
“The road up the Glyn Valley for the first few miles has been “repaired” in a manner which suggests that the local authority wishes to discourage cycling and motoring visitors, upon whom the prosperity of the district in a measure depends.”
Robinson was a pioneer, encouraging cyclists to explore using mountain tracks, footpaths and byways as “some of the best of cycling would be missed if one always had to be in the saddle or on a hard road.”
His cycling exploits are all the more remarkable given that he was injured during the First World War and often felt pain in his leg. He rode a singlespeed Rover Light Roadster. He advised other cyclists to dispense with mudguards, probably because they would become clogged with mud or on his epic wayfarer adventure, snow. A perfectionist and fastidious in almost everything he did, he was not however a fan of cleaning his bicycle claiming that “cycles are for riding, not for cleaning”.
Robinson was an insurance clerk by profession but he was a remarkable cyclist and an inspiring writer. In the words of the great man himself “’twill be an adventure”
The snow’s gone, spring is in the air and normal service has resumed so here’s a reminder about who we are, what we do and why we are here.
We moved to North Wales in 2013 after living in South East London for nearly 20 years. We have always been cycling obsessed. We met while both members of Dulwich Paragon cycling round the lanes of Kent and the North Downs and later getting our arses handed to us on a plate at Crystal Palace Crits. At the time I was the only single female in the cycling club so I had the pick of the club and Richard didn’t. Make of that what you will.
That’s me in 2009, 2nd in line looking a little chunky
After years of city living and spending many weekends escaping London to find good places to ride we decided to make a permanent move. I left my job of running a classical concert venue in central London, Richard re-located his furniture making business and we moved to Sarnau near Bala.
We knew the area well. Richard’s family is originally from near Llangollen and he spent many a family holiday in the Tanat Valley riding his BMX or ancient Peugeot MTB around what is now the Revolution Bike Park. I used to come here most summers with a ragtag group of cyclists from Southwark to attempt the Wild Wales Challenge.
I handed in my notice in March 2013 and by the end of June we were living in Ty Hen. We found the house from a small ad in the local paper. We didn’t immediately fall in love with the place but there was a lot that we liked, including the views of the Berwyn mountains, and we thought we could make it work for us.
The first job was to build a workshop for Richard so he could continue with his business (www.catchweasel.com) and work on converting the derelict outbuildings into holiday cottages. The workshop is the Swiss style chalet behind the house. One of our friends in Bala once said we would make more money from it as a holiday let than a workshop. He may be right.
Work began on the barn conversions in November 2014. We wouldn’t have chosen to start work then but we needed to get going as time and money were running out. It was not a labour of love. It was very, very hard work and I never want to do anything like that again. We finished the Barn in August 2015 (4 hours before our first guests) and the Stable in December 2015.
The cottages are designed to appeal to cyclists as cycling is our passion. We provide secure bike storage, bike wash, workstand and tools and can give advice about the best routes, rides and bike parks. One of the reasons we chose to live here is that we are no more than a 40 minute drive from about eight trail centres and mountain bike trails. One of our first guests described the area as Singletrack Epicentre which is about right and since moving here we have discovered that there are also some great natural trails in the hills behind us and over on the Berwyn. Last year we started to build a bike track in the large, steep field at the front of the property.
The road riding is exceptional with quiet roads, challenging climbs and exhilarating descents. We can go out for a 30 mile ride, pick the right roads and not see a car.
After about a year of living here we acquired a dog. Jac (spelt the Welsh way without a ‘k’) is the photogenic Labrador you see in nearly all of our photos. As we like dogs so much it seemed daft not to allow dogs to stay in our cottages so we made one of the them, the Stable, pet friendly. Dogs love roaming around the grounds and playing in the field and Jac gets on with everyone and everything. We’ve also had cats to stay and Jac didn’t eat them.
Our cottages are not your normal barn conversions. We both have unusual and quirky taste and have a habit of picking things up in junk and charity shops. These have found their way into the cottages along with some of Richard’s creations.
Neutral they are not. They’re also much nicer and much warmer than our house. We wish we lived in one of them.
It’s been 6 months since my last mountain bike ride as my last attempt resulted in an unplanned dismount and a broken thumb. Pain, lack of control (nothing new there) but mainly fear has kept me off off road and on on road ever since. Richard found a sneaky local loop which has tempted me back. 1 1/2 road miles from Ty Beic, a mile long with 200 feet of climbing and a gradual ascent and gentle singletrack descent. Nothing technical and can be ridden all year round. Ideal. Ride it multiple times at speed and it’s a good workout. Perfect for a quick morning spin before anyone else is out of bed or a gentle evening ride before bed.
I first road it last week in snow and ice and again yesterday in mud. I prefer the snow. If Eleanor isn’t too brutal I may go again today.
Shameless marketing warning, if you want to try it for yourself it’s only £65 per night (£32.50 per person) to stay during January to March and there are further discounts if you are a Singletrack magazine subscriber.
The ride up to the Wayfarer memorial on the Berwyn has become one of our regular rides. A mini epic of about 24 miles with 3,300 feet of climbing. The classic Wayfarer route starts in Llandrillo and goes over the Berwyn and down into Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog. It’s an epic ride with lots of climbing and some interesting descents but finishing in Llanarmon DC means that there’s a long and hard slog home, unless you can persuade someone to pick you up. We’ve created a shortened version which starts and finishes at Ty Beic and doesn’t require a car.
Our route starts from the back gate and up to Caer Euni along the ridge before dropping down to Bethel and crossing the A494. There’s a much quicker route along the road if you want to avoid a testing grassy climb and some would say an unnecessary off-road slog.
Once across the main road there’s a bridleway through Ty’n Fedw and up to Mynydd Mynyllod. During the winter months parts of this can be very boggy but a dry spring and early summer means that it is still relatively dry even after some recent downpours. The track across the moor is difficult to find but we do have a GPS/Strava file we can share.
there’s a track there somewhere
windy
From the wind turbines at the top of Mynydd Mynyllod we drop down to Cwynyd and take small back roads to the start of the climb proper up to the Wayfarer memorial. This is a hard slog up a tarmac road. Once the tarmac runs out the gradient easies a little as the track follows the contours. During the holiday season you may see the odd group of walkers and a few green laners but the track is wide enough to accommodate everyone and there’s never any conflict. And choose a day during the week you’re unlikely to see another soul.
before the crash
The climb takes about an hour. Once at the top take time to enjoy the views and sign the book in the metal box by the memorial. It’s then a fairly fast and fun descent down a rocky track to Llandrillo. Don’t do what I did recently. Hit a loose rock, not hold on to the bars properly, impromptu dismount, trashed helmet and damaged hand.
arty rock and sky pic
time for a picnic
Looking smug and not for the first time
quick check of the map
gates to slow the descent
If it’s open we’d recommend a quick pint in the Dudley Arms before bashing along the road to Llandderfel where it’s possible to have another quick pint and a bite to eat in the Bryntirion before the ride home. The beer will help numb the pain for the *testing* climb from Llandderfel to Cefynddwysarn and the final haul back up to Ty Beic. There’s another off-road route home through Ty Uchaf if the road doesn’t appeal.
That stem is too short
there is a lot of climbing
This ride is not for everyone. There’s a lot of climbing and the descent off the Berwyn is slightly spoiled by the number of gates. But if you like cycling out of the door without having to use a car, non-technical cross country riding with epic views and being able to earn your end of ride pint, then this could be the ride for you. It is rideable all year round but in the depths of winter I’d probably take the car to Cynwyd and ride from there. If you fancy the complete Wayfarer to Llanarmon DC and back then a cross bike would be Richard’s steed of choice. He’s written about such a ride here.
And that track is begging to be ridden. Next time…
And to finish the afternoon, we called into Manon’s Cafe at the National Whitewater Centre for one of their delicious wood fired pizzas. No photos as I ate to too fast.
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