Adventure bike route to the Alwen reservoir, a circular tour from Betws Y Coed.

The forestry roads, simple singletrack signposted bike routes and bridleways around the Alwen and Brenig reservoirs have something to offer most off road cyclists. Gravel riding is abundant, it is really quiet, particularly once you leave the main trail around the Brenig, and there is a visitor centre with a cafe and public toilet you can pop into should you feel the need. It is also an area surrounded and crisscrossed by bridleways, adding to the draw for the adventure biker.

Usually we drive there to go for an explore, however this time we wanted to see if we could ride a logical route, using some of the Her Hiraethog bike route, to make it into a longer journey. And, there was a piece of double track on the Ordnance Survey map that neither of us had explored before, and looked like it might prove to be a good adventure to connect the dots between sections we had ridden before.

Adventure biking through the tussocks!

Biking along quiet back roads on the edge of Snowdonia National Park

Leaving Betws Y Coed, your legs get a pleasant warm up as you follow the back roads into the Penmachno valley. From here the most logical route to join the bridleways to the southwest of Moel Seisiog is to follow the minor roads as they bend (sometimes steeply) up towards the beginning of the moors. From here, double track and bridleways in good condition lead you eastwards to the A543 road. It is here that you could continue east and then head south to the A5 crossing to the village of Rhydlydan to complete a shorter route and miss out the highly adventurous next chapter in our route. (And I hasten to add, this shortcut still makes for a great and tiring adventure bike route in itself!)

Following minor roads on the boundary of Snowdonia National Park

Following the Her Hiraethog mountain bike loop

Here, I'm afraid you have to follow the main road North for around a km until a gate (opposite a derelict building) and double track heads off into the moor. Some of this was bikeable, however the majority of the ascent was a hike a bike. Despite this, the terrain was easy enough to walk along, with remnants of an old track to follow, and we never had to carry the bikes.

Can you see the vague track across the moor? The Alwen Resevoir is just over the hill.

As we reached the high point, the thunderclouds were growing in the distance and all we could think of was that we needed to get down into the relative safety of the valley and off our exposed top. The Friesian cows at the far end of the field had other ideas. They looked at us rather angrily, all the while guarding the inviting looking track we were hoping to ride. It wasn't to be, and incredibly reluctantly we stayed in the field next door, full of enormous tussocks and continued to will our bikes into the valley beyond. And when I say big tussocks, I mean huge. They could only compare to the ones in the Elan Valley, and before I went there I thought I had seen big horrible tussocks before.

Occasionally the track was quite pleasant to bike along

For those of you who have yet to experience the hell that is tussock bashing, either on foot, or by bike, well... it's... character building to say the least! Do you go over or around them? If you push your bike too hard you dig your wheel into them! You have to push on the downhill parts too! By the time we had rejoined the track I didn't know whether to laugh, eat all of my remaining food, cry, shout or do all four!

Spot the adventure biker in the tussocks!

The bonus of an arduous section is that hitting a trail feels like magic. The kms rushed by as we made our way along the southern side of the Alwen reservoir to where the double track would take us south towards the A5. It felt like quite a climb up from the valley, however it was only 60m! From the top, a gloriously sweeping track took as all the way down to Glasfryn.

Biking along bridleways west towards Betws Y Coed (you can see the Snowdonia mountains in the distance)

From here we followed a range of bridleways and small back roads to Ysbyty Ifan, where we took the incredibly steep road west to join the connecting trail to Penmachno. This is the last and probably steepest climb of the day, however, as you're so close to the starting point, the sense of home keeps you going. (Well, that's what I tried to tell myself anyway!)

Views from the mountain bike route between Ysbyty Ifan and Penmachno

Finally, after a body numbing shake over the last few hundred metres of trail, you hit the tarmac roads in the village outskirts. It's nearly downhill the entire way back to Betws Y Coed, so your body gets a pleasant cool down and your brain can relax slightly having survived a big adventure. Definitely time for a good slice of cake and a brew.