Product Description

The guide provides full route descriptions on 25 of the best mountain bike trails in Snowdonia including colour photos, illustrations & maps. Divided into four sections covering; Betws Y Coed and the Gwydyr Forest; Coed Y Brenin and the Vale of Ffestiniog; Llanberis and the surrounding area; Conwy Mountain and the Coast. Each section starts with details of local services and information in the area. Routes are divided into four levels: Family; Classic; Expert and Epic, with numeric grades from 1-5 for technical difficulty.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #400158 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-01
• Original language: English, Welsh
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
The book is beautifully designed and, uniquely, is fully bi-lingual with route descriptions and directions in both English and Welsh. Route directions are brief but clear and the routes are profiled as well so that you can see what you're letting yourself in for. An estimation of the route difficulty is also given as well as a 3D route profile. Unlike some other route guides, the routes are properly mapped - not using Ordnance Survey mapping but instead the cute maps that the Forestry Commission use on their leaflets, complete with smiley faces for descents and sad faces for uphills. All in all, this book is highly recommended. In fact, with the quality of the maps and the design of the book it really sets the benchmark by which others will be judged. MTBWales.Com

Ian Ganderton - 01 June 2005
"looks fantastic, route maps are really clear, graphics and icons are brilliant, they inspire me to ride your routes"

About the Author
Dafydd Davis (MBE)is well known in the mountain biking world for being responsible for building a host of superbly technical trails around Wales and the UK. Paul Barbier a founder member of the Energy Cycles club in Llanberis is well known as a triathlete and race organiser in the Snowdonia area. Sue Savege has spent most of her life in the mountains leading high altitude mountaineering expeditions and teaching climbing. Now she has turned her hand to her other love in life - mountain biking, to co-write, compile and edit this guide

Customer Reviews

Ticket to ride
This guide is the one to get your hands on if you need a bit of help finding your way around the trails of Snowdonia. I've only REALLY used it for the Marin trail at the moment, but it's paid me back on several occasions for that one trail alone.

The guide gives you flexibility that comes from knowing where you are and where you are going to.

It's well laid out, and easy to understand, with a good selection of basic to advanced rides that should keep the majority of riders happy.

Layout confused by multiple languages
I didn't realise (perhaps stupidly - I should have paid more attention to the title!) that this was a bilingual guide. When I first opened it I thought someone had sent me one of those inch thick manuals that you get with your washing machine where you spend half a day trying to find the English section. Such a shame that this guide doesn't come in (an environmentally sound) two separate covers; one in English and one in Welsh. I think the layout is much confused with doubling up on the text in two different languages. Two separate guides would be much more compact, thereby making them easier and lighter to carry as a reference. When you are looking for that section which describes where you need to go next you spend additional time locating the bit in English (or Welsh presumably), which, I think, detracts from its value. When I try the guide out next week, I shall see if the annoyance is worth it for the value the guide brings in route-finding.