New Trail Opens At Coed-y-Brenin

The iconic Tarw trail at Coed-y-Brenin Forest Park has gained a kid brother after a new route designed specifically for beginners and intermediate mountain bikers opened at the Forestry Commission Wales centre in the Snowdonia National Park.

The new trail – called the MinorTaur (Small Bull) – in deference to its more fearsome sibling as well as the area's cattle droving past, is set to put the centre on the map for a whole new generation of wannabe mountain bikers.

The MinorTaur complements the established red and black rides, such as the Beast of Brenin, but its specially adapted features make Coed-y-Brenin Forest Park the first truly inclusive mountain bike destination in the United Kingdom.

The ambitious project has been over three years in the planning and forms part of the Gwynedd Council-led Eryri Centre of Excellence partnership, which is part funded by the EU's Convergence European Regional Development Fund through Visit Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government.

Almost £500,000 will be pumped into the new trail, which will enable young children and riders with disabilities to join experts and adrenaline junkies at the mountain bike mecca just outside Dolgellau.

The first phase of the MinorTaur has two loops which will be added to as the project is completed over the next two years.

Loop one is 3km long with 50m of climbing, heading out from the FC Wales visitor centre along "First Steps" before descending the sweeping multi-bermed "Slipway", an awesome feat of engineering and design carved into the hillside, and returning to the centre along a forest road in the valley bottom, following the Afon Eden river. Loop two continues from the end of the Slipway and follows a level forest road out to the Pont Cae'n y Coed car park, where riders can admire the stunning views down the Afon Mawddach gorge before continuing along the "Jurassic" and "Tax Return" singletracks and joining the forest road back to the start, having covered 5km with 90m of climbing.

A three-metre high giant stainless steel bull's nose ring designed by world-renowned Welsh sculptor Gideon Petersen marks the trailhead and a number of eight-foot tall iron minotaurs – a mythical half man, half bull figure – are hidden along the trail, where silver "hoof prints" provide the only clue to their presence.

The MinorTaur is graded blue (intermediate) but Mountain Bike Ranger Andy Braund said the special features, including the 1.5m wide singletrack sections with a maximum gradient of 5%, made it suitable for all abilities.

"For example, the berms are wider and shallower than they would be at red grade, with a flat sweeping bottom so mountain bike trikes can get round without tipping over," he said.

"The rollers and table tops are also less steep than they would be at red grade and they have a longer top to stop the likes of mountain bike tandems bottoming out with their long wheel base, and drop offs are small so kids' small wheeled bikes can roll over them.

"It has all the blue grade features you'd expect but they are all designed to be progressive so it's suitable for all riders, from mums and dads who may just want to take kids down on a tag-along, adaptive mountain bike riders with disabilities, to keen new riders who want to develop their skills and aspire to ride the red and black graded trails.

"With tuition and practice, riders will be able to learn how to lean, pump the rollers for extra speed and even eventually get their wheels off the ground for some extra thrills and fun.

"It's all about learning new basic and intermediate bike handling skills and having fun, to then be able to progress on to harder trails."

FC Wales Recreation Ranger Graeme Stringer said, "Coed-y-Brenin was the first trail centre in the UK and has always catered for the skilled and experienced mountain biker.

"The MinorTaur breaks new ground again and, I believe, makes the project unique in in its desire to introduce the fun of mountain biking to as many people as possible."

Further sections of singletrack will be added over the next two years, with additional funding coming from Forestry Commission Wales, Gwynedd Council, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Tourism Partnership Mid Wales.