FMFT Summer Trip Ride One - Snowdon

The first ride of the FMFT summer trip was Snowdon. This presented some difficulties, not least that there is a voluntary (but supported by signposts) ban on bikes on the mountain between 10am and 5pm during the summer. It would have to be an early start.

We overcome the early start but woke up to the sound of pretty persistent rain. This was not good and we were angry.

Luckily after a tense breakfast in the car the weather suddenly cleared and we decided to risk it. What followed was memorable. We climbed the Llanberis Path as the simplest route to the top. It’s a tough ride and in places definitively a carry or a push, but considering it’s a path up the highest mountain in England and Wales, it’s surprisingly ridable. An hour or so later we hit the cloud that was sitting firmly down on the top of the mountain and realised just how serious a ride this was. It might only be around trail-centre length at 20Km, but this is a far bigger ride than that. Going into the cloud we got wet and cold and hit by horizontal hail, but still pushed and rode on up the ridge in spite of often not being able to see each other if we got more than about 5 metres apart.

On top we stopped for the obligatory summit shots on the strangely manicured peak and took five minutes to moan together about the restaurant being closed, before heading back down. This time we were taking the Snowdon Ranger path which started in a flurry of flowing track, only tempered by ice forming on brake-levers and the nagging lack of visibility and awareness of the distance down. Soon this broke into technical rocky riding which would be challenging in the valley bottom, but was even more so at this height. Still we slid and eased down the track until it cleared into more flowing and firm ground and swooped lower into the sunshine with valley views opening up in front of us.

We tore past the ban sign a slightly illegal 15 minutes outside the allowed time but felt we had acted within the spirit, if not the exact letter of the agreement. From there it was a pushed climb before a triumphant fast rollercoaster jumping over drainage channels back to Llanberis to pack up the tents and move on. The summer trip was off to a slightly damp and epic, but excellent start and the next stop was Coed Y Brenin, arguably the birthplace of the UK trail centre.

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