Ride North Wales offers the best of mountain biking and road cycling in North Wales with cycle routes from the Dee Estuary in the east to Betws-y-Coed in the west, at all levels of skill and ability. The area includes the Clwydian Range, Dee Valley, Hiraethog and the Conwy Valley providing routes through contrasts of woodland to moorland and of undulating hills to uninterrupted flats. From family cycling to challenging black routes and everything in between, the scenery of North Wales is a stunning backdrop for your cycling activity.
With a variety of quality food, drink and accommodation providers in the area, there will be somewhere to stop for a well-earned lunch. Or, if one day just isn’t enough, why not use our facilities provider tab on the map to find the perfect accommodation and make a weekend of it?
The Clwydian Range, Dee Valley, Hiraethog and the Conwy Valley
The Clwydian Range is a 35 km long chain of hills between Prestatyn and Llandegla which, along with the Dee Valley between Corwen and Chirk is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Visitors are drawn to the Iron Age hillforts, limestone cliffs and heather moorland, but cyclists might be more interested in its network of untamed trails and quiet roads and spectacular climbs.
Mynydd Hiraethog translates as “The Mountain of Great Longing”, perfect for those cyclists who love a taste of the wilderness. It is a landscape of lakes, forest and rolling heather moors providing a varied and rugged mountain biking experience. The Alwen Trail and Brenig Trail are family friendly routes for all ages and abilities, and you are never far from tea and cakes at the Llyn Brenig Visitor Centre.
The Conwy Valley offers a variety of cycling terrains as the big climbs and descents of the Gwydyr Forest strike into the heart of Snowdonia. Challenging rides on forest roads give way to exhilarating downhill singletrack, weaving through trees and boulders and plunging through streams. The Marin Trail is a classic, and one of the first singletrack mountain bike trails in the UK, while the Penmachno Trails offer 30km of rides managed solely by a group of local volunteers, so any donations go to maintaining the tracks and supporting local community causes. For road cyclists, routes range from the traffic-free Wales Coast Path to rural roads, which weave in and out of pretty villages, offering some great climbing and wonderful scenery.
