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Steve's
peat
From the off the view is fantastic, looking North out to sea over Dyffryn Ardudwy towards the Lleyn Peninsula and the nearby mound of Moelfre. Deceptively the down hill begins smooth and fast on sheep shorn grass with a centre rut soon developing. The real fun begins with natural buried boulder ramps and little drop off's that invite speed jumps and lane changes. Don't get too cocky with the Steve Peat impersonations or you'll come a cropper in the rock filled centre ravine that develops in to a real challenge and sent us flying up on to the grassy bank. A useful speed maintaining maneuver that ends after a few dozen yards with a right hand bend where the bank disappears and you're heading down to the final turn and it seems like the descent is all over.
Giant's
causeway
But it's not, a short wet, rocky section leads on to the valley bottom and a real treat as the path is laid with giant stones forming a gentle slope down to the famous Pont Scethin bridge. Wet or dry these blocks are a challenge and they keep the adrenaline flowing as you cross two ditches each bridged by a single stone. On the route of an old drovers road these monoliths must have taken some hauling and their presence in such a seemingly remote location is quite startling. Once over the bridge itself there is a technical and very wet climb to the track here. We tried in vain to find a route along this bridleway but suffice it to say there is no
path existing on the ground. Instead we back tracked to the bridge, discovered what a great descent this was and decided it was worth the little out and back.
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The final cut
If you can ride back up the drovers stones without dabbing you're one up on us although we did put in a valiant effort! As the grass climb flattens a post on your right shows the beginning of a tasty singletrack along the side of Llyn Erddyn. Although it's not really a downhill it repays a healthy XC effort with some great nips and tucks, thoroughly enjoyable. Bearing right the single becomes a double and turns in to another jump-fest of mounds and launch pads which speed you all the way down to here. Don't miss this trail which doubles back just before a gate near the first of the trees, with a steep beginning this will probably hurt a bit but grin and bear it. Unfortunately the grassy theme continues on a long haul across the plain towards the obvious cut in the hillside.
Spicey and dicey
Once reached you'll probably run out of puff as we did on the way to the gate and even the fittest will probably push from here to the
(happily) much lower high point than before. OK, so it's a bit of a plod up here but at the top is yet another world class view and a dicey grass trail leads down the other side. A banked left hand bend propels you towards a land slip which narrows the trail alarmingly, once past this a second tight turn and you're on to the final drop which used to be a quagmire but has now had a covering of hardcore. Through a gate and the view looks less promising for at least a minute until you drop down on to a cute stone slab bridge with superb views, bliss. Don't miss this ride in late August when the heather is totally amazing. Up through two gates and you find yourself back at the start of the loop with only that short sweet drop to retrace back to the road. So did you love it or hate it? Let us know as soon as you've ridden it.
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