It turned out the weather wasn't good anywhere in the UK and with a flight to southern Spain out of the question we opted for Wales.
As the forecast was for heavy showers, a campsite near a pub was in order to offer us some respite from the torrential weather and to maybe participate in a few of the local brews.
Even though showers were the order of the day, we kept to our plan and headed away from the trail centres into the Snowdonian hills.
The route we devised conveniently started from the campsite in between Betws y Coed and Capel Curig, but with a car rally taking up most of the forest some deviations were made in the forests around the area.
The first leg took us on the road to Capel Curig where we took a bridleway north up to Llyn Crafnant.
The trail climbed up over rocky, technical terrain to the high point of 330m where a short gnarly descent awaited us.
The saddles were dropped and we started down the steep rocky slope. It wasn't long before the
gradient eased and the rocks turned to grass.This didn't mean it got any easier, after the rain and the continued showers the grass conjured up a few skids to keep us occupied on the tight switch backs.
Once at Llyn Crafnant, we took the northern track to lead us to the road. The tarmac descent soon took us to Trefriw where a café allowed us to fuel up for the tarmac climb up to Llyn Cowlyd.The climb isn't for the faint hearted, 500m over 5km all on the material mountain bikers fear, the dreaded black stuff. But it does get the job done, you soon find yourself staring up the reservoir.
It is best to take the trail before the water pipe that leads to the dam at the reservoirs head, the follow the trail on the north side of the water.The trail is rocky with some spots of pushing unless your trail skills are up to scratch, with a carry out at the head of the valley.
As we reached the high point of the ride, the clouds came in and squalls crept in around us.
We found shelter amongst a small crag and hunkered down. After a little rest and a few snacks we donned the waterproofs and headed out for the final descent in heavy rain.
The trail splits, both head down to the A5. We took the trail heading south as it took us closer to our finish spot.
Even with the muddy, boggy parts, the descent was all rideable down to the road. The boggy puddles even offered up some interesting riding and a couple of over the bar moments.
The road soon had us back to the campsite where we cleaned up and had a few well deserved pints in the onsite pub.
