muddy monkeys barmouth run 24/02/08

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well i learnt a few things on todays ride

1:Barmouth/Dolgellau area has some serious amount of trails

2:satnavs are pants

3:99% of welsh petrol stations are either shut on sundays or just shut,full stop.especially the ones that are shown on sat navs(see 2:)

but still a cracking days riding.

i'd picked hew(eddie) up on the way over to Barmouth and we met up with kingy on the sea front at 8am,got the bikes unloaded,suited up and then it rained

we head north to the first trail at Llanaber that climbs up to the top of the hills just behind barmouth.jesus there wasn't a lot of grip about and plenty of loose stone,a fun climb though.on reaching the top we then headed south along the trail that runs behind Barmouth.a very short road section and we were on the 'panorama walk' trail heading over to Cutiau.

the next series of trails form a large loop of 23 miles and off we set around it,there was some absolutley cracking terrain including grassy,rocky and mud/bog sections but my favourites were a section of large stepping stones around 3 ft wide that included a stone slab bridge of the same width and a very rocky technical climb later on.we managed to complete the loop and then get back into civilisation so we could head over towards the trails around Dolgellau.during a fag break at this point we caculated that we'd managed 35 miles total and around 25 of wich were trail miles,thats more trail miles than an average day in the peaks,although not as technical,just as enjoyable 8)

we were supposed to refuel on the run between Barmouth and Dolegallau but the petrol station had been shut down(see 2: ^^) so after doing a few of the long trails on the Dolgellau side of the route we decided to refuel at fairbourne as there was a texaco on the a493 showing on the sat nav,guess what,closed on a sunday ffs!!(see 2:^^ again!)

ed came up with a plan to cross the railway bridge,back into barmouth,fuel up and grab a bite to eat so off we set,the toll booth was shut so saving us the pricely sum of £2 each,result

both bikes and bodies fuelled,we headed out towards Dolgellau again,via a few trails we'd done in the morning to do a bit more of the route,as by now it was getting late in the afternoon.the trails were excellent,not overly difficult but very enjoyable and there was some cracking views to be had.just as it became dusk,we finished the last trail of the day and headed back to Barmouth via the railway bridge again.

cracking days riding,bit of a dampener (literally) with the rain for the first couple of hours but still well worth the 2 1/2 hour trip down there

steve.

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here are the pics,theres a bit of video footage too,but her indoors has stole the lap top so that'll have to wait'

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and a few more

[Gwyn]

Nice report and pics Slider 8) Must get up there again. Lovely place to ride

[andypugh]

favourites were a section of large stepping stones around 3 ft wide that included a stone slab bridge of the same width

I managed to miss that bridge on a ride out last year. After fishing myself and the bike out of the stream I than managed to not make it over the lip at the end, stopped, put a foot down where the bridge wasn't, and fell back in again.

ed came up with a plan to cross the railway bridge

It's worth knowing that trail bikes are allowed to use the footpath of the wooden viaduct railway bridge in the estuary mouth.

I have a GPS tracklog of some of the trails round there if you want to compare notes.

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cant believe people actually ride around that section,its mint .will the track log go onto memory map v5,similar to the garmin set up andy?

[andypugh]

.will the track log go onto memory map v5,similar to the garmin set up andy?

No idea, here it is if you want to try.
http://www.bodgesoc.org/Wales%202007.gdb

[slider]

andy,cant open the file with garmins mapsource or mem map.i could send you the run overlay but you need mem map to open the file

[andypugh]

andy,cant open the file with garmins mapsource or mem map.

I have converted it to .kml which Google Earth seems perfectly happy with. No idea what the problem is your end, as GPSBabel rattles through the .gdb file without any problems.

http://www.bodgesoc.org/Wales2007.kml

[NaBz]

look awsome fantastic views!!!

nick

[slider]

andy,cant open the file with garmins mapsource or mem map.

I have converted it to .kml which Google Earth seems perfectly happy with. No idea what the problem is your end, as GPSBabel rattles through the .gdb file without any problems.

http://www.bodgesoc.org/Wales2007.kml

do i have to download the google earth program andy,cause all i get from the.kml file is the program script,mind you i'm a bit sh*te with a pooter

[slider]

look awsome fantastic views!!!

nick

it is mate,we're just in the process of organising a full weekend down there at the end of may,for the muddymonkey trf lot

[andypugh]

do i have to download the google earth program andy,cause all i get from the.kml file is the program script,mind you i'm a bit sh*te with a pooter :oops:

The kml file is in XML, so looks a bit like a program. It is only any good if you have Google earth installed. (Which is a fun application, so might be worth doing).

Alternatively go to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile ... p_id=58972 and download GPSBabel which will convert the file I first posted into any format you fancy.

[pen9jamie]

looked like another good day riding slider,,,,i hope to be out again soon,,,, i am doing my first enduro march 9th,,,2.5 hours...so will e out and about after that,,,,hi to all from the peaks trip...

[pen9jamie]

bloody hell eddy...you look twice as young with that hair doo....