Coed-y-Brenin
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Coed-y-Brenin (Welsh for King's Wood) is a forest in the Snowdonia National Park, North Wales near Dolgellau. It is well-known as a mountain bike resort, and has several man-made singletrack courses in a woodland setting, varying in length from 12 to 38 km (7 to 23 mi), and one dual slalom course.
The site is owned and operated by Forest Enterprise Wales, part of the Forestry Commission, and covers an area of some 9,000 acres (36 km²) around the valleys of the rivers Mawddach, Eden, Gain and Wen.
The site was identified as a potential mountain bike race course in 1990, and the first races were held there in 1991. The initial course had to be chopped out of an unpassable rock-strewn terrain.
Shortly afterwards an MTB hire centre, together with a visitor centre and café were opened at Maesgwm. Five waymarked trails were developed by Dafydd Davis who was employed by Forest Enterprise as a Forest Sports Development Adviser, grew Coed-y-Brenin into a major UK mountain biking center. Davis received an MBE in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours list for 'services to forestry' relating to his work on this resort.
A new £1.6 million visitor centre is under construction at the site, and is due to open in Spring 2006. There are also a number of waymarked walking trails around the forest.
  Map sources for Coed-y-Brenin at grid reference SH7127
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[edit] Mountain Bike Trails
| Trail Name | Grade | Waymarking | Length | Time needed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MBR | difficult (red) | MBR logo | 13 mi | 21 km | 2 hours |
| Fun | moderate (blue) | yellow disc | 7 mi | 11 km | 1.5 hours |
| Sport | difficult (red) | orange disc | 9 mi | 14 km | 1.5 hours |
| Red Bull | severe (black) | Red Bull logo | 7 mi | 11 km | 1.5 hours |
| Karrimor | severe (black) | Karrimor logo | 23 mi | 37 km | 3 hours |
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