Cycling up Snowdon is the preserve of the adventurous mountain-biker. But wouldn’t you like to cycle around it instead, taking in some of Wales’s finest scenery?

That’s the ambition of the Snowdonia National Park Authority – and a new path opened this month brings it another step closer.

The path runs from the tourist village of Beddgelert to the hikers’ hamlet of Rhyd Ddu, the start of one of the ascents of Snowdon and home to a celebrated pub (the Cwellyn Arms). The five-mile surfaced path for cyclists, walkers and horse-riders is part of Lôn Gwyrfai, which already runs for a short way out of Caernarfon.

According to Emyr Williams from the National Park Authority:

“This path will be an important addition to the economic prosperity of the area, and will also form an important link to the wider scheme of creating a network of trails that will surround Snowdon and eventually form the Snowdon Circuit.”

The next challenge will be to extend the path from Rhyd Ddu to Waunfawr, where the Caernarfon path currently terminates. Once that’s done, it will be possible to cycle from Caernarfon right into the heart of Snowdonia without encountering more than a tiny amount of traffic.

Read more at the Snowdonia National Park Authority website.