The Mawddach Trail ( cy, Llwybr Mawddach) is a

cycle path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...

route, part of Lôn Las Cymru, which runs for some from

Dolgellau Dolgellau () is a town and community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the traditional county town of the historic county of Merionethshire ( cy, Meirionnydd, Sir Feirionnydd) un ...

Morfa Mawddach railway station railway station (formerly Barmouth Junction) is an unstaffed station located on the outskirts of the village of Arthog in Gwynedd, Wales, on the Cambrian Line, Cambrian Coast line between and . Built by the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway i ...

, by

Barmouth Barmouth ( cy, Abermaw (formal); ''Y Bermo'' (colloquial)) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in the county of Gwynedd, northwestern Wales, lying on the estuary of the Afon Mawddach and Cardigan Bay. Located in the Historic coun ...

bridge on the Cambrian coast. It is maintained by the

Snowdonia National Park Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

and is popular with walkers and

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

s alike. It passes some estuarine areas that are important for

water bird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s, and the

RSPB The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

Information Centre at

Penmaenpool Penmaenpool (Welsh: Llynpenmaen) is a hamlet on the south side of the estuary of the River Mawddach in Wales, near Dolgellau. A Grade II listed toll bridge provides access across the estuary for light vehicles. Points of interest Penmaenpool ...

makes use of the old

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

as an observation centre overlooking the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

. The cycle route is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

running along the former trackbed of the Ruabon to Barmouth branch line of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

. This line closed under the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

in the 1960s.

External links

Gwynedd Council - Recreational Routes - Mawddach TrailThe Mawddach Trail - "The Railway Walk"The Mawddach Way - A circular footpath walk around the Mawddach Estuarywww.geograph.co.uk : photos of the Mawddach Trail and surrounding area
Cycleways in Wales Transport in Gwynedd Rail trails in Wales {{Gwynedd-geo-stub