Brecon rides

canamdad

Going to be in Brecon area this weekend. Any favorite rides (road) I should try?
Thanks!

fto-si

I posted a similar request yesterday but alas no reply!
I have a cottage booked in the area for a week.

megilleland

Hi canamdad and fto-si,

Exactly where are you staying? Are you cycling on-road or off-road or both? I may be able to help with routes, once I know this information.

fto-si

Hi, I am staying in Crickhowell and road riding. Thanks in advance

canamdad

I'm camping at Castle Pencelli (a few miles S of Brecon). I do have the BlackMtns Route from Cycling Weekly that goes around the B Mtns and over Gospel Pass- that looks like a good one. Also, Cycling Plus had an article on a ride around the Black Mountain, W of Brecon. But looks like Sat is going to rain so something shorter might be in order. Thanks in advance for routes! I'm just bringing a road bike BTW.

megilleland

The first piece of advice is to keep off the A40, A470 and A465. These are fast roads with heavy traffic. You can take any minor roads, but bear in mind that some are very steep - look for the gradient arrows marked on the map. The other major factor to bear in mind is the weather. It can get very nasty in a short time.

Good maps of the area - Ordnance Survey, Landranger Map sheet 160 Brecon Beacons / Bannau Brycheiniog and sheet 161 The Black Mountains / Y Mynyddoedd Duon both at a scale of 1:50 000 (2 cm to 1 km, 1¼ inches to 1 mile) each covers Brecon and the Beacons or Crickhowell and the Black Mountains.

Near Brecon a useful visit is the National Park Centre at Libanus where you can get a set of leaflets and maps with a selection of cycling routes.
http://www.cyclebreconbeacons.com/en/cyclebreaks.html

From Brecon you can head west for Usk reservoir keeping off the A40 by using the old side roads or east to Talybont Reservoir and the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. For a quieter ride (providing the firing ranges are closed!) head north out of Brecon to Upper Chapel, round the back of Mynydd Eppynt and return through Tirabad and Trallong.

From Crickhowell head for Llanbedr, Stanton and then up the Ewyas valley to Capel-y-ffin and onto Hay on Wye for its bookshops. To save going down into Hay and back up, return through Craswell (old drovers pub), Longtown and Pandy. Do this during the week as it is a busy route over the weekend with Sunday drivers! Another option is to do a circuit visiting three border castles at Skenfrith, Grosmont and White Castle east of Crickhowell.

canamdad

Thanks for the advice megilleland. I had a good first visit to Wales. Rode up past Talybont Reservoir to the top of the hill- steep little thing! Then on Sunday, rode the Black Mountains circle for 58 miles over Gospel Pass and through Hay and then back around the north side on National Route 8. That was an incredible ride- thanks for the suggestion. Can't wait to get back and do some more exploring.

T.C.

went to brecon yesterday, rode the ride in cycling plus, i started and finished in brecon , did 75 miles 4 hours 20 mn , very enjoyable ride , not too hard just long drags .