Afan trails

rockmonkeysc

I had my first ride at a trail centre this weekend.
I did Whites Level at Afan, really awesome route & have decided that I have to go back for some more at the end of the month. What would be the best trail to do next, I would rather not do too much fire road climbing, Whites level climb up the single track was spot on & felt like part of the trail rather than just a ride to get to the trail. Are W2 or Skyline as good as whites?

weeksy59

The uphills are not as good. The downhills are arguably better.

timpop

I agree, that climb on Whites is fun! W2 is the Wall and Whites Level together so yes it is as good. There's a fair amount of forestry track on Skyline but the single track is great fun. Lots of climbing.

P-Jay

Well W2 is a combined Whites and Wall so depending on your starting point will ether be the same climb, or the wall climb which does start with a couple of miles of fireroad, but gets better.

Skyline actually shares the same initial climb as white's..... I've never been all the way around, but I'm told theres lots and lots of fireroad riding involved.

So yes, and no really

If you want a really featureful climb try Brechfa red, it's about 45min from Afan.

cooldad

Brechfa was my favourite. Really scenic climb up, and fairly smooth, swoopy singletrack all the way down.
Although I'm not sure that's Afan?

paul.skibum

I am going at the weekend - shame Penhydd is shut as I really like that track. We are planning The Wall in the morning and Whites in the afternoon or the otherway round - W2 basically!

Should be fun as long as the mix of abilities doesnt make it too slow.

Stuey01

paul.skibum wrote:

I am going at the weekend - shame Penhydd is shut as I really like that track. We are planning The Wall in the morning and Whites in the afternoon or the otherway round - W2 basically!

Should be fun as long as the mix of abilities doesnt make it too slow.

I'd suggest do W2, starting at Afan. That way your lunch break is at the cafe at Glyncorrwg (loads better than the alternative) and you avoid having to faff around driving from 1 to the other in the middle of the day.

P-Jay

Stuey01 wrote:

paul.skibum wrote:

I am going at the weekend - shame Penhydd is shut as I really like that track. We are planning The Wall in the morning and Whites in the afternoon or the otherway round - W2 basically!

Should be fun as long as the mix of abilities doesnt make it too slow.

I'd suggest do W2, starting at Afan. That way your lunch break is at the cafe at Glyncorrwg (loads better than the alternative) and you avoid having to faff around driving from 1 to the other in the middle of the day.

Can't argue with that logic, the food at the drop-off is amazing! The food at Afan centre is.... well not.

Starting to miss Penhydd too, even though it stuck me in hospital for 3 weeks. Was a really nice trail. Should be back in spring.

fatwomble

The jacket potato I had at the Afan centre the weekend before last was excellent

rockmonkeysc

The food at the Drop Off is pretty good and you get a mountain of it!
Think I might go for W2 next. Brechfa is just a bit far for a day trip.

dresbo

I'd recommend the first shortcut on the Skyline too (the shortest). It's about the same length as Whytes (the climb is the same bit of trail), and the down is as good, if not better than Whytes.

I've done the full skyline a few times. It's good for a training ride but there's a long section which is just fire road for quite a while. The short cut does the best bit.

IMHO the best downhill in the whole of Wales is the ClimachX trail in Machynlleth. Absolutely awesome and quite challenging in sections. It's a trek from down south though.

underdog

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I had my first ride at a trail centre this weekend.
I did Whites Level at Afan, really awesome route & have decided that I have to go back for some more at the end of the month. What would be the best trail to do next, I would rather not do too much fire road climbing, Whites level climb up the single track was spot on & felt like part of the trail rather than just a ride to get to the trail. Are W2 or Skyline as good as whites?

Do W2, start with the wall climb as it's boring, get it out of the way. Then cross to do the whites down, stop have some lunch, then climb whites, cross and down the wall. Best of both worlds, but like I said start with the wall climb it's tedious but treat it as a warm up.

Or, climb whites but take skyline trail until post 18, take the short cut, do the downs until just after ths steps (this takes you next to the climb back up whites about half way) then do that half of the climb again and then go down whites 8)

Thewaylander

dresbo wrote:

I'd recommend the first shortcut on the Skyline too (the shortest). It's about the same length as Whytes (the climb is the same bit of trail), and the down is as good, if not better than Whytes.

I've done the full skyline a few times. It's good for a training ride but there's a long section which is just fire road for quite a while. The short cut does the best bit.

IMHO the best downhill in the whole of Wales is the ClimachX trail in Machynlleth. Absolutely awesome and quite challenging in sections. It's a trek from down south though.

You mean what was locally known as the July trail?

definately a great trail but alot of skyline/July is shut for maintenance currently.

paul.skibum

W2 was kind of the plan but then a couple of our number may not be up for both legs so not sure if we want to be at the Drop off and have to send them down the valley to return to the car while the rest of us tool off up the whites climb.

But your right - faffing moving between the two is a pain - kind of why I wish Penhydd was open..........

njee20

There's a trail along the valley between the 2, or you can just spin along the road, which is only a couple of miles, if they don't feel up to White's.

The climb on the Wall is really boring though it has to be said, nowhere near as good as Whites!

paul.skibum

I liek the whites singletrack ascent but to be honest I dont mind the fireroad on the wall - makes the decent more of a thrill!

Thewaylander

Tell the people who only want to do 1 leg to MTFU

Call them girls and so on till they surrender and then torture them all the way round

njee20

It's probably better than the fireroad on Penhydd was, that was really dull!

Thewaylander

Fireroad is fire road at the end of the day..

It gets you to where you want to be.

paul.skibum

There are 4 of us going, me, a mate I ride with a fair bit, a mate I have ridden with a bit recently but who is newish to the game and his friend - it would be fair to say that the order I have listed us in is a list of ride fitness and skill in order and probably ascending weight!

We will see - hopefully it'll be fun. There will be taunting.

Stuey01

paul.skibum wrote:

W2 was kind of the plan but then a couple of our number may not be up for both legs so not sure if we want to be at the Drop off and have to send them down the valley to return to the car while the rest of us tool off up the whites climb.

But your right - faffing moving between the two is a pain - kind of why I wish Penhydd was open..........

This is exactly what happened in my group of 6 last weekend. The 3 who couldn't hack the second leg chilled for a bit at the Dropoff then rolled down the valley on trail by the river to Afan, we met them there after finishing W2. They had to wait for a bit, but that's the price you pay for being a wuss

Thewaylander

And i meant W2 is not hard, its climing is pretty limited considering it's distance.

Slap uhm about and ridecule them hard!

underdog

W2 isn't so bad if you stop for lunch half way, take your time, take on some fluids and good food etc It can make a nice day and I love the crossing over the valley between the two.

As mentioned if people don't want to do both, climb the wall, down whites, then they can ride the low level path back to the wall while the others go back up whites climb.

You mentioned skyline, W2 is no longer than this but has a lot less fire road.

njee20

And it has somewhere you can stop in the middle for food/fluids etc. They'll be fine, tell them to stop being wimps.

Thewaylander

I had a mate from the Isle of White visit recently riding on a tiny island with no hills, and he managed W2 the day after riding Cwm carn.

So smash your mates.

paul.skibum

I'm not worried about them I'm worried about me having a slow old ride! Drive all that way to dawdle around waiting every stage.

njee20

Isle of Wight's not that flat in the middle, the climbs at Afan aren't that big either!

W2 with lunch in the middle should be doable by anyone is mediocre fitness, particularly if you take it steady.

Thewaylander

Lol Njee, the climbs on W2 aren't that big, But to say climbs in the afan valley are not big is pretty silly mate.

njee20

But you made out that the IoW is a barren wasteland whilst Afan is actually the Himalayas! None of the climbs on the marked trails are that big, all very very doable, at a sensible pace, I do far steeper climbs on the Surrey Hills. Not to say there aren't bigger climbs off the beaten track as it were, but for obvious reasons the trail centres don't really include anything too crazy.

Thewaylander

hmm well I have been over the Isle of White and there is nothing particularly high.

And take Skyline which has 2000m elevation in 46km. Alot of the marathon events i have seen this year had 3000m in 100km so there is some serious climbing envolved there in terms of pure hight.

And from afan and just off the skylie you can climb all the way up into brecon which are mountains not valleys so mini Himalayas

Also to the point where the resident of the isle of sh.. sorry white states there is hardly any good climbing on the island

Thewaylander

But climbing on W2 is piss.

really piss.