Afan Forest security and trails

Obs1dian

Going for a trip to Afan this week.

What is the situation regarding security at Glyncorwwg campsite these days? I heard that last year there were a lot of bikes being stolen. Is this still the case?

Secondly, what are the condition of the trails? As in, are they open enough on weekdays to still be worth a 3 hour trip to get to Afan? Should we be looking elsewhere to ride?

Thewaylander

Parts of the wall are closed, parts of skyline closed, parts of whites closed, all of Penhydd closed.

I would choose an alternative holiday destination for 3 hours drive myself at the moment

Obs1dian

According to mbwales.com it seems that White's Level and The Wall should be fine, although Skyline has about 4 sections cut off. Will this detract from the experience of that trail? I have done W2 before but never Skyline.

Thewaylander

MBwales is out of date.

miss notax

I rode Skyline for the first time a few weeks ago. Ok, it does have quite a few diversions, but I still really enjoyed the trail (one of the best rides in ages actually!). I have no idea what it used to be like though!!

Personally I would still go

Thewaylander

better it used to be better.

Alot of the really good single track is closed, but the end decent is still together which is cool.

Obs1dian

I really enjoyed Afan the last time I went (just did the W2) - this time we're looking to get in Skyline and W2. The fact that you can get so much riding in while staying in the same place is the reason we're planning on going.

Miss Notax - I was hoping Skyline would be good still despite the diversions. MBUK did a rather gushing write up of Skyline although they mentioned closures in the article.

Thewaylander

But if you enjoy muddy cack detours on dull tracks. Did 33k and 46Km versions of the Skyline and there wasn't much on the 33 k left open, but the 26 had the 2 peieces of more distant track open which is very good.

to be honest if i was driving 3 hours i'd cut up and go North |Wales and do C-Y-B at the moment, depending on wher eyou coming from.

Obs1dian

Coming from South Coast near Portsmouth. We did the Dragon's Back at CYB the other week which was very good and wish we'd planned to stay there longer (we had cycled Snowdon the day before and had to get back). For this trip we don't fancy the 5 hour drive as it would cut in to our biking unfortunately.

jairaj

I've camped at Afan a few times and not had any trouble. I think you are always going to get some crime happening where ever you go but Im not aware of it being a problem in Afan. I normally keep bikes locked up in the car and sleep in a tent.

I just got back from a weekend at Afan. Yes there are a few closures but most of W2 (Whites Level and Wall) is open and I had great fun.

Also friend has done skyline before and said it was boring as it contained lots of fire road and not much single track. So this time we did the climb and took all diversions and short cuts which make it into a ~22K loop. He said it was much more interesting this way and had a much much better time than before. I totally loved the Skyline descent. So maybe all the closures and diversions aren't such a bad thing?

wordnumb

At the moment the majority of the Skyline singletrack is closed, as is the end of Whites (Goodwood onward) and we all know about Penhydd. Wall is open.

*spoilers - if you're planning a trip you might want to look away*

The White's detour is a shocker. If you're familiar with the fire road climb after the black loop you'll know that you'd rather retrace any other section of the trail than that. Takes you back past Windy Bench to the Skyline descent, which is great.

Skyline isn't boring when it's all open.

timpop

Go anyway, it's still good and stuff opens on the weekend. Updates:
http://www.afanforestpark.co.uk/Default.aspx?page=6486

Or go further to Coed y Brenin

Anonymous

jairaj wrote:

I've camped at Afan a few times and not had any trouble. I think you are always going to get some crime happening where ever you go but Im not aware of it being a problem in Afan. I normally keep bikes locked up in the car and sleep in a tent.

I've heard it's quite a problem around Afan though depends on the campsite. Obvious ones with bikes are going to be are an easy target.

Likewise the story goes that there's a fair problem with people following cars to/from Afan and the like that clearly have bikes on their racks. Supposedly there's a load of them based in Bristol and follow them down the motorways and nick the bikes when they've stopped at a service centre, or at their destination. Can't see they'd follow people all the way to their home on a 3 hour trip, but then again the time and cost in petrol is a small fraction of a £2k bike they could nick.

However I've only *heard* things about it. Whether it's true I don't know.

tugger

do Brechfa and Cwmcarn instead... No one likes a closed trail, wondering what might have been...

Thewaylander

tugger wrote:

do Brechfa and Cwmcarn instead... No one likes a closed trail, wondering what might have been...

+ banana

othello

deadkenny wrote:

jairaj wrote:

I've camped at Afan a few times and not had any trouble. I think you are always going to get some crime happening where ever you go but Im not aware of it being a problem in Afan. I normally keep bikes locked up in the car and sleep in a tent.

I've heard it's quite a problem around Afan though depends on the campsite. Obvious ones with bikes are going to be are an easy target.

Likewise the story goes that there's a fair problem with people following cars to/from Afan and the like that clearly have bikes on their racks. Supposedly there's a load of them based in Bristol and follow them down the motorways and nick the bikes when they've stopped at a service centre, or at their destination. Can't see they'd follow people all the way to their home on a 3 hour trip, but then again the time and cost in petrol is a small fraction of a £2k bike they could nick.

However I've only *heard* things about it. Whether it's true I don't know.

Stories like that are making me want to camp away from Afan and drive in 20-30mins

othello

deadkenny wrote:

jairaj wrote:

I've camped at Afan a few times and not had any trouble. I think you are always going to get some crime happening where ever you go but Im not aware of it being a problem in Afan. I normally keep bikes locked up in the car and sleep in a tent.

I've heard it's quite a problem around Afan though depends on the campsite. Obvious ones with bikes are going to be are an easy target.

Likewise the story goes that there's a fair problem with people following cars to/from Afan and the like that clearly have bikes on their racks. Supposedly there's a load of them based in Bristol and follow them down the motorways and nick the bikes when they've stopped at a service centre, or at their destination. Can't see they'd follow people all the way to their home on a 3 hour trip, but then again the time and cost in petrol is a small fraction of a £2k bike they could nick.

However I've only *heard* things about it. Whether it's true I don't know.

Stories like that are making me want to camp away from Afan and drive in 20-30mins

divingmoose

Guys,
We were planning our first trip to Afan forest in August but reading this thread i am thinking maybe go for COED Y BRENIN. There is not much difference for us travelling wise so which would you do Afan or COED Y BRENIN.
Thanks lee

Briggo

othello wrote:

Stories like that are making me want to camp away from Afan and drive in 20-30mins

Whats wrong with that, driving 20-30 mins to save yourself constantly worrying? Worth it in my opinion.

I've heard far too many stories of people following others when they can see bikes that whenever I have the Stumpy on the roof I'm always paranoid and constantly checking who's behind me.

d00m

Briggo wrote:

whenever I have the Stumpy on the roof I'm always paranoid and constantly checking who's behind me.

I just leave my bike covered in shite to make it as unappealing as possible 8)

Lowride

The Skyline has four sections closed? In that case it must be roughly only 40 miles long still and consist of only 39 miles of fire road!

I would never ride the Skyline again, we did it about three years ago, I sware 90% of it was fire road