Afan forest

divingmoose
divingmoose Posts: 540
edited June 2011 in Routes
Thinking of maybe going to Afan forest for a few days in August to hit the trails and wondered what people thought of the place and also is there camping any place near.

lee

Comments

  • ricardo_smooth
    ricardo_smooth Posts: 1,281
    Me and a few mates are going this weekend as a matter of fact. Can camp on site and heard good things about the trails so I shall report back with videos and pictures next week!
  • divingmoose
    divingmoose Posts: 540
    Thanks mate that would be great.
  • bigpee
    bigpee Posts: 205
    Can't comment on the camping but the trails are amazing. True - it was my first (and to date only) trip to a dedicated trail centre but I am used to Swinley and Pirbright and this is a good couple of notches above those places. The views from the Skyline trail alone make it worthwhile.
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  • Chronicbint
    Chronicbint Posts: 172
    Dont bother with Skyline, far too much is shut now and its almost endless fireroad climbs at times. The final descent is still awesome however. :)
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    To be honest the trails at Afan are easy, The wall has a fast flowing decent, Whites has a vaguely interesting climb.. thats about it. I'm honestly becoming less and less a fan of the place as it holds very little that is challenging :(
  • dreadhead
    dreadhead Posts: 14
    The trails are good and ive also camped there. I expected the camping to be in a rough field but it is a nice maintained area behind the cafe, toilets and showers are available and the cafe opens at about 9am if you need a coffee fix in the morning. I think it was £5 per night.
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  • stomith
    stomith Posts: 332
    Chronicbint wrote:
    Dont bother with Skyline, far too much is shut now and its almost endless fireroad climbs at times. The final descent is still awesome however. :)

    Oh dear. Supposed to be doing this tomorrow as a group of 5, as heard it was due to close. How much of it has gone and do you have any tips as to what to expect? Ie. Do I need full-sus or HT? 2.35 minions or xc lightweight tyres. Lots of food or lots of drunk. Rumour has it this 32 miles can be a 5.5 hour ride.

    Are we better off doing W2 again?
  • d00m
    d00m Posts: 160
    stomith wrote:
    Do I need full-sus or HT? 2.35 minions or xc lightweight tyres. Lots of food or lots of drunk.

    If you have the option take a full sus for comfort, and really you want a large volume front tyre to deal with the rocks and drops. May be a good idea to run a faster narrower tyre at the rear, as there's lots of climbing, but make sure you take a spare tube or two....
  • Chronicbint
    Chronicbint Posts: 172
    stomith wrote:
    Chronicbint wrote:
    Dont bother with Skyline, far too much is shut now and its almost endless fireroad climbs at times. The final descent is still awesome however. :)

    Oh dear. Supposed to be doing this tomorrow as a group of 5, as heard it was due to close. How much of it has gone and do you have any tips as to what to expect? Ie. Do I need full-sus or HT? 2.35 minions or xc lightweight tyres. Lots of food or lots of drunk. Rumour has it this 32 miles can be a 5.5 hour ride.

    Are we better off doing W2 again?

    Well, I would assume you have done it by now. :lol: but its still worth doing, however there are just far too many bits closed and far too many fireroads for my liking now. :)

    Be good to work out a way of looping through some of the best bits.

    Also some of the diversions in place send you through foot deep mud, literally. :lol:
  • ricardo_smooth
    ricardo_smooth Posts: 1,281
    Disappointed with some of the outrageous diversions in place on skyline tbh.

    Like everyone has said it's full of fire road climbs.....but I can say I rode it before it shut.
  • Mojo_666
    Mojo_666 Posts: 860
    Is Skyline gone for good or is it due to reopen?
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  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    Due to close next year, With some crappy blue and green trails opening... but it's a shadow of its former self and there doing nothing to put that right so we can ride the classic properely before it's gone.

    Shame if they remove that final decent from skyline there is really not much trail center riding of quality at afan anymore. :(
  • Mojo_666
    Mojo_666 Posts: 860
    Thewaylander wrote:
    Due to close next year, With some crappy blue and green trails opening... but it's a shadow of its former self and there doing nothing to put that right so we can ride the classic properely before it's gone.

    Shame if they remove that final decent from skyline there is really not much trail center riding of quality at afan anymore. :(

    I missed the boat on that one then which is a shame,Ii am still happy to pop down for Whites and The Wall though.

    I can imagine they will remain very entertaining for me and my hard tail for quite some time.
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  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    Really?

    the decents on the wall are fun and the climbing on Whites(and Windy Point) are ok. but on the whole not a huge bunch there of massive interest?
  • Mojo_666
    Mojo_666 Posts: 860
    Maybe I am just easily pleased? I have only ridden them once each mind so the novelty may wear off but I cannot see me getting bored for a long time yet. I will probably go back in a few weeks for sure. Also bear in mind that I have just got back into the saddle after a 12 year absence so am lapping it up as much as I can right now.
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  • welshkev
    welshkev Posts: 9,690
    i really like the wall, me personally, i would drive there just to do that. i'm not fussed on whites so i haven't done that in a year probably :?
  • Stanners79
    Stanners79 Posts: 81
    Did W2 (well about 80% of it ;)) on Sunday and is the first time in a bout a year that I went round whites.

    Energy and goodwood was looking quite worn in places and there were lots more lines where people had followed off the trail.

    The wall didn't seem too worn and the work that they've done at the start of the wall should make it a little more interesting instead of the fireroad. It only looked like a small bit of singletrack but the berms could be a laugh.
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  • Silversladey
    Silversladey Posts: 450
    Thewaylander wrote:
    Shame if they remove that final decent from skyline there is really not much trail center riding of quality at afan anymore. :(

    I am hopefull they will keep it, due to how close it is to the Whites.
  • Thewaylander
    Thewaylander Posts: 8,594
    Yeh also giving the poitn it's part of the test loop for the shops bikes... hope we do keep it, it's nice and long with plenty of flow. By far the most supperior bit of riding at that center bar maybe the last decent on the Wall <3
  • wordnumb
    wordnumb Posts: 847
    Worth mentioning that there's now a diversion on The Wall due to forestry operations. It not a killer but you can't use the fire road between Graveyard and Zigzags, diversion leads you around to access Zigzags from the other end of the fire road.

    Nothing about it on the trail centre websites as yet. Maybe only short-term? Probably only weekdays.
  • fridge1979
    fridge1979 Posts: 134
    afan is great, w2 and whites level are great trails. If you have good fitness none of the trails will challenge you too much and i wont take you anywhere near five hours to complete any trail there! I took a transition covert last time purely for the decents so my advice is take a good climbing full susser that will smash the decents, run a wider fron tyre and narrower rear as some of the black runs are loose and rocky and have drops!

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