Brecon Beacons cycling routes

janesy

Hi,

I'm going on holiday for 5 days with a group of cycling mates, staying in the Brecon Beacons. Near Brecon...
I don't know the area at all and wondered if anyone can give some route suggestions.

We are all Cat2 racers so are planing to ride every day, with rides ranging from 30miles to 100miles.

Any ideas appreciated.

Grill

Loads of stuff up there. Where exactly you staying?

olake92

I'm not entirely sure of the routes (I live in Essex!), however both the Ras de Cymru and the Junior Tour of Wales take in some brilliant roads around the Brecon Beacons; you could do a search for some of the stages.

Here's the link to the Ras.

The race manual of the Junior ToW has full turn by turn directions as well.

janesy

Thanks olake92 I'll take a look.

Grill - Staying on the A4067 at Cray. Near the Cray reservoir.

andrewjoseph

look for the dragon ride routes.

basically, just get on your bike and ride. ;-)

Grill

Got all sorts. For great climbs there's Rhigos, the Bwlch, Maerdy, Penrhys which you can easily hit in a short ride. You should also definitely climb Black Mountain as it's a great hill. You could also heady up to Brecon via the story arms and do either Gospel Pass or the Tumble from Abergavenny. Llangynidr is also worth a shout. Check out Strava to find all these climbs and formulate routes based on that.

ugo.santalucia

Gospel Pass is a stunning climb from Hay on Wye... one of the Great Welsh climbs... the Tumble is a bit tougher and a lot duller

sub55

there you are 100 miles start and finish in Cary. some brutal bits stunning scenery not a lot of traffic

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=210833560656539062752.0004c0d7f3a112bfa2301&msa=0&ll=52.006019,-3.527985&spn=0.521589,1.454315

dork_knight

This route might give you some ideas;
Distance ~ 96.0mi
Elevation Gain ~ 10,970ft

It takes in Rhigos, Bwlch, Penrhys, Llanwonno, Bedlinog, Merthyr and back up to the reservoir.

The site won't let me attach a gpx/tcx file so I've popped it on TinyUpload and you'll have to load it into some app or webpage like;
http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/

http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=755 ... 9215044363

Might give you some ideas of where to go.

gethinceri

Let us know when you're down and someone local might show you around. Don't forget about heading north from Brecon over Eppynt, or west towards the Black Mountain, or east towards the Black Mountains. There are great routes everywhere and most can include some stunning climbs, views and descents.

poweredbyidris

Take the turn off the 4067 towards Heol Senni - just after the village turn south on the Sarn Helen which takes you to the Devil's Elbow - a 1km climb at 10-15% with a couple of steep switchbacks. Nice descent into Ystradfelte (there's a good cafe in the village hall during the spring/summer)

Carry on south then make your way west through Ystradgynlais then up and over the Black Moutain (A4069). At the bottom of the descent turn off onto the road that passes the Usk Reservoir and make your way back to where you're staying.

Both the Gospel Pass and Llangynidr Mountain are good shouts for some more climbing (as is the road past and south of Talybont Reservoir)

chris_bass

I grew up in Llangynidr but didnt take up cycling (other than just as a mode of transport anyway!) until after i'd moved away! miss spent youth!

poweredbyidris

Me too Chris - a Talybont boy

Grill

That ain't nothing. I lived in the French Alps for 7 years (including Les 2 Alps and Alpe d'Huez) and never cycled! Hindsight and all that...

poweredbyidris

Grill wrote:

That ain't nothing. I lived in the French Alps for 7 years (including Les 2 Alps and Alpe d'Huez) and never cycled! Hindsight and all that...

You win...

mfin

Not that far away?... maps in the wording below the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qHkPj6w3ao

chris_bass

PoweredByIdris wrote:

Me too Chris - a Talybont boy

cool, when were you there? did yougo to brecon or crickhowell high school?

gethinceri

Growing up round there was utterly epic.