3 Days in Wales - Afan, BPW, Cwmcarn.
Hi Folks
Me and 3 lads just got back from a 3 day MTB trip to South Wales and so i thought i would review it in case others were thinking of going. The bikes used were Trek Remedy 9 650B, Canyon Nerve AL+ 9 SL, Canyon Nerve AL+ 8, Canyon Spectral 7.9 29er (my bike). I am the least experienced for this type of riding. Ive been a roadie for years and had a HT but only used it with semi slicks on the road. Ive only had by FS for 2 weeks before going so you could say i was going in at the deep end.
Never trust a Wales weather report. It was supposed to be chucking it down the entire weekend and ended up being perfect weather.
Day 1 Cwmcarn
Arrival at 0930 at the car park which has showers, changing rooms and toilets all good condition and a cafe with small shop. Mobile reception is a little sporadic. Car Park is £3 for the day. There is an uplift service for the DH riders.
We were riding the Twrch Trail and Cafal Trail. They are red graded, 18km plus each and lots of climbing straight from the car park. It was wet but not raining and so we had our waterproofs on. The temp was around 13degs which felt warmer in the forests but colder on the fire roads between trail sections. The uphills were heart pumpers with lots of roots and rocks to climb over keeping you on your toes. The descents were muddy and slippery with plenty of switchbacks which were initially a challenge for my XL 29er bike. This was a great day of climbing and descent with a Cafe stop in the middle and the food is tasty and plentiful with free filtered water for your reservoirs.
Day 2 Afan W2 Trail
Arrival at the Trail centre which has toilets, changing facilities a shop and cafe. Parking is £1 for the day. There are a few trails from this point and the W2 is a combo of Y Wall and Whites Level and between the two trails is Skyline Cafe. The W2 is a 44km trail which took us 6 isn hours with an hour break for lunch. The weather held out nicely and came out sunny in the end. It was windy on the top of the mountains but sheltered on the climbs and descents.
There is over 1000m of climbing in the day but it doesn't come all at once like at Cwmcarn. The descent to the cafe is a fast rocky one and if wet would be a little hairy. The cafe and hire shop were well stocked, not quite the service at Cwmcarn but the jacket potato i had was good and the fruit cake was great.
Goin back over the top and back down there are some great climbs and descents with very steep drop offs which one of our guys didm like due to a patch of vertigo. I think it was the graveyard section. Its a long day and after Cwmcarn was a good challenge. Just make sure you eat lots, drink lots and have gels and bars on standby.
Day 3 Bike Park Wales
We had pre booked uplift passes for this place and got there nice and Early as we were staying in a great place 5 minutes away. We signed the disclaimers, hired full face helmets and cycled to the uplift pick up. On weekends in the high season they run about 5 mini busses a day so there won't be a wait. On our Monday in May they ran 2 busses and the most we waited was about 3 minutes. The bikes get strapped onto a trailer and 10 mins later you are getting back off at the top. You cycle 50m to the start of 4 runs. 2 long fast fling blues, a fast lumpy red and the Dai hard black with the road gap. (didn't try the black)
For a beginner used to doing Swinley forest on a HT the blues were faster, longer and much much more fun, leaving a smile all over my face. There are 2 transition areas where you can mix and match parts of trails or shoot straight into another part of what you are already on. Its roughly 15-20 minutes down speed dependant, quicker on the blacks. Then most of the trails end up at the uplift pick up and off you go again. Our last uplift went at 1pm and we were back eating lunch at 1320 where my veggie burger was massive and delicious. The other guys had Hero burgers which were monstrous. The afternoon saw sunny hot weather and more red and blue runs and they just got faster. We all wore pads which was a good idea. Other riders had issues we heard about had broken elbows and wrists on the day.
They have a full hire shop, they do mends and wheel fixes and have a bike wash plus changing rooms.
We had a great time, no issues and only smiles at the end. For my part being a total beginner i learnt a lot and gave my bike a good test and it excelled. I got a couple of bruises and scrapes mainly gathered on technical climbs where i had to dab my foot down and slipped.
If anyone needs more info on South Wales then just continue the thread.
Cheers
Me and 3 lads just got back from a 3 day MTB trip to South Wales and so i thought i would review it in case others were thinking of going. The bikes used were Trek Remedy 9 650B, Canyon Nerve AL+ 9 SL, Canyon Nerve AL+ 8, Canyon Spectral 7.9 29er (my bike). I am the least experienced for this type of riding. Ive been a roadie for years and had a HT but only used it with semi slicks on the road. Ive only had by FS for 2 weeks before going so you could say i was going in at the deep end.
Never trust a Wales weather report. It was supposed to be chucking it down the entire weekend and ended up being perfect weather.
Day 1 Cwmcarn
Arrival at 0930 at the car park which has showers, changing rooms and toilets all good condition and a cafe with small shop. Mobile reception is a little sporadic. Car Park is £3 for the day. There is an uplift service for the DH riders.
We were riding the Twrch Trail and Cafal Trail. They are red graded, 18km plus each and lots of climbing straight from the car park. It was wet but not raining and so we had our waterproofs on. The temp was around 13degs which felt warmer in the forests but colder on the fire roads between trail sections. The uphills were heart pumpers with lots of roots and rocks to climb over keeping you on your toes. The descents were muddy and slippery with plenty of switchbacks which were initially a challenge for my XL 29er bike. This was a great day of climbing and descent with a Cafe stop in the middle and the food is tasty and plentiful with free filtered water for your reservoirs.
Day 2 Afan W2 Trail
Arrival at the Trail centre which has toilets, changing facilities a shop and cafe. Parking is £1 for the day. There are a few trails from this point and the W2 is a combo of Y Wall and Whites Level and between the two trails is Skyline Cafe. The W2 is a 44km trail which took us 6 isn hours with an hour break for lunch. The weather held out nicely and came out sunny in the end. It was windy on the top of the mountains but sheltered on the climbs and descents.
There is over 1000m of climbing in the day but it doesn't come all at once like at Cwmcarn. The descent to the cafe is a fast rocky one and if wet would be a little hairy. The cafe and hire shop were well stocked, not quite the service at Cwmcarn but the jacket potato i had was good and the fruit cake was great.
Goin back over the top and back down there are some great climbs and descents with very steep drop offs which one of our guys didm like due to a patch of vertigo. I think it was the graveyard section. Its a long day and after Cwmcarn was a good challenge. Just make sure you eat lots, drink lots and have gels and bars on standby.
Day 3 Bike Park Wales
We had pre booked uplift passes for this place and got there nice and Early as we were staying in a great place 5 minutes away. We signed the disclaimers, hired full face helmets and cycled to the uplift pick up. On weekends in the high season they run about 5 mini busses a day so there won't be a wait. On our Monday in May they ran 2 busses and the most we waited was about 3 minutes. The bikes get strapped onto a trailer and 10 mins later you are getting back off at the top. You cycle 50m to the start of 4 runs. 2 long fast fling blues, a fast lumpy red and the Dai hard black with the road gap. (didn't try the black)
For a beginner used to doing Swinley forest on a HT the blues were faster, longer and much much more fun, leaving a smile all over my face. There are 2 transition areas where you can mix and match parts of trails or shoot straight into another part of what you are already on. Its roughly 15-20 minutes down speed dependant, quicker on the blacks. Then most of the trails end up at the uplift pick up and off you go again. Our last uplift went at 1pm and we were back eating lunch at 1320 where my veggie burger was massive and delicious. The other guys had Hero burgers which were monstrous. The afternoon saw sunny hot weather and more red and blue runs and they just got faster. We all wore pads which was a good idea. Other riders had issues we heard about had broken elbows and wrists on the day.
They have a full hire shop, they do mends and wheel fixes and have a bike wash plus changing rooms.
We had a great time, no issues and only smiles at the end. For my part being a total beginner i learnt a lot and gave my bike a good test and it excelled. I got a couple of bruises and scrapes mainly gathered on technical climbs where i had to dab my foot down and slipped.
If anyone needs more info on South Wales then just continue the thread.
Cheers
MTB Trek 4300 Disc 1999
Road Rose Carbon Pro RS Custom
Canyon Spectral AL 7.9 29er
Road Rose Carbon Pro RS Custom
Canyon Spectral AL 7.9 29er
0
Comments
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FYI - the trails at cwmcarn are only around 14km each. the trail maps are wrong.0
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Since Bike Park Wales opened I have had no interest at all in either Cwmcarn or Afan, it's so much better than either. Doesn't matter whether im on my xc bike or dh bike an whether im riding up or on the uplift its always a great day.
They have plans to get 12 more trails open by next summer and a big xc loop.Transition Patrol - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=130702350 -
That's interesting, I've been toying with going up there and doing laps of the climb and various descents but as I'm more xc/trail orientated have kept going to afan if I'm not staying local. You reckon it's worth the extra 15mins drive time from a trail sort of perspective?0
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I couldn't disagree more with rocket monkey (no change there
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Bpw is about 25 mins from me and I e been twice. I much prefer both Afan and cwmcarn.0 -
Afan might be better now if it's less busy. The trails were always ok but it just got way too busy. You constantly get held up on trails.
Cwmcarn xc trail just sucks. It doesn't really get interesting until the final section and thats all over in a minute.
There is some superb riding nearby in the Brecon Beacons. The 90km Beast route from last year is an absolute killer but well worth the suffering.Transition Patrol - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=130702350 -
RockmonkeySC wrote:.
There is some superb riding nearby in the Brecon Beacons. The 90km Beast route from last year is an absolute killer but well worth the suffering.
I heard a lot of people complain about last years as there was a lot of road/fireroad involved, was this not the case?0 -
I was not a massive fan of last years Beast, it seemed far to much road/fireroad, although I was not feeling great and ended up switching to the shorter route at the split point, which was a shame as I was looking forward to riding the Gap
Lets hope this years is more off road
Specialized Camber Expert
Specialized Allez Sport0 -
I rode BPW yesterday and had a great time.
XL 29'er hardtail was not ideal, only really enjoyed the blue runs as a result, but still more than enough peril for me.
I had an uplift pass but did the technical climb several times. I found a good XC compromise during the lunch break was to ride only the top half of the trails and take the fire road back to the tech climb/top. Saved alot of slog and kept the blood flowing.
Really impressed with the facility, look forward to going back sometime next year when they have more trails open.0 -
welshkev wrote:RockmonkeySC wrote:.
There is some superb riding nearby in the Brecon Beacons. The 90km Beast route from last year is an absolute killer but well worth the suffering.
I heard a lot of people complain about last years as there was a lot of road/fireroad involved, was this not the case?
You're right, I didn't do last year it was the year before! There was some fire road but over 90km it didn't feel like a lotTransition Patrol - viewtopic.php?f=10017&t=130702350 -
Any tips on where to stay for this trip? I'm looking at the same itinerary for next April. Priorities are bike safety and low cost.0
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RockmonkeySC wrote:Afan might be better now if it's less busy. The trails were always ok but it just got way too busy. You constantly get held up on trails.
Cwmcarn xc trail just sucks. It doesn't really get interesting until the final section and thats all over in a minute.
There is some superb riding nearby in the Brecon Beacons. The 90km Beast route from last year is an absolute killer but well worth the suffering.
Have to say, I've not ridden better trails than the trails at cwm.. my favourite xc loops anywhere froma trail centre0
