The Brecons

cgfw201

Just a quick word on the Brecons after spending a weekend there. Searched on here before we went for routing / destination advice but didn't find a lot. Hopefully this will appear near the top of anyones future searches.

It's an awesome place to ride.

We rode Saturday + Sunday and took in Llangynidr Mountain, The Tumble, Rhigos Mountain and Gospel Pass. All monster climbs, all with astonishingly good views. Got lucky with Rhigos which is in the middle of 3 months of roadworks and is closed to cars. Fortunately the road was immaculate, empty and as far as we could tell open to cyclists on Saturday and was a load of fun to go up and descend without any cars around.

Stayed at the White Hart Inn bunkhouse in Talybont which was dead cheap and did a great full english and decent dinner with beers both nights.

The river next to the pub was ideal for a post ride cool down session.

Highly recommend the area if anyone's looking for a UK cycling trip. Only blip was routing from the Tumble to Rhigos along the south side of the park near Merthyr Tydvil. Lots of dual carriageways and no easy way to avoid all the way along.

ugo.santalucia

Love the Gospel pass, although the descent to Capel-y-fin is in a bit of a state and could do with some maintenance, it also seems to be always part flooded, even during the driest spells

gethinceri

They are The Beacons, not "The Brecons".
I'm glad you had a great time, it's a wonderful area of the country. There's a fairly sensible route from halfway down the Tumble descent (Blaenavon side) across to Merthyr which stays just South of the A465 Heads Of The Valleys road, after that it gets a little confusing but you can still avoid the dual carriageway across to Rhigos.

whoof

I shall be riding from Bristol to Brecon and then onto Ludlow at the weekend. The weather look good and I'm looking forward to some great riding. There's nothing like a nice view of Lord Hereford's Knob on a sunny day.

If you want an alternative hostel in the area there's the Great Western in Abergavenny. A little rough around the edges but the people who run it are nice and when we stayed there previously we met some interesting people.

http://www.greatwesternabergavenny.com/accommodation-1/

bikergirl17

my favourite place to cycle -- and gospel pass is my favourite climb, although i think it is technically in the black mountains. i prefer ascending going north as it is like reaching heaven when you get to the top -- and, as the other poster said, descending that way is not fun especially after it has rained.

if you do it again stop in patrishow (take ncn 42 from abergavenny or crickhowell -- amazing route) ... and there is a much better way up langyndnir than from beaufort or blwch -- try it from llangattock -- the descent is spectacular too. there are tons of other climbs and routes that are not well known and some 20%-30% if you want a real challenge.

a few weeks ago we found this paved in rail road line that turned out to be a serious climb for a spectacular view in the roads around clydach and llanelly. cycling up from gilwern to llanelly gets you a few single chevrons; from crickhowell road a few double -- it is very very narrow single track.

i trust you went from talybont on usk around the reservoir -- and that crazy 20% climb.