MTB rides near St Davids in Wales?

steve_sordy

Hi, in a few week's time, I will be spending a week with my extended family at St Davids in Wales. My grandson is 15 and has an Orange 5 Pro, he's a good rider and he's dead keen to do a proper ride at least once that week. I've had a look on Google and not found much in that area. Looking for a decent red trail within about 40 miles. Any advice would be appreciated.

photonic69

It's pretty flat around St David's. Not what I'd call MTB country. Some rolling hills but that's it. I'd stay off the coastal paths. Lots of 80ft drops onto rocks below. Maybe near the Preseli Hills about 30 miles inland?
Plenty of lanes for pootling about thought. Great ice cream shop in St David's though.

steve_sordy

Thanks @photonic69 what do you think to this?
https://www.alltrails.com/fr/randonnee/wales/pembrokeshire/preseli-hills-mountain-bike-loop

Not sure the boy would be up to this at 6hrs 25 mins. Do you (or anyone else) know of anything a but shorter, say 4 hours max?

steve_sordy

We stayed in Solva, which is on a very steep hill. My grandson and I went out on our bikes hoping and expecting to find something. I mean, it's Wales FFS! There are winding and steep footpaths all over the place which look fantastic to ride, but they all have "No cycling" signs in profusion. We came back after a couple of hours a bit dispirited. We bumped into a woman on an mtb and she told us that there was nothing at all anywhere nearby. Riding on the footpaths is not allowed she said.

The following day out walking in Broadhaven I engaged three mtb guys in conversation. They had arrived in that area same time as us and had found nothing either, except tarmac.

The day after that in St Davids, my wife found a brochure in the tourist office. It had a picture on the front of a woman and three kids riding bikes on a family trail. Not at all promising, but inside it told of a new country park that has just re-opened at Llys-y-Fran. It has bike trails around the outside of a large Y-shaped reservoir, some of which "you need an mtb to ride!" So we went!

https://llys-y-fran.co.uk/

It has bike trails of varying ability from green to red with one short black section. Of the claimed 8.2 miles (I clocked 7.6), about 50% is green. It is not what I would call a destination MTB centre. But compared to what else is there locally, it is golden!

At the visitor centre (use "llysyfran country park" in your sat nav), there is a good cafe, and toilets. There is a bike rental place in sight (they appear to do guided rides too). It is near the start of the pump track. There are in fact two pump tracks, one is a smooth tarmac one and quite short, the other is loose gravel and much, much longer - not really a pump track at all, just lots of tight berms and table tops.

From there the trail around the lake begins. At this point I have to make clear that the trail designations are a mess. They have a "red" trail that goes all around the lake. It is coloured red on the map. It has blue and green bits leaving and joining it. But the colouring seems to be there mostly for the convenience of the map maker. The colours mostly do not indicate difficulty, except when they suddenly do! Take advice before starting out. You will either miss some good stuff or find yourself out of your depth. The blue diversions are good value. We took every one and had no regrets as the red trail was more like a green at both ends of the blue diversion. Trail markings are very good.

Much of the red trail that is actually "red" in difficulty is very much like Cannock Chase (for those that have been there). Tight and steep winding climbs zig-zagging up the hill, followed by lots of undulating zigzags through the trees until the descents begin. There are some seriously good fun sections here. There is a fast artificial section towards the end that can be seen from the cafe. Lots of tight berms and tabletops again, but on steep terrain. Great fun!

Llys-y-Fran is situated a few miles north of Haverford West and about 40 mins from St Davids. They need to advertise it more widely. It costs £3 to park all day. Your car reg is scanned upon entry and you pay before you leave.

As I said earlier this is not what I would call an MTB destination that is worth travelling a couple of hours to get there. But if you are already in the area, it is the only game in town.

Edit: I couldn't add this site map at the time of posting as the internet speed was very poor.