Discussion
Afan is the best of the Trail Centres I have ridden, you will have a brilliant day out. I have ridden both Afan and Cwmcarn many times and Afan is a better ride.
The three trails I have ridden there are Whites Level(the best for a short blast, technical and never boring without too much slogging!) The Wall(Good but I prefer Whites if I was doing just one trail) or Skyline(good fun but long with alot of Fire Road). I would do W^2(Whites&The Wall) if I was you as it provides the best bits of trail with a fair but not over the top distance.
Have Fun
The three trails I have ridden there are Whites Level(the best for a short blast, technical and never boring without too much slogging!) The Wall(Good but I prefer Whites if I was doing just one trail) or Skyline(good fun but long with alot of Fire Road). I would do W^2(Whites&The Wall) if I was you as it provides the best bits of trail with a fair but not over the top distance.
Have Fun
teeCup said:
Afan is the best of the Trail Centres I have ridden, you will have a brilliant day out. I have ridden both Afan and Cwmcarn many times and Afan is a better ride.
The three trails I have ridden there are Whites Level(the best for a short blast, technical and never boring without too much slogging!) The Wall(Good but I prefer Whites if I was doing just one trail) or Skyline(good fun but long with alot of Fire Road). I would do W^2(Whites&The Wall) if I was you as it provides the best bits of trail with a fair but not over the top distance.
Have Fun
Cool, thanks for that. Thinking of staying at the Lodge as well.The three trails I have ridden there are Whites Level(the best for a short blast, technical and never boring without too much slogging!) The Wall(Good but I prefer Whites if I was doing just one trail) or Skyline(good fun but long with alot of Fire Road). I would do W^2(Whites&The Wall) if I was you as it provides the best bits of trail with a fair but not over the top distance.
Have Fun
If it is wet, make sure you have some spare brake pads. The soil eats them pretty quickly.
The Wall and White Level are the 2 best trails, although Skyline is excellent, but longer than most people want to ride.
You can combine The Wall and Whites Level, which is called W2. It means you can start at either centre (or from the Afan Lodge) and either ride it as one or stop for lunch half way through.
The Wall and White Level are the 2 best trails, although Skyline is excellent, but longer than most people want to ride.
You can combine The Wall and Whites Level, which is called W2. It means you can start at either centre (or from the Afan Lodge) and either ride it as one or stop for lunch half way through.
http://www.mbwales.com/en/content/cms/Centres/Afan...
pretty much all the info you will need right there.
"the wall" is probably my favourite route in south wales and you can do two laps in a day pretty easily even with cake time on the trails....then head to the cafe (ham, eggs and chips every time!!!)
pretty much all the info you will need right there.
"the wall" is probably my favourite route in south wales and you can do two laps in a day pretty easily even with cake time on the trails....then head to the cafe (ham, eggs and chips every time!!!)
sadly i have never been, but i have heard nothing but good things about Afan, so you should have a blast.
ETA: my photographer friend was there not long ago and got a few pictures, which i think sum up what its like there:
http://gnarlyors
t.tumblr.com/post/13117942569/wa...
ETA: my photographer friend was there not long ago and got a few pictures, which i think sum up what its like there:
http://gnarlyors
t.tumblr.com/post/13117942569/wa...Edited by deadtom on Thursday 19th January 23:24
Rob81 said:
How does Afan compare to Coed Y Brenin? Just had another brilliant weekend at CYB and Llandegla but fancy somewhere different for or next trip.
note i said "favourite trail in south wales"... personally i think coed y brenin is the better trail centre, its probably a little more xc orientated but its hugely popular on al lsorts of biks and the "beast of brenin" is an awesome trail. To me all the trails at CyB just seem to feel more natural, the singletrack sections are undoubtedly longer so probably thats the reason?. there is a bit more climbing compared to afan but then i dont mind that. plus you have the marin trail (is it still called the marin trail?) just round the corner in Betws y Coed which is a stonking good ride!Afan is on my list of trail centres to visit so it's good to read positive comments.
We did the beast at Coed Y Brenin last year and it was superb. We also did the Climach-x trail the same weekend, the first 75% is fireroads and average singletrack, the last section however is unreal and makes it worthwhile, definitely one to check out.
http://www.dyfimountainbiking.org.uk/Dyfi_MTB/Clim...
We did the beast at Coed Y Brenin last year and it was superb. We also did the Climach-x trail the same weekend, the first 75% is fireroads and average singletrack, the last section however is unreal and makes it worthwhile, definitely one to check out.
http://www.dyfimountainbiking.org.uk/Dyfi_MTB/Clim...
Rob81 said:
How does Afan compare to Coed Y Brenin? Just had another brilliant weekend at CYB and Llandegla but fancy somewhere different for or next trip.
Certainly different, but then I find CYB and Llandegla completely chalk and cheese. Afan is kind of in between the two, I found CYB very natural / rocky and challenging from the point of view of the terrain being quite tough going, Llandegla is challenging from the sheer amount of speed and air you can get to on their smooth / completely groomed almost Bike Park style trails.
The climbs at Afan are now almost completely single-track, the long fire-road climb at the start of the wall has been replaced with some nice new trail. The descents on the Wall and Whites are fast and technical - but you have to be brave and commit to get the best out of them, at slower speeds they just don't flow as well. They woop up and down, giving plently of opps for jumping if you like – some of the best stuff is just to the side of the main line – some of it’s quite big so look before you leap if it’s your first time run.
I wouldn't bother with Skyline, well not all of it, it's a huge long slog, for some pretty average overgrown trail - last section is epic, but you can access it from a shortcut about 2/3rd's the way up the White's climb - it's not worth riding the rest frankly.
If you’re going to make a weekend of it, I’d certainly spend a day at Afan, but then the other day at Cwmcarn or Brechfa – they’ve got great stuff to play on too. If you like fast smooth trail, the last sections of the red trails are Cwmcarn and Brechfa are brilliant, even considering some of the amazing places I’ve rode, they’re still some of the best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYQ7F1edKLo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy2B4XNkF4g
Edited by P-Jay on Friday 20th January 13:21
P-Jay said:
I'm off to Brechfa Sunday morning, going to ride a combination of the Green, Blue and Black trail, can't wait.
That's local to me. Great place to ride. Personally I prefer the Red (Gorlech) trail though.But don't try and ride the Gorlech on Sunday, also watch out on the far end of the black section, there is an even on there this weekend.
It only affects the 3 short linked sections at the very far end of the black (but almost all the red). It isn't a race over those parts, so you will be fine to ride the trail.
Edited by matt-ITR on Friday 20th January 22:34
I've been ridine afan for about 8 years now. It's a great place, but the trails are not what they were. Penhyedd has been closed for getting on 2 years, they keep promising a revamp. As a conciquence the wall is battered. Skyline is pretty much wrecked due to tree felling throughtout the forrest. Whites is also really badly errowded. I'ts all happened because of the infections in the larch trees. The forrestry commission has had to fell most of the forrest to eradicate the problem. Once this is done, there should be huge trail developments to restore afan/glyncorrwg to their previous glory. I for one can't wait.
RGambo said:
I've been ridine afan for about 8 years now. It's a great place, but the trails are not what they were. Penhyedd has been closed for getting on 2 years, they keep promising a revamp. As a conciquence the wall is battered. Skyline is pretty much wrecked due to tree felling throughtout the forrest. Whites is also really badly errowded. I'ts all happened because of the infections in the larch trees. The forrestry commission has had to fell most of the forrest to eradicate the problem. Once this is done, there should be huge trail developments to restore afan/glyncorrwg to their previous glory. I for one can't wait.
I miss Penhydd too, it'll be back - abet redesigned and it's the last part of the cognition project - probably Autumn '13 
Yeah I'd agreed the trails are a proper mess ATM. They say it's because of the felling they had to do to stop the tree rot, but my cynical side thinks at as soon as they announced the redevelopment plans they stopped maintenance on the current trails all together.
White's Level (specifically Darkside) and I don't get on. Once I come down Darkside with no chain as it had broken at the top (and I had no powerlink) and another time I started the descent on my full susser, but finished it on a stretcher and got bundled into a waiting air ambulance!
Apart from that it's a great trail centre. Personally, I'd say it feels more natural than CYB...from what I can remember White's is almost all singletrack, where CYB has lots of annoying up and down fireroad sections where you just think "why"?
Enjoy!
Apart from that it's a great trail centre. Personally, I'd say it feels more natural than CYB...from what I can remember White's is almost all singletrack, where CYB has lots of annoying up and down fireroad sections where you just think "why"?
Enjoy!
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