Afan - best trail?
Discussion
Off to Afan in 2 weeks for a full days riding, which trails are the best to do? I have found in other areas the most recent trails seem to be best and Blade is the suggested one at Afan, is this the one to go for or are any of the other trails better?
My preference is for downhill fun rather than plodding through countryside, thought Cafall at Cwmcarn was good as a reference point.
My preference is for downhill fun rather than plodding through countryside, thought Cafall at Cwmcarn was good as a reference point.
You can join them all up. Ride up y was. Over to whites. Do energy, ride up to top of whites, over to blade, do all of blade or, just miss out beacon view ( it a ramble ) back end of blade has some great down hills. Blast down to trail centre. Back up whites climb, windy point. Back over to y wall, 373. Graveyard, quick blast round the bike park, down zig zags. Back to car. That lot should take you around 3 1/2 -5 hours.
There are loads of options.
There are loads of options.
I am not a fan of Y Wal one bit. I love Cafall in cwmcarn. In terms of Afan is rather Whites or Pehydd everytime. I find Y Wal is a lot of climbing for what you get in return. The last decent is good single track but the rest of the trail is distinctly average in my opinion.
Y wal has a strong fan base so no doubt lots of people will disagree. I find Penhydd much more fun especially if you do the climb again and blast down Blue scar.
Y wal has a strong fan base so no doubt lots of people will disagree. I find Penhydd much more fun especially if you do the climb again and blast down Blue scar.
Oh god Penhydd used to be great little warm up, did it a few months ago and it was all climb, and then the decent just as it started to decend it finished? Rubbish.
Cwm, only been once, not tried the new one but the old one had a fun techy hard climb but the decent just didnt do anything for me?
Cwm, only been once, not tried the new one but the old one had a fun techy hard climb but the decent just didnt do anything for me?
Horses for courses I guess - I live in Cardiff and every weekend I'm ether at Afan, Cwmcarn, BPW or Brechfa so I know it very well.
I personally like to ride fast and flowy, it's not 'real' mountain biking I know, but that's what I like.
Penhydd is fun, it descents are quite 'bike parky' now, wide, fast and smooth - if you couple it with an additional loop of 'Blue Scar' it's a great fun way to spend a morning - lots of people overlook Penhydd and Blue Scar because they're "easy" but they're brilliant fun.
The Wall, the new bits along the bottom of the valley are boring IMO, it does break up the long fire road climb but, I'm not sure it's worth the effort - but the rest of the trail is great - more 'natural' than Penhydd so tighter, rockier and steeper - there's a bike park half way around you can play on for an hour easy - it's deceptively big given the size of it's footprint - there's 3 jump runs and 3-4 XC style descents - all short of course but really good - one of them is tucked away a bit, but has a set of jump on it which are almost A-Line sized. The there's a super smooth blast through the trees after than followed by the final descents which are rockier and incredibly fast if you're brave and stay off the brakes. It's one of the few trails left that is actually through the forest, most have been harvested in the last few years or deforested to try to control a tree disease.
White's Level - I'm not a fan of it anymore, it's in a terrible state (or was a few months ago when I last rode it) it's suffered from massive diversions for months on end and a lack of maintenance - if you like your riding more 'natural' you'll love it, but if you're a bit of thrill seeker the state of it has made it slower to ride. It's not likely to change anytime soon either, I personally think Afan let it go to seed whilst they waited for a huge injection from cash from Europe a few years ago (same money built BPW) but when it came to it, huge bits had to be closed to facilitate other works including a bit wind farm so it missed the boat - and there isn't any budget for a large scale rebuild. Can't complain though, the riders who love it now are well served by the rest of Afan anymore.
Blade - it's a new trail, but it's a bit of a mega-mix of Whites and the old Skyline trail - I would guess the new bits account for 50% of the trail and they're great - fast and challenging, steepest descents in the park easy which massive rocks to roll over / jump, drop whatever suits you really - but there's a huge loop in the middle which is pure Skyline so long and pretty featureless single track, I skip bits of it now.
W2 is Whites and Wall Combined with some fireroad to link them.
Skyline is 46km long, usually with lots of diversions due to the wind farm and a bit of a slog unless you're really into XC, I rode it on a 160mm travel bike with work drivetrain and wish I hadn't there's bit which are just pointless - you reach a point on a valley - great view if you the weather is kind, you ride on for an hour, or maybe two - all the way it's 90% fireroad and maybe the odd bit of overgrown featureless single track - anyway two hours of this later you emerge at the same point only pointing in the opposite direction. That weighed heavy on my soul. I'm not sure if it's still open.
I personally like to ride fast and flowy, it's not 'real' mountain biking I know, but that's what I like.
Penhydd is fun, it descents are quite 'bike parky' now, wide, fast and smooth - if you couple it with an additional loop of 'Blue Scar' it's a great fun way to spend a morning - lots of people overlook Penhydd and Blue Scar because they're "easy" but they're brilliant fun.
The Wall, the new bits along the bottom of the valley are boring IMO, it does break up the long fire road climb but, I'm not sure it's worth the effort - but the rest of the trail is great - more 'natural' than Penhydd so tighter, rockier and steeper - there's a bike park half way around you can play on for an hour easy - it's deceptively big given the size of it's footprint - there's 3 jump runs and 3-4 XC style descents - all short of course but really good - one of them is tucked away a bit, but has a set of jump on it which are almost A-Line sized. The there's a super smooth blast through the trees after than followed by the final descents which are rockier and incredibly fast if you're brave and stay off the brakes. It's one of the few trails left that is actually through the forest, most have been harvested in the last few years or deforested to try to control a tree disease.
White's Level - I'm not a fan of it anymore, it's in a terrible state (or was a few months ago when I last rode it) it's suffered from massive diversions for months on end and a lack of maintenance - if you like your riding more 'natural' you'll love it, but if you're a bit of thrill seeker the state of it has made it slower to ride. It's not likely to change anytime soon either, I personally think Afan let it go to seed whilst they waited for a huge injection from cash from Europe a few years ago (same money built BPW) but when it came to it, huge bits had to be closed to facilitate other works including a bit wind farm so it missed the boat - and there isn't any budget for a large scale rebuild. Can't complain though, the riders who love it now are well served by the rest of Afan anymore.
Blade - it's a new trail, but it's a bit of a mega-mix of Whites and the old Skyline trail - I would guess the new bits account for 50% of the trail and they're great - fast and challenging, steepest descents in the park easy which massive rocks to roll over / jump, drop whatever suits you really - but there's a huge loop in the middle which is pure Skyline so long and pretty featureless single track, I skip bits of it now.
W2 is Whites and Wall Combined with some fireroad to link them.
Skyline is 46km long, usually with lots of diversions due to the wind farm and a bit of a slog unless you're really into XC, I rode it on a 160mm travel bike with work drivetrain and wish I hadn't there's bit which are just pointless - you reach a point on a valley - great view if you the weather is kind, you ride on for an hour, or maybe two - all the way it's 90% fireroad and maybe the odd bit of overgrown featureless single track - anyway two hours of this later you emerge at the same point only pointing in the opposite direction. That weighed heavy on my soul. I'm not sure if it's still open.
Herman Toothrot said:
Thanks for the detailed write up P-Jay, so Blade on the whole is good, any suggestions on if any detours from blade are worthwhile to get other good bits in?
Yeah Blade really is worth a ride, I'm not hugely fit but it's enough riding for me for one day.As for detours, it's really hard to explain and I couldn't point it out on a map unfortunately, as you might guess from my location I'm completely spoiled with Trail Centres so can be ultra fussy - I'd just ride the whole thing, you can't really skip a quiet section of Blade to ride a better bit of something else. I wouldn't recommend going 'off piste' either there are a few sections they used for an Enduro Race off The Wall which are easy to find but they're very tough going unless it's very dry, but for the most part you'll just find very deep mud.
One tip though, the final descent of is started from the same bit of trail that Skyline starts it forks left for Blade which is the tougher, fun-tough but it can be a bit intimidating if you're not used to it (no fingers pointed) basically it's large rocks with blindish crests to ride over - right is Skyline Descent, similar but smaller rocks and not as steep you can decide which you prefer at that point, but if you, or anyone in your party isn't enjoying it Blade, Skyline runs almost parallel which it, just hike about 5m or so up from any point on Blade and you'll probably find Skyline - they also end at the same place.
I've done Whites a few times now and last time I did it about a year ago I found it a bit boring. Maybe because I've ridden more technical trails now. Did Y Wall a couple of years ago, didn't care for it, from memory it was loads of fireroad climb and very little down. Did Blade about 9 months ago, hard work but good fun, there's a tough climb but some really enjoyable downs.
I'd go Cwmcarn every time now though. Both Twrch and Cafall trails are for me better than anything at Afan.
I'd go Cwmcarn every time now though. Both Twrch and Cafall trails are for me better than anything at Afan.
We did all the Afan trails last September and it was excellent, the trail centre does fantastic food too and the bike shop's excellent (Skyline cycles).
My vote goes to White's Level. The initial climb is excellent and since they felled all the trees you get awesome views of the valley for most of the climb. Then you can do the black section at the top which is brilliant.
My vote goes to White's Level. The initial climb is excellent and since they felled all the trees you get awesome views of the valley for most of the climb. Then you can do the black section at the top which is brilliant.
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