New Penhydd trail at Afan

After several years out of use the new 14km Penhydd trail at Afan is reopened!   It starts with a pleasant switchbacking singletrack climb and short fun descent to a fireroad.   The a long climb up a fireroad to a point misleadingly called the "top" (more on that later).   From here more fireroad climbing to pick up one of the old trail sections "Desolation" which feels quite dull compared to the new stuff.   it also carries a lot of drainage to leave you fairly mud splattered!   Another short fireroad climb to the first of the new red sections which is steep and bermy.   Another climb to some of the old sections - Sidewinder and Dead Sheep Gully - again these feel old and wet now.   Then the final descent which is short sectiosn between fireroads - some technical, some more flowy, and back to join the blue route back to the cafe.  

However, you can go out on another loop on the 7km blue (the Blue Scar).   This is the same to the "top" (which is true this time) and then a long descent back to the cafe.   The berms are just were you need them to pull you round the corneer and the whole thing is wonderful to ride - we really were sad when we reached the bottom.

Cwm Carn donwhill

We have often moaned about the disappointing final descent on the Cwm Carn Twych trail. So we decided to see what the Downhill trails had to offer. From the Twych trail - leave the trail at the point where there's a short, sharp uphill concrete section. Go along the forest drive. I can't remember the way exactly, but the Cwm Down minibus passes fairly frequntley so follow that..... We picked the easiest downhill and concluded that it wasn't too mental and could be ridden by me on my hardtail. Certianly a better finish than the cross country trail, though probably best experienced by payign for a day of uplift!

Afan - the Wall

Rich and I went to Afan for a whole weekend, giving us a chance to compare the Wall and Whyte's Level. Well, I thought the Wall was a bit dull - no technical bits, and actually quite short as a lot of your 24km is spent pootlign along the valley to the bridge and back. Rich throught it flowed superbly...... I thought Whyte's level was awesoem with loads of tech bits to keep you on your toes. Rich didn't think it flowed very well. So there you go.

Afan

Back to Afan for a whole weekend. The Penhydd trail was the first trail centre we ever rode, so we were quite keen to repeat it after a year's experience. It starts with some nice single track climb, but then has quite a long strech of fireroad. The top sections are closed at the moment, so the first real section, and probably the best is the Hidden Valley. This is typified by really tight corners, which despite al our Alpine experience I still didn't nail! The other single track descents are good too, getting harder the faster you ride. With the closed sections this trail was pretty short, so after lunch in the excellent cafe we reascended on fireroad to do the singletrack descents. This is fairly easy to work out using the trail map.

Whyte's Level starts with a long climb, which isn't as hard as say, Cwn Carn's, but is still pretty tiring, and quite tricky in the ice! The black section at the top is great fun, with an enormous final berm. The remaining downhill sections are full of berms and tabletops which are great fun. Again, this trail doesn't really fill a day. A short add on is to reascend the first climb as far as the first bike stile and fireroad section. Go along the fireroad until the signed trail hairpins back left. At this point, look right and you can see the final descent of the Skyline trail. This is a good fun blast, with increasingly high drop-offs! And the cafe is still great!

South Wales

A part of the country with a plethora of natural trail, which we seem to have ignored and focused on the trail centres.

Cwn Carn is the most accessible. After a relatively flat start, there is quite a technical climb which I personally dislike and always vow to miss out next time. The top section offers a choice of black and red. The black is labeled freeride, but in reality all rolls. There’s a fun corkscrew where you ride back under your own trail which looks steep and intimidating, but in reality goes anywhere. The next few sections are good fun, and should be savoured as I always find the final descent a bit of a disappointment – it’s not technical and just needs to be ridden fast to make it fun.

Afan is almost two centres. I did the Penhyd trail when I had just started, and recall finding it quite hard but I was quite novice. More recently we did Whyte’s Level which seemed surprisingly tiring for a 16km trail, but does have some good fun technical sections in it, although the surface between the technical bits isn’t so smooth. Both have good cafes.