We got a place booked near Afan this weekend and so far, the weather looks pretty good. We’ve done Afan before but I’ve heard a lot of talk on here about Brechfa. How much of a drive is it between the two? Is it realistic to do Brechfa one day and Afan the next?

TIA.

I was down there last year – we stayed near Llandovery and did W2 one day and the raven the next.
Not sure how long it would be from Afan to Brechfa, but I would imagine it would be over an hours drive as its a way off the main roads

I would guess at least 1.5 hours, a fair few miles of B roads to get there.

Worth doing though IMO, now Afan only has W2 and Skyline, I’d do W2 one day and black/blue/green at Brechfa the next.

Hi mate, I’m off to do Brechfa for the first time later in week (probably Wednesday), and I am currently living just over the Bwlch from Afan, so I’ll make a note of the journey time and I’ll let you know if that helps.

Easily do-able, about an hour or so drive between the two.If you go, may I suggest you do the Blue final descent back to the carpark, either as well as or instead of the Black run, I got much more of a buzz out of it.

I got much more of a buzz out of the blue in general, much faster, nothing particularly tricky on the black, just didn’t really find it as much fun.

Porthcawl where i liv to brechfa is an hours drive, afan to brechfa would be abot the same, do it brechfa is well worth the trip.

We did what you’re planning (Brechfa Saturday, Afan Sunday) a couple of of weekends ago. It’s about an hour and a half drive. We went the “scenic route” on the way back up to Llangadog over the mountain down to Neath which is a nice drive but if you’re in a rush the M4 is quicker.

Just got back from same trip. Only made it as far as Afan on Friday eve – we drove up to Glycorrwyg because we know from experience you can still get drinks for an hour or two, even if you have arrived hopelessly late. Crashed out in the van and went down to Brechfa for breakfast at the Drop Off bus. From Afan to Brechfa, as mentioned, takes about an hour and fifteen/half – it is quicker to go M4.

Black Lion at Abergorlech (red route at Brechfa) does good food, which we had some of together with rather a lot of beer. Then we nipped back to Afan for a quick go round Whites.

Long and short – Brechfa is def worth the extra mileage, and can be easily combined with Afan.

Tip – don’t rely totally on a Tom Tom to navigate to Brechfa as I know 2 people who’ve been sent through fords, up farm tracks and even told they’d reached their destination on top of a hill 3 miles from Brechfa. Do it the old fashioned way with a map. There’s 2 car parks at Brechfa – make sure you know which one you want to go to for the different trails. We also found the route marking quite poor – so keep your eyes peeled whilst riding.

Was going to afan this weekend, would it be worth doing brechfa instead as I’ve not ridden there and seeing that W2 is the only trail open other than sky line. It’s a 2.5 hr drive for me to afan. Bit far really just for W2 and cant be arsed with skyline.

Brechfa makes Afan feel quite tame ———- both uphill and downhill!
Also, make sure you take at least a crud catcher to Brechfa, preferably a rear guard as well.

Actually mud was not that bad at Brechfa this weekend. Parts of the black are intentionally “natural”, which is sort of successful, imo. Very good drying conditions at the mo – warm and breezy. If they had a lot more riders they wouldn’t get away with such a minimal build, and ditto (unfortunately) for the steepness, which gives rise to the inevitable braking bumps etc.

So are you saying it definatley worth driving further to Brechfa if you’ve never been ?

Yep. Riding is great, and significantly different in character to other centres. It’s also set in a lovely valley, has the great friendly bus café, plus the pub is good.

Brechfa is worth it just for the green / blue Derwen trail – fantastic fun

From the Derwen trail you can link into the corkscrew bit of the Black trail which is the most amazing bit of man made trail I have ever ridden.

Cheers guys. All sounds good.