So the GF has accepted a place to go back to school and retrain for two years. Provisionally (subject to ensuring we can afford to eat if she doesn’t earn for two years!) we will both be working in/around Cardiff and looking to move there (from Port Talbot) late this year/early next year.

Would prefer to be out of town than in, ideally with some off road within pedalling distance – glance at an OS map suggests Caerphilly would fulfil these criteria.

Anyone have any advice on areas to look at/avoid like the plague? Knowledge of where local riding spots are also welcomed!

Cheers, DJ.

Don’t knock in-town. Places like Roath, Canton etc are some of the nicest places to live in Cardiff, and possibly the whole area I reckon. Not overly expensive by city standards, but a lot more than Caerphilly for example. Riding is always rideable from Cardiff, wherever you are.

I’ve heard Caerphilly is not that nice, but I dunno. Seems like a typical Valleys town to me!

Local riding – there’s plenty all around the North and East of Cardiff, immediately outside the city.

If I had to live outside Cardiff, it’d probably be Machen, Crosskeys, somewhere like that – they don’t seem too bad and the riding’s probably the best south of the Beacons – although I’m not really a Valleys riding expert!

Whereabouts in Cardiff are you commuting to?

Cheers Molgrips.

GF would be based at UHW but out on visits/placements quite a bit so will need to drive there (from the times I’ve gone anywhere near the Heath in rush hour, rather her than me) most of the time, but could be anywhere on visits so needs reasonable access to the M4. I work at Llandough Hospital and am hoping to return to commuting by bike most days (happy to do 10-15 miles each way). Caerphilly appeals for the option of riding over the mountain on the road bike on days like today, but down the Taff Trail on the CX bike in December….

Taffs Well, Groesfaen, Pentyrch, Radyr, Morganstown, Gwaelod Y Garth are the Cardiff areas you’d be looking at.

Further out towards Newport and Caerphilly would be: Rudry, Bedwas, Machen, Bassaleg, Ystrad Mynach, Risca, Rogerstone.

Pretty much any of them are easy access to trails, as I do an offroad loop that takes in most of North Cardiff to Cwmcarn in about 8 hours with about 90% singletrack / fireroad.

Bear in mind, Cardiff house prices are expensive for what they are, in comparison to further into the valleys – i.e. £300k house in Cardiff = £200k house in Ystrad area. It is valleys, but you can find nice areas if you look around.

From memory Caerphilly is a bit of a s**thole.

Parts of Pontcana are nice enough. Cathays isn’t bad if you don’t mind students.

getting further out of the city I’ve always liked the area around Llandaff Cathedral (near the BBC studios)

I lived in Llandaff and subsequently Adamsdown. Adamsdown isn’t to everyone’s taste (it’s quite rundown) but it’s safe enough. Llandaff is ridiculously dull. Best areas I reckon with all considered are Pontcanna (if coffee shops and bohemia-lite are your thing), Tongwynlais (nearby trails plus good commute) or Crosskeys (cheap, good trails, out of the city but still close by).

Taffs Well, Groesfaen, Pentyrch, Radyr, Morganstown, Gwaelod Y Garth are the Cardiff areas you’d be looking at.

I still would far rather live in Roath than any of those places. Bland suburbs, in the experience I’ve had (which is only passing through).

I live in Llanishen, north Cardiff. I can cycle to cymcarn but more locally I have Garth, Caerphilly and Machen mountains in easy riding distance. Countless woodlands. Really spoilt with off road stuff in north Cardiff

I liked Roath – lots of different food!

Llanishen’s ok.. bit blandly suburban though.

The reason I like Roath is you can walk to town, walk to the (good) local shops and restaurants, walk to a lovely park, ride easily to the trails, get to the M4 easily enough, walk to the train station, ride to the station in minutes (which I really miss now), walk to the Heath even if you are at the right end.

Oh yeah, I also like the suburb of Heath itself. Not many local shops though.

Llandaff North is the place to be. 50m from the taff trail, 6mins by train to the city centre, great local pub Royal Exchange, best of all there’s still a community feel to the place. Local estate agenr is Fortis.

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This is hugely subjective, I would suggest, Llandaff North, Llanishen, Roath, Rhwibina, Cathays, or Carephilly I wouldn’t want to go up the valleys to Machen and places like that. I think the point is get out there walk around and see how it feels, does it have good public transport links too for if the weather is horrific and you don’t want to walk. Penarth, Dinas Powys if you are working in Llandough??

Llandaff is nice yeah.

Although if you are in Machen and want to get to Cardiff, the quickest way is through the woods so you could have a fine off-road commute.

Penarth would be handy for Llandough and central Cardiff, the far end of Barry can be good in parts (the bit down by the docks is a tad rough.

Machen is not up the valleys 😳

Lots of advise here .. very little of which is accurate.

I am from Caerphilly. There are some shit hole places here for sure. Then again there are alot worse shit hole places in just about any area you care to mention .. the further up the valleys you look the worse it gets for sure ..
Machen is nice(and its def not up the valleys as somebody mentioned) Nothing special though to be honest and quite expensive.

Bedwas is 90% a shit hole and Trethomas 99.9% shit hole .. so beware in those places.
Abertridw has been improved the last few years and house prices are reasonable.
As for the riding. Mtb and roady nirvana.

ps.
Dont bother with Llandaff North .. I hear the locals are a nightmare .. 😉

Machen is in the Rhymney valley which makes it the Valleys in my book. Ok so it’s more rural, and quite nice 🙂 The only thing that puts me off is that unless I’ve missed something, it’s just a strip of houses by a road. I only know of the chippy and the chinese for local businesses…

As for the riding. Mtb and roady nirvana

MTB is pretty good, road not so good I don’t think. Not bad, but you can’t ride for long without a certain amount of towns, dual carriageways, bypasses, industrial estates and roundabouts.

Machen is in the Rhymney Valley???? Uh ok
Move to Bedwas it is very authentic it still has a tip 😆

It is all one valley over from where I grew up so might as well be on another planet 😉

Swansea. Better biking, better surfing, cheaper, less busy.

Mrs. Rickos used to live in Morganstown. It was great for walks from the door and giving that feeling of being out of the town (if that’s what you like), but with the train station at Radyr, nights out and getting into town were dead easy.

Road riding is superb from Caerphilly. A hundred mile loop will take in the quiet lanes all the way up to Monmouth/Abergavenny/Usk in one direction or the Bwlch/Rhigos/Brecon/Llangynidr in the opposite direction.
Sure you will pass towns/roundabouts/bypasses … So what??
Machen is pretty much all on one busy road. To the right your on a very steep mtn and to the left your by the river … not ideal.

Swansea. Better biking, better surfing, cheaper, less busy.

Bit of a trek to the Heath or Llandough hospitals, isn’t it? 🙄

Road riding is superb from Caerphilly.

It’s ok, but not superb. 100 miles does take you into Monmouthshire but if you only want a 30 or 50 miler you have few options. The same stuff gets tiring after a while!

I’ve ridden in other places that are endless lovely open country roads without any bypasses, derelict factories, roundabouts or depressed shitty towns. That would be my criteria for superb 🙂

When you were born and brought up in Whitchurch as a kid then Machen is “up the valleys” it’s at least 2 over therefore up the valleys, it’s an expression! 🙄

What about Splott in Cardiff

Thanks all for the useful replies!

Swansea. Better biking, better surfing, cheaper, less busy

So in the original post I say I’m moving to Cardiff, from Port Talbot, to be nearer work and somebody suggests Swansea – only on STW!!!

The reason for N Cardiff (and not Penarth/Dinas/Barry) is that Claire really needs access to the motorway for her course (retraining as an Occupational Therapist, will be on placement/visits a lot and could be anywhere in S Wales). Also she will have to drive to the Heath a lot, and I know Cardiff well enough to know I WOULD NOT want to do that drive every day in rush hour. Cycling the other way would be OK tho! Oh and looks like there are no trails in the Vale!

As for the riding. Mtb and roady nirvana.

Please bear in mind I’m moving from the Afan Valley so I’m spoilt rotten for riding at the moment 😉

I probably should have said we’ll be renting not buying…we have six months to find somewhere, so will have a good drive/walk round and explore some areas I don’t know so well. Caerphilly is a front runner largely cos we already have friends there so know it pretty well.

Seems like quite a Cardiff community on here – so I’ll see you in six months to show me the local trails maybe……

Sorry I posted that before I read your original post properly!

Castlebikes do regular mtb & roady rides.

Caerphilly’s not that near the motorway. Roath is much easier I reckon, as are most other places mentioned here.

Oh, and I don’t think getting to the Heath at rush hour is any kind of problem! The A48 is a bit slow at peak times but it moves.

Looks like I may well be moving from Swansea to Cardiff over the summer so…..

DJ – where did you move to & how are you finding it?

Has any of the above advice changed at all? I’m assuming Llandaff North hasn’t fallen from grace in 11 months?

Cheers

I live in newport and work in Cardiff. I can ride to the canal in less than 1 minute which opens up a network of riding.
I’m also selling my house 😉

molgrips – Member

As for the riding. Mtb and roady nirvana

MTB is pretty good, road not so good I don’t think. Not bad, but you can’t ride for long without a certain amount of towns, dual carriageways, bypasses, industrial estates and roundabouts.

Still makes me smile reading this ..
Yes – you will go through towns, and roundabouts .. unless you use the bypass of course 😳
And if you dont want to ride on a dual carriageways, or go past industrial estates then plot your route to avoid them .. its not hard to do.

I lived in Cardiff Bay for 2 years. Its halfway between the Heath and Llandough and 7 miles to the hills up the Taff trail.
Its a very easy commute to either of these places predominantly on cycle paths.
There’s loads of rentals available in places like Century Wharf which is about 200 yards from activity and nightlife.
I really enjoyed my time there.

rhysw – Are you selling to move to Cardiff as well?

I was in Cardiff last week & had a very quick look @ a few areas: Roath Park was v nice, as was Rhiwbena (love it just for the name) and the area around Sophia Gdns.

We’ll initially be renting & would like good pubs/social/shops, non suburbia, green space, good schools, commutable to city centre on bike, would prefer house rather than flat & old rather than new.

Whitchurch too just above Llandaff North and “posher” 😉 got a few nice café bars in village too.

Cardiff is within easy reach of loads of great riding (road and MTB), even right from the city centre. Taff Trail starts right down in Cardiff Bay and goes all the way up through town to Radyr, Tongwynlais and on up to the Valleys.

North Cardiff is nice – Llanishen, Whitchurch, Rhiwbina. You’re a bit closer to the good off-road, not too far out of town and also good for driving cos you’re near the A48.

Cardiff Bay is good too, loads going on but the living down there is mostly new-build flats (although they’re very nice).

Cathays, Roath and Maindy is student central.

Traffic in Cardiff can be horrendous too, bear that in mind if you’re planning on driving into town – equally factor it in if you need to drive out of Cardiff Bay to get to the A48/M4.

Yeah, we are moving to Cardiff. We both work there do it makes sense.
We ‘re looking in the Whitchurch/Heath/Roath area

Worth noting bike theft in Cathays roath canton and Ely is bad. Even the cops tell me they can’t believe how bad is got. I’d choose OLD st mellons quick country lane access to Caerphilly from castleton or there’s peterstone. Id never live in Cardiff. Risca and cwmcarn have great trails and much more relaxed.

And if you dont want to ride on a dual carriageways, or go past industrial estates then plot your route to avoid them .. its not hard to do.

I’d like to see your routes then 🙂 I’m not saying there aren’t nice roads, but getting to them without the dross isn’t easy. I’ve got a lovely 3 hour route towards Chepstow and then Usk, but you have to go through Newport both out and back.

Id never live in Cardiff. Risca and cwmcarn

Risca is (as far as I can tell) a giant housing development with a strip of run down chippies and hairdressers, and Cwmcarn is the same but smaller. Cardiff on the other hand is a vibrant small city with great shopping, museums, parks, beautiful suburubs, concert halls, cinemas, clubs, restaurants and loads more. No brainer imo!

I would not go for Old St Mellons, too far from Town. In Roath you can walk 2 mins to local shops or 20 mins to town, which is lovely. No cars required.

We moved to Cardiff last year and live near the Heath just over the A48 next to the cemetery, there are plently if houses to rent as landlords are finding it harder to rent to students as the Uni is offering very cheap accomodation, so not too many students and the ones that are here tend to be medical students and not at all rowdy. Handy for the Heath, Roath Park and it`s only a few minutes on the bike to the river, so turn right for the hills or left for your commute to Llandough. One of the main reasons we chose here is I need to get out to the motorway or down to the train station on the bike for work, both very easy. Better coffee shops in Roath but I kinda like it here, very good neighbourly vibe and very friendly, Whitchurch road is functional for shops but could be a bit more shi shi I guess.

Heath is nice. Catfood lives near Cyclopedia too which is the best LBS ever.

If you’re commuting to Llandough and she is commuting to the Heath, then I reckon Canton/Pontcanna is your best bet. The access to art-house cinema, good pubs, sport, trails, etc., can hardly be beat. And the house prices are pretty good in Canton at least.