On Tuesday I have to travel down to Cardiff for a 2 hour work meeting, should be finished by 12ish, I’m then heading along M4 to stay overnight the far side of London for another meeting the following day. Means I should have a couple of hours free as there is no rush to arrive at the hotel, so long as I’m there for some grub in the evening
Was thinking of taking the old hardtail and going for a quick blast somewhere Tuesday afternoon, nothing too long and would rather a way marked trail than natural as don’t have much time, or want to get too sh*tted up as everything will fester in the back of the car for days until I’m back home
Afan is too far the wrong way, I’ve done Cwm Carn before so was thinking of heading over the bridge and to Ashton Court and Leigh Woods
What’s it like?
Or is it worth the bigger detour to do the blue/red xc course at Forest of Dean?
Anywhere else alongside the M4 people would recommend?

Recommend fod as Bristol will take longer to get too + the traffic can be dire…..

Do the verdeerers and freeminers.Do few laps of each in a couple of hours.Mind you will get sh—ed up.Has pissed down Friday and few heavy showers today.Been yuk for a while around Gloucestershire.FOD way more fun than Ashton Court.

Recommend fod as Bristol will take longer to get too + the traffic can be dire…..

+1

Cwm carn. I was at Cardiff through work a few weeks back, managed an afternoon doing the twrch, good trail. The black section at the top flows lovely, and can be sessions ad Infinitum. About 35 minutes from Cardiff, on the way west.

Bristol will be much less filthy than FOD… it might be man made but it’s been so wet and there’s so much traffic up there, we got pretty plastered the other weekend. Bristol will be really clean if it stays dry as forecast tomorrow onwards.

I’d still do Cwmcarn though.

Edit: oh it’s going to be really wet Monday now. Bristol will still be relative clean to ride.

As I’ve said I’ve done cwm carn before, loved it but not really what I’m after on Tuesday
Will Bristol really take longer to get to than fod?
I’m heading along m4 anyway all way to London so would seem to only be a small detour whereas FOD is a way out of the way to come back again

Timewise not a lot in it. Bristol riding is to the south of town, M4 is to the north. FoD you can go Newport>Monmouth>FoD then either Chepstow/M48/M4 or Gloucester>Swindon>M4.

Yep 45mins to an hour to Fod from the diff. If you have the time to get here, yuoll certainly enjoy it.

Bristol should be fast & easy to get to at that time of day: M4, M49, M5 across the Avon and straight off again at PortZ. Less than 10mins from Gordano services to parked at Leigh Woods or Ashton COurt. A circuit or two of YerTiz and across to Nova will get you exercised. 50 acre as well if you’re in the mood.

You won’t get too filthy, either.

Fod may look like its out of your way…. However the roads are v quiet compared to going in and out of Bristol

T – iain won’t have to go in & out of Bristol.
He’ll come off the M5 by Gordano services and it’s a single straight road to both LW and Ashton Ct, thhe A369. Probably only 5 miles off the motorway, with light traffic in early-mid afternoon.

Yup I drive through those junctions every day….. Ime I’d go to FOD

Bit confused because I’ve worked in Bristol and south before and other than at rushhour have never experienced any bad traffic on that part of m5 will it really be that bad at 1pm ish?

AC/LW is no harder to get to than FoD from Cardiff.
T1000 is talking bobbins about getting to the trails in Bristol.
FoD is realy clarty in places due to logging/ash dieback.
Bristol has a few sploshy bits but stays pretty clean to ride in comparison.

No, the traffic will be fine at that time of day. If T1000 drives that route every day why does he think it’s going in & out of bristol? The route avoids the city completely.

Bristol it is then, to be honest it’s further from me anyway and not worth a seperate trip so unlikely to ever go again whereas FOD I can just about get to from mine in a day, and I would rather go when I have more time and the bigger bike to do the two trails and have a few runs on some of the DH
Thanks for the help, info about the Bristol trails staying reasonably dry has convinced me it’s worth packing the bike

+1 FOD

Sorry to hijack but are the FoD conditions pretty bad at the moment?

Rode them today, Verderers tacky in places and the Freeminers, although wet inplaces, is still very ridable. Just watch out for the wet roots.
If you go FOD you and the bike will be muddy. They do have bike wash and showers, although the smell in there today i’m not sure i would use the toilets!

Toilets at Pedalabikeaway have stunk for ages – what’s that about!? Mind you, the smell is outside the bogs, defo not inside the ladies.

TBH, I think you’d be best riding as soon as you can after finishing your meeting as it’ll getting dark by 4ish (unless you fancy packing your lights etc)
So Cwmcarn then bust one down to the smoke to stay the night.

As above, Bristol trails are holding up really well – 1hr to Brizzle from cardiff, couple of laps of LW = 45 mins.

Croft Trail in Swindon is 5 mins from the M4 and cracking fun. You could do a couple of laps in an hour.

Knocks the socks off the stuff at Ashton Court (not done Leigh Woods though so can’t compare) and I probably prefer it to the Verderers too (although it’s a lot shorter).

+1 for the FOD. I was there yesterday and it was running okay, if a bit wet. It beats Ashton Court in my opinion, which seems like the FOD with out any elevation.

More variety at FoD, but unless you are very quick you wont do “a few laps of Verderers and Freeminers” in a couple of hours.

I drive from north Bristol to FoD fairly often, on a sunday it takes me 45 minutes, the Cheptow junction on the M48 is half way in terms of time, so time/distance of FoD v Ashton Court isnt a deciding factor for you. But I reckon FoD will involve less sitting in traffic after your ride.

The man made trails at both will be ok in this weather, though both have off-piste options that will be splicky. FoD has showers, AC doesnt.

Or there’s Swindon – back of Nationwide or Marborough downs.

Yep just found the croft trail at Swindon
Planning Ashton & Leigh then onto Swindon, save FOD for a full day

There are no facilities at the Croft trail BTW (showers etc). Just so’s you know.

Well traffic round Bristol was horrendous!
Not!
Did Ashton & Leigh then onto croft
Meeting overran so only had time for one lap of each before dark, but really enjoyed croft, that’s a fun little trail