Anyone know the area? Would like a nice cottage in easy walking distance of a good food pub.

I would look for somewhere outside – Pontsticll etc.

Merthyr is rough as assholes just a bit north into the Brecons would be nice though.We had slates chucked at us on a ride up that way many years ago !!!

Stay in Neath. Easy access to BikeparkWales and Afan.

Watch twin towns and you’ll get the gist of a typical Welsh Shit hole.

Crickhowell is nice Merthyr is a dump

It’s a great destination if you like fighting.

I would not stay in Merthyr
Awful place

COI: have family and friends locally

My father-in-law is from Merthyr. He’s a f**king t**t.

Best thing about Merthyr Tydfil is the by-pass

The bypass even has roadworks at the moment :). As the other posters have said, Abergavenny, Crick
or Breacon rather than Merthyr.

In the early ’90s a group of four young teenagers who’d been lost in a howling whiteout on Llangynidr moor for hours followed some pylons to sanctuary in Merthyr and were the first and last people to ever be happy to arrive in that town…

Nant Ddu Lodge is nice. Quality restaurant as well.

Right, so that’s a no then 😆

Please can you recommend any nice villages in the area? (As with all my threads I am hoping you will recommend some nice food pubs we can stay near 😀 )

look at surrounding towns like pontypridd,blackwood. crickhowell is a bit of a drive to merthyr. plenty of nice B&B’s in the valleys

Stay in Aberdare camp/caravan book a room here http://www.darevalleycountrypark.co.uk/index.php/accomodation

you can walk into town I can recommend some pubs/restaurants if you base yourself here, you can ride over to the bike park from Aberdare too if you wish

Cheers all.

Llangynidr is a nice little village, not sure if there is accommodation there but it has a nice country pub. Can’t remember the name of it though.

Every city and large town in the uk has rough areas and Merthyr is no worse.
The local community have have been strong supporters of bpw and I’d be surprised if could find another building project where so many locals would give up their time to help.

I’d stay in Abergavenny, used to work there and been back a few times really nice gone quiet up market from the days I lived there 🙂

Old bikers pubs now being posh restaurants had quiet a shock when i went back LOL

I’ve stayed at The Bluebell in Neath, whilst on a 2 day visit to Afan.

I’d go back there happily. Very good restaurant, secure underground car park (ie bike friendly).

look at surrounding towns like pontypridd,blackwood

Seriously! if you think Merthyr is bad, Merthyr has nothing on those two!
Aberdare country park is nice but that means staying in Aberdare! 😯

Personally: go to Bikepark Wales and get the **** out of dodge!

Talybont on Usk is lovely – handy for the Gap Road and Beacons and in the Star Inn has one of my favourite pubs in south wales.

As the crow flies it’s only a few miles from Merthyr but a world apart.

Merthyr is NOT a holiday destination, mind neither is Ponty. Unless your idea of a great holiday is slag heaps, council estates and bingo halls.

Breacon is a lot nicer, albeit filled with squaddies and farmers.

See the map, see the A465 running East-West, that’s the Heads of the Valleys Road. North of that is lovely Brecon Beacons beautiful countryside. South of that is.. not as nice 🙂

North is packed with nice towns and villages with more B&Bs than you can shake a stick at.

Every city and large town in the uk has rough areas and Merthyr is no worse.

Yeah I’d agree, it’s no worse than the rough areas of most big towns…. 🙂

Bike Park Wales might boost the local economy in more ways than one…

Or as my grandfather, a hard-core Gog, used to put it, “South of Brecon there’s nothing but thieves and communists”

lBike Park Wales might boost the local economy in more ways than one…

There’ll be alot more high spec bikes being sold at local boots sales on weekends thats for sure!

What have we done!!!!

Just booked a weekend at BPW for the end of Sept and one of the guys has found a cheap place to rent in Merthyr.

After reading some of the above we’re not going to survive are we? 😉

Although we are from Halifax 😆

Llangynidr is a nice little village, not sure if there is accommodation there but it has a nice country pub. Can’t remember the name of it though.

Yes one nice pub by the church with the play area, the other one 😯 😉

After reading some of the above we’re not going to survive are we?

you’ve seen Deliverance, right?

you’ve seen Deliverance, right?

Yep, that bad? 🙁

😆

I went out with a Merthyr girl once and she took me there to meet her folks, followed by a trip to the local Working Men’s club. It was like a scene from a western, where the stranger walks into a busy saloon and everything suddenly stops, leaving dead silence. I guess my lack of facial tatoos must have marked me out as different.
Once she’d explained that I was her boyfriend and she’d *ing kill anybody who gave me any trouble, things were fine.
I can’t see it making it into a Thompson’s Holidays brochure though.

wont be a night out in town without a visit to Koolers

Valleys Tourism website
http://www.thevalleys.co.uk/heartandsoul/

Oh look they have their own nurse in there 😈

http://www.kirkhousemerthyr.co.uk/#!untitled/zoom/c60z/imageuqm

Bit too past it for nightclubbing

EDIT well that didnt work did it!

+1 for Talybont on Usk. Good food and beer at the Star, the White Heart has a good collection of single malts. We either camp at Talybont Farm or stay at the Malthouse B&B (opposite the White Heart) – very good rates and a cracking breakfast (local produce and they collect their own honey), nice comfy lounge and wifi. Both are in the centre of the village.
Alternatively, the YHA hostel near Brecon isn’t bad but it’s in the middle of nowhere.

Oh! Number 18 in Crickhowell is ace for food too !

How about http://www.thebellcountrypub.co.uk ,in Glangrywney,halfway between Abergavenny and Crickhowell.I’d also second Talybont on Usk, all the outdoor activities you could want,the gap ride from the front door,walking galore,good pubs and not that far from Merthyr. Or pretty much any of the villages along the A40 from Abergavenny to Brecon, if you do a bit of digging round you’ll find cottages off the beaten track I’m sure.
Or if you want to treat yourself http://www.penpont.com/page/welcome/
The whole area along the A40 is stunning, you can’t go far wrong at all there.
And here’s a day out for you http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/
Oh and if you like industrial heritage,its worth a nosey round Merthyr,it was the biggest iron producer in the world(I think) at one time.