Hiya.

Off on our jollies, a multi-Doblo, hard rockin’ hardtail incursion into the unknown.
We’ve sent the gnar, brought the attitude and have plenty of toilet paper and a few good books.

Four of us, one happy on black runs, two fine with reds and one relative newbie.
Rigid and hardtail bikes.
And a very big canoe.

Couple of days near the border/Gloucester way, heading over to St Davids for a few days then up to Snowdonia.
Have accomodation at all three places, but taking camping kit too.

Know North Wales very well, but clueless on the bit south of Snowdon.
🙂

Which trail centres are fine for mixed ability groups?
Willing to lock the newbie in the boot for a few hours, but would prefer to stick together.

Which are your absolute classic, mixed ability natural routes?

Is there a decent kebab shop near St Davids?

Great places to stay whilst heading across to St Davids or later up the coast?

Which Doblo (2 of, combined milage 295,000) will disgrace itself first?

Is canoeing still just arm exercises whilst dressed in rubber & sat in cold water?

So many questions….

Define mixed ability? I can PM some good Beacons stuff but you need to be reasonably fit cos it’s a bit hilly.

For mixed ability trail centres try Afan – bit easier than Cwmcarn, but for me not as good. Or Brechfa – a while since I’ve been there but it used to be fairly smooth but brilliant taken at speed. And it’s the only green route that is both easy and great fun, being a proper built trail and not just fire-road.

Niece is the least experienced off road, mostly singletrack and easier paths.
She’ll be on a Surly 1*1 singlespeed with huge tyres.
Probably the fittest out of all of us, rides everywhere.

Her chap has the most ability, also on a rigid singlespeed, then there’s us two oldies.
🙂

Big days out/lots of climbing not an issue.
Sue’s fitter than she’s been for years and I’m still plodding on.

Brechfa then. And I’ll PM you a GPX if you like?

Cheers mate, much appreciated.

Much to do at/around BPW apart from the hardcore stuff?
Happy to bimble around on easier trails whilst Craig gets his black run fix in.

yeh BPW has the blue trails which are great, no real skill required. You can also mix up a bit of red for one half then swap to some blue if it gets too much.
The GAP route is good and about 25 mins drive from BPW, we combined them with a day on each when we went. With opportunities to get a bit higher if you’re cheeky? and/or fall over laughing in mud a la ratboy.

Gap is overrated imo. Just one long shallow climb, a long shallow descent and then a less interesting ride back.

I don’t think you do it justice there molgrips. The climb is steady with excellent scenery. There’s the desecent from the tram road which is good and often not mentioned, lots of rocks and steep enough to give you a smile and the descent from the gap is shallow and also rocky but it is long. The Op mentioned that one of the group is a newbie, I reckon the Gap would suit a mixed group very well.

For the Gloucester/borders bit the Forest of Dean is nice. The Blue has recently been resurfaced and very newby friendly. The red is a bit rougher and good fun but quite a step up. Your black runner can hit the downhill trails too.

Worth a stop at Nant yr Arian. Some great trails there and its miles from anywhere so worth going if you happen to be passing. Try and time it with kite feeding time.

When going south to north we usually camp at Aberaeron. There’s a big campsite on the north of town by the sea (the second one, first one is full of caravans). Nothing too amazing but we can always get a space near the sea away from other people which suits us. Nice little town too, which is a short walk along the beach path

Afan and Coed y Brenin are both en route and have a good range of trails

I don’t think you do it justice there molgrips.

Compared to some parts of the UK it is indeed spectacular, but compared to the rest of the riding in the same area, it’s not. If you’re there, there are better rides to be done.

Thanks Ben, got your message, much appreciated.

Nick, that’s where we’re starting from.
🙂
The niece and chap live there, so I suspect they’ve had a bit of practice.

I didn’t even know there were proper waymarked trails around there, they’ve kept that quiet….
I suspect they have plans.

NyA plus kite feeding sounds fun.

Brechfa sounds great too – smooth, flowy and fast, perfect.

Brechfa then. And I’ll PM you a GPX if you like?

Gap is overrated imo. Just one long shallow climb, a long shallow descent and then a less interesting ride back.

Just to be difficult. Rode the red at Brechfa 2 weeks ago and it was a bit meh…seemed uncared for as well, several trees down and looked like they had been like that for weeks judging by the tyre ruts around them. And you dont go to the gap for a technical riding challenge, the views are beautiful.

Did cwm rhayader (sp) on the way back from brechfa and although short it blew brechfa away.

Just to be difficult. Rode the red at Brechfa 2 weeks ago and it was a bit meh…seemed uncared for as well, several trees down and looked like they had been like that for weeks judging by the tyre ruts around them. And you dont go to the gap for a technical riding challenge, the views are beautiful.

Did cwm rhayader (sp) on the way back from brechfa and although short it blew brechfa away.

I agree. Brechfa is 30 miles from my house and I rarely go because I’ve never really had a good ride there. I always finish and wonder what I missed. Whereas I love CR.

I also think the Gap is overrated.

And you dont go to the gap for a technical riding challenge, the views are beautiful.

I’m not talking about technical gnar. I’m talking about mountain scenic riding and being out there.

molgrips – Member
And you dont go to the gap for a technical riding challenge, the views are beautiful.
I’m not talking about technical gnar. I’m talking about mountain scenic riding and being out there.

Then i apologise, as you were!

Talgarth Red is pretty scenic.

Loop Cwm Rhaeadr a few times, awesome fun, then Brechfa where the green and optional blue are probably the best trails there.

No kebab shops in St Davids 😉 and not much mountain bike riding, maybe head to the Preseli Hills, there is some singletrack there.

Depends how much time you have on the way to St Davids, but would also recommend Cwm Rhaeadr for great fun all ability. If you’re going along the M4 instead of nadgery cross country, then you could always do a Gower peninsula mtb route maybe for something different?