My gf and I are in wales the week of the 10th October, probably staying somewhere like Brecon or Talybon-on-Usk.

Monday and Tuesday I was thinking riding somewhere like Afan forest or the Brecon beacons. Maybe one day with a guide, one day just hire bikes and ride on our own.

Would people recommend one place over the other, or some guides/instructors?

GF is newish to MTB (Races track and a roadie so great fitness). This Sunday I had her riding the Swinley blue happily and got round the red without too much trouble. She’s doing a skills session in Surrey next weekend with singletrackschool. I’m nothing special, getting back into it but enjoyed myself on the blues and reds in Morzine for a few days this summer.

Thursday we’ll go to bike park wales and hire bikes and get uplift.

Any thoughts welcome, thanks.

Never done it, but the ‘gap’ route from tal y bont looks good.

If your doing BPW then do some natural stuff in the Brecons.

Afan is likely a better bet if the weather closes in – it’s quite sheltered and it’s easy to bail out to the cafe.

I wouldn’t have thought you would need a guide if just going round the marked routes.

Can I recommend Sion at Black Mountain Guiding if you need someone to show you around

http://www.blackmountainsguiding.co.uk/

Can head straight up the tram way from Talybont and about the woods or over the moors, or even do the Gap as it is more long than techy.

Opposite side of the Usk, there is the Allt and the ridge from above Bwlch to Llangorse. There are/were some guides by the National Park for these, but they don’t always go the right way or show the cheeky.

Keith and Arlene from Bikes and Hikes in Brecon can sort some bikes, quite often delivering to Talybont.

Thanks, some useful feedback!

Brecons MTB

We had some brilliant biking from Brecon. There were a leaflets with routes where we stayed – based around the ones on above site I think.

I would recommend digital mapping as bridal ways were poorly signed so route finding was a bit challenging as a visitor. (I may have got the wrong impression looking down on it but the Gap looked well sanitised and uninspiring).

(I may have got the wrong impression looking down on it but the Gap looked well sanitised and uninspiring).

Ridden south to north it’s challenging enough, particularly the first few hundred metres of descent. But IMO it’s more worth riding for the big views and the 2 miles of uninterrupted decending rather than for how techy (or not) it is.

But IMO it’s more worth riding for the big views and the 2 miles of uninterrupted decending rather than for how techy (or not) it is.

+1 your in the wrong place for a gnarfest, but it is/can be challenging

I’d recommend me as a guide 🙂 http://www.mtbguiding.co.uk – used to live in the Beacons so know it well. I’d also recommend a good guidebook with some great routes in https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wales-Mountain-Biking-Tom-Hutton/dp/1906148139 But I would never want to be accused of being hard sell – in fact, I am usually accused of not being commercial enough 🙂 So if you just want trail advice/GPXs etc… drop me an email (I don’t come on here that often) and I’ll do what I can. It’s a great place to ride 🙂