[Closed] Is brechfa worth a 2.5hr drive for a day trip

I'd go to the Elan Valley instead.

Do it. We're riding there tomorrow, leaving Brecon at 8am. Looking to do the Abergorlech and Raven, both are great trails though the Raven is better. If you were to be in Homebase car park, Brecon at 8am it might be possible to jump in a van with someone else as a bunch of us are heading up there. Not sure what time we'll be back, midday-early afternoon ish I guess.

Neil

yes it is good

you will drive for at least as long as you ride

it is good though

is the black open yet? was closed last weekend for felling

the red gorlech trail was fun though

Thx neil, id prefer to drive myself (incase im slower/faster!) but i 'may' be able to get there for 9ish. If you see a blue alfa mito rock up thats me, come say hi!

Web says all open now (other wise is wouldnt be bothering)

All trails are reopen according to mbwales on twitter. Deffo worth a 2.5hr drive, I have a 4hr drive and will do it in a heartbeat although I have the luxury of my old man living there

Downhill section shared by the black and blue was closed today. Diversion drops you back in at the rocky/bermy section just before the tabletops. Still fun but frustrating to loose all that hight on a fire road.

It's 4 hours for me and I'll be doing it again - not often though.

I was up there today, all trails open. Do the Blue and the Green to warm up - it's about 15km, and awesome fun - swoopy and pumpy singletrack.

Then do the black, that should give you a good 40km'ish ride in total.

Trails are in really good nic, a bit muddy and leafy in places - but it just makes it more fun 🙂

Deffo worth a trip. I live right in the middle of Brechfa and Afan. I go to Brechfa lately. Afan is being destroyed by felling and erosion.

Agree with Kev there, Brechfa feels more natural and less used.

I'm impressed with the condition of the car park and trail, considering the work the FC have been doing up there for the past 3 months.

I visited Brechfa for the first time last Friday. Did the Raven and I was dissapointed. The climbs weren't worth the decents which were mainly short berm sections. Boggy, slippery climbs aren't my idea of fun unless they are rewarded with either a fantastic view or adrenaline filled decent. To top it off, the trails weren't all open. I jumped the fence at the shared section mentioned above as I couldn't face another fireroad (the diversion), that section was pretty good I must admit. I made straight for the carpark after that so I don't know if I missed anything worthwhile.

A few Afan haters here which is a shame, there are fierce fireroad climbs but once they're over with the downhills are lots of fun. The trails are going to get wrecked with all the felling going on which is a shame, but I'll keep on riding there regularly especially as its a 15 minute drive away.

Saying that, if bad reviews on here mean less groups of riders cluttering up the trails at Afan, keep hating!

Midweek diversions give a bad impression of a very good trail. Try it at the weekend when the full trail is opened up Chop Chop. Your view might change.
Far from being a "Afan hater" my job basically depends on visitors to Afan needing work on their bikes. I'm not going to lie about the state of the trails to get people to ride there and leave disappointed.
I'd prefer them to ride there when the new sections and repairs are in place and leave wanting another fix.
*edit* should have said weekday diversions.(I ride on Wednesdays)

Ok, orginal question.... if you haven't ridden Brechfa before and the weather is playing ball then go ride it... as suggested on here it can be fustrating if sections are closed but there is some good stuff there.

The fact is that the Gorlech or the Raven are not enough to justify the drive but link them and away youn go. not better or worse than Afan etc but slightly different.

IMHO the most rewarding way to ride it is to start at the Gorlech start point and then about 3/4 of the way round the red take the link to the Raven or black trail. Do the black but at the end of the excellent run through the tree after the big climb make sure you pick up the red again..... this means you get the big climb on the black which then takes you down through the trees and this spits you out to the point where you have to pick up the red by going left, do the final bit of the red which is cool and then pop into The Black Lion pub for a bit of tuck... lovely... and the land lady is is hot too!

Id recommend the red route to anyone ive heard from locals when i was last month that the forest was being ripped out to make way for a bloody wind farm at some point so if its correct the trails wont be there for ever. Get down to Cwm Rhaeadr to whilst there for a night ride its a great little trail two loops back to back is sweet at night!!

Nope.

Wrecker: is that a nope to the plans to put in a wind farm, if so thats good news all round!!

Kevolution, I didn't intend to single you out as an Afan basher - my apologies if you understood it that way. I meant that there are generally a lot of negative comments about Afan (on this and other forums) lately.

It's a shame the negativity isn't having much effect, the Wall was as busy as ever this morning 😉

OP- how did you find Brechfa?

I love Brechfa but its not so good in the wet. The climbs are not pleasant. I am also a big fan of Afan - its a much better place when its been raining.