[Closed] South Wales trail centres - unusually quiet.

I think it's a combo of 1. BPW being nearer on the M-way from England by at least an hour, and 2. Skyline being South Wales' dullest trail that hardly gets any users anyway.

I think I've done Skyline once (just to say I've done it) in goodness knows how many times I've been down to the area.

Thats great news, have a cottage booked near Afan for 7 days from this Friday!!

(Will likely drop into BPW for the obligatory lap or 2 on the way there)

BPW is certainly soaking up a lot of the "roadtrip" crowd. It's still booked up month in advance.

Afan is probably the weak link now, Cwmcarn whilst smaller has doubled in terms of trails in recents years (2 DH and 2 XC now) and I think more people are finding Brechfa.

Afan is probably the least favourite of mine, he trails really suffered when the trees had to go, plus when they diverted The Wall a lot of people found the 'other car park' that's free and skips the boring bits of the Wall.

I don't make it to Afan much since I moved up north.

Last time I was there I also thought it was much quieter than in previous years.

Ditto Coed y Brenin when we had that heatwave in March this year.

I feel the trails at Afan haven't really kept up with the times well, and have suffered badly from erosion. The blade especially has taken a beating, and the whites and wall aren't far behind.

Dare I also say the trails are a little old school as well? Ie the descents are real pedally with the exception of happy life and S4, which isn't fun especially when they're eroded. For people wanting a day trip to ride some flow trails BPW is much more better suited.

I live 30 mins away and haven't been in months, Cwmcarn, Garw and the countless local spots are all running better. I feel afan needs some serious investment to stay competitive.

Dare I also say the trails are a little old school as well? Ie the descents are real pedally

That's why i love the place... maybe i'm not Enduro enough, but the trails at Afan are my favourite in the land.

Then again, i love Swinley too LOL.

Afan is probably the weak link now, Cwmcarn whilst smaller has doubled in terms of trails in recents years (2 DH and 2 XC now) and I think more people are finding Brechfa.

Cwmcarn has always had better trails too. The Twrch is a genuinely entertaining loop.

The Wall is my fave trail centre descent, from 80mm XC bike to 160mm enduro sled it always seems challenging (you just go faster).

enigmas - Member

I feel the trails at Afan haven't really kept up with the times well, and have suffered badly from erosion. The blade especially has taken a beating, and the whites and wall aren't far behind.

Apparently there's another block of funding coming from the wind farm- I got the impression that Blade was knocked in on the cheap with the intention of revisiting it, some of the build was really pretty shonky.

(I absolutely love Ghost Train as it was last summer though, it'd eroded into something fairly hilarious but by any sensible standard it was pretty wrecked)

Pennyhdd can **** off mind but I like pretty much everything else about Afan.

locals and people in the know tend to park at the rhyslyns car park which has been full when ive been in the last few weekends - from there its much easier to make up a ride of both trail center such as the wall and penhydd and "secret" stuff.

If you park at the glyncorrwg car park its harder work to do this as there's not so much stuff off the official trails on that side of the hill - if you parked there that's probably why it was quiet.

Maybe it's just the unusually good weather meaning people that CBA cleaning their bikes and would usually head for a trail center are out on natural trails elsewhere?

i love Swinley too LOL.

Even Swinley probably soaks up some of the 'live in London and want to go MTB'ing crowds'

something in that TINAS, I tend to only to go to Trail Centres in bad weather or winter

That's a good point. I'm always amazed at how full the car parks of trail centres are in the depths of winter.

But then I get it. No mud, just puddles in the middle of the winter when you local woods are knee deep in mud.

I was at Afan on a Saturday at the end of January on a pretty good day for the time of year.

I was amazed at how quiet is was when we parked up , and when we came back for lunch. At the end, about maybe 15:30, there were only about 5 cars and a camper van left.

My guess - after weeks of fabulous weather and bone dry trails getting everyone out for glorious rides, on the first wet weekend we just can't be bothered 🙂

The 'local scence' at Afan has never been busier though, the off piste trails in the valley are some of the best in South Wales, and the official trails seem more natural than other trail centres in Wales, which is good.

I'm a regular at all the South Wales centres and a lot of what has been said above rings true:

Cwmcarn is sucking all the headlines with the Twrch reopening.
BPW is still a massive draw for visitors, sucking them away from Afan.
Afan is in need of an update, the felling changed it's character dramatically.
Brechfa has always been a bit too far down the M4 for day trippers who traditionally headed for Afan and Cwmcarn.
The natural trails are running superbly right now after a dry start to the year, this is where all the seasoned people (me included) have been riding the last few weeks.
There are many more options for riding spots compared to 5 years ago, this is spreading people around a bit.
The FOD (while not in Wales is close enough to have an effect) is constantly rammed to the hilt, so much so that I have to park away from the main car park despite having a Discovery Pass!

Personally I've been hitting the trail centres all winter, as I usually do, so when a good bit of weather comes along I ride all the natural stuff ASAP. The Beacons have been rather busy! Add in the longer days meaning that people can choose to ride in the morning or afternoon/evening and it can look quieter on the surface. But judging by the amount of cars and vans heading west along the M4 each day I'd say there are hordes of bikers flowing into Wales right now, they're just spoilt for choice. As soon as the schools have a holiday the place will be packed, we have the spare capacity.

As an aside, I spent a week up North Wales doing the trail centres up there recently (the weather forecast was poor so stayed to safer options) and they were busy for midweek outside of school holidays. MTBing is very popular everywhere and Wales is still cashing in on the hard work put in over the last 15-20 years. We are very, very spoilt for riding options in this part of the world, of all varieties.

The 'local scence' at Afan has never been busier though, the off piste trails in the valley are some of the best in South Wales, and the official trails seem more natural than other trail centres in Wales, which is good.

Hints to finding these off-piste Afan trails?

Hints to finding these off-piste Afan trails?

for a starter - what I said - park at rhyslyn's and take a look at the hill in the opposite direction of the official stuff ! its not the worlds best kept secret... and there's times this year when there's been larger groups of people riding that side than on the trail center!

Anyone here involved with the local trailbuilding? Is there a formal group?

there's no official trail-building groups around afan but a few separate groups of people and some very dedicated individuals that build around afan and the Swansea valley

the only official local group I can think of are the MTB pigs but they tend to stick to the official trails at clyne

For me Afan doesn't have the same character as it used to. With the trees gone it's just not the same. Went there last year for the first time in a few years - it felt like it was constant pedaling all day with hardly any down hill - apart from the all the way down to the cafe. If I had a choice between BPW or Afan it would be BPW every time now, plus BPW is about an hour closer. Interested in the unofficial stuff though! Will have to look into this for sure.

Horses for courses isn't it? I'm 20 mins away from Afan and BPW, I'd still chose Afan, just because it feels more natural, the trails are almost living breathing things that change with the environment, rather than a berm fest.

There is just so many place to ride in S.Wales right now, people are spread about. There are probably more unofficial spots than official ones also.

I take a trip to South Wales fairly often, usually go to Cymcarn/BPW/Afan. Never known Afan to be busy tbh although the cafe was very busy the last couple of times I went (but not with MTBers!) which is good.

I have to say having been riding Afan for around 10 years I haven't noticed much of a difference in numbers since BPW. I park at the 'free carpark' but have on times stopped at the official one to make use of their hose to wash down the bike and have often struggled to get a space, mainly on weekends. Weekdays are considerably quieter as would be expected.

The trails have seen a battering though. And like most others here I really miss the trees. It's a shame to see so much of the land destroyed like that. Makes the trails a whole lot different to ride and not for the better.

Anyone know what happened to Cognation? Did the funding run dry? They used to maintain the trails fairly regular. The last time I rode The Blade trail motorbikes had destroyed most of ghost train section which used to be really fun.

Hopefully some more funding comes along soon and can restore some of these trails to their former glory. That, or an official dig day - I know I'd be happy to get involved and pay back for the years of riding.

The last time I rode The Blade trail motorbikes had destroyed most of ghost train section which used to be really fun.

The trails used to be fun, the felling ruined them. They need an uplift really, that would get me back there.
Love the afan lodge also, was a real nice place to stay over.

The last time I rode The Blade trail motorbikes had destroyed most of ghost train section which used to be really fun.

Last time I was there it had been repaired. The slightly tricky bit in the middle is a bit smoothed out and the deep muddy face-planty ruts just afterwards have also been smoothed out.

I have noticed a change that people are now starting to ride more natural trails whereas before they would have stuck to trail centres.

I was recently shown all the off piste stuff mentioned above and it’s great, and means I will likely never ride the trail centre at Afan again. We did use the facilities at the trail centre however, and for a Saturday in March, it was extremely quiet, weather wasn’t great though.

I think with the popularity of FOD, Cwmcarn and BPW, as well as Black Mountain as well, there is little point heading over to Afan for people travelling a distance.

Spent the day at Afan today doing W2, was honestly as busy as I've seen it, loads out on the trails.

It's still brilliant! As time and rain erosion has happened the trails are more technical than before, great when going down, but Whites climb is pure rocky hell now, you can't get anything happening on it as you're all over the place. It seems like every rock and stone has ended up on climb.
Descents were just marvellous though, massively enjoyed them!