There is a possibility we will be moving to Abergavenny (from Hereford) for family reasons. I only know the place superficially so wondered what people thought of what it’s like to live there?
Most importantly, what is the mountain biking like locally? Is it like Cardiff where you can just ride from your house and be out on nice trails within 20mins? Is there a good outdoors ‘scene’?
Are there any areas you would recommend / say to avoid?
Thanks!

I’ve been looking at moving there for a while, and probably will when I get the money together.

I think you can MTB from town but I think you’re in for a big old loop if you do 🙂

Lots of good big routes on the door step and not that far from either the Elan Valley, Builth Wells, Llandrindod Wells and if you head south it’s not to far to Bike Park Wales etc so pretty good for riding, might be a bit sleepy but I don’t know Herford that well so maybe a similar vibe? HTH

chrispy Aber used to be rough as **** on a night out (I’m going back 20 years or so though) Abergavenny Hotel used to the only place for a late night dance and fight lol 🙂

I think it’s gone quiet up market these days I went back there last year with miss llama and was shocked at how up market some old drinking holes had gone!

Alot smaller than Hereford not masses on, fancy moving from Hereford when you just got a multi screen cinema 😀

Lovely part of the world! (Aunt and Uncle live there so had a fair few family holidays over the years)

Aber’s nice, Crughywel is even better. Although a bit on the quiet side. But riding from the door.

I got beaten up by squadies in Abber once.

APF

I helped build a Waitrose in Aber once.

Aww dont tell them about ‘Crick’ they’ll gentrify it and itll be all 5quid brekky resturants 🙂

Aber is ok, as has been said used to be very bumpy of an evening, so did Crickhowell. Cattle market is gone which ripped the guts out of the place. Now a bit twee to be honest, still a few idiots floating around.

If you want VFM go 29 mins up the HOV and you find Brynmawr. You have been warned.

Loads of biking of all sorts

Aww dont tell them about ‘Crick’ they’ll gentrify it

Have you seen the house prices? I think you’re too late!

cheers for the info so far.

Not worried about nights out etc. all I really care about is the quality of the road / mountain biking from the doorstep.
It seems like there are a couple decent climbing walls not too far away and when the A465 is fully duelled the coast won’t take too long to get to either – failing to see many negatives at the moment.
The move might be slightly sped up as jobs are becoming available at the hospital – what areas (if any) should be avoided if renting?

The in-laws live in Govilon – just outside, so I’ve been going there for 25yrs (yikes!). The riding is good from Aber either road or MTB, plus BPW or Cwmcarn are less than 30mins by car.

Aber is a little less rough than it used to be and the villages outside are all pretty nice. I’d personally live in Crick given the choice but Govilon, Llanfoist and Gilwern are all OK.

Llanfoist, Govilon and Gilwern over the bridge are quite tidy and cheaper than Crickhowell as NP7 postcode, not sure where Glangrwyney falls. Friends with kids are very keen to get kids into Crickhowell secondary school catchment though.

Don’t know the local riding scene much as I am Brecon based, but plenty of land over that way, I manage a chunk of it. Friends brother has fairly tidy bouldering centre over there too. Cinema is rubbish, seen bigger TVs.

Well despite it being a whole 10 miles down the road, Aber is my nearest town, it is where I have to go to shop, where I went to school, where all my mates live/lived and basically where I grew up. The cycling scene here has always been very big with Robert Price sponsoring road cycling for donkeys years and a couple of good LBSs each with weekly club rides both on and off road. I normally meet mates in town once a week for MTB rides in the local area or to get on the bouldering wall if the weather is rubbish.

I will always think of Hereford as a big city 🙂 When I was a kid that was our big annual trip for christmas shopping. My how times change. If you want to know anything more specific about the place drop me a pm

I live in Monmouth and always thought Abergavenny was quite an outdoorsy sort of town. A good couple of LBSs (worth a call?) and with the Black Mountains on your doorstep I don’t think you can go too far wrong. FoD, Cwmcarn, etc. also very close.

Never found Aber or Crick to be rough in the past 26 years that I’ve been of drinking age, maybe my rugby playing cousin who lives there helped – both used to be buzzing, but only been to Crick recently and like a lot of small towns has died down a lot

thanks again for the info guys,

Got offered a job in Aber last week so will be commuting for now with plan to move next summer.

First thing I did was to pop into the local bike shops and it all sounds really positive with the cycling scene (both road and mtb)! Can’t wait to have aberrocks a bit closer too for a bit of bouldering when its wet.

Cheers!

Good news. Feel free to drop me a pm if you do move here and fancy joining us in our Wednesday night rides.

Thanks welshfarmer, I might well do that.

I’ve done a good few short(ish) climbs and rapid descents around there when my mate lived there. It was a complete blast without having to commit whole days to a ride, which ofcourse you can do as well.

Aber a great place for cycling got a real good race scene.
They often hold some big races there, Nat road champs, big Junior races, Nat CX races, good scene for kids as well.
they have a handy cap road race early season as well.
Some great road routes and I sure there is some good MTB routes as well.

and a couple of good LBSs each with weekly club rides both on and off road

scrap that. Miles has just let it be known that he will be closing M&D Cycles at the end of November 🙁

It’s a pity to hear that M&D will be closing. It was a great, quirky (stepping over the golden labs to get in the door 🙂 ) LBS. Always friendly too.