Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
  • Afan / Cwncarn Trails
  • meesterbond
    Full Member

    Planning a long weekend away with some mates – a mixed level of abilities and fitness from vaguely competent down to slightly above beginner.

    We’re heading down to Wales in a couple of weeks and decided on Cwncarn day 1, Afan Day 2 then a jaunt round the Beacons on Day 3 with BPW to finish on the final day and I was after some ideas on the best trails at Cwncarn and Afan.

    Cwncarn looks like Cafall and Twich are the only real options but the MBWales site says these are much reduced?  Is it still worth going?  We’re staying near Newport so just on the door anyway.  We can always do them a couple of times if they’re that much shorter…

    For Afan I was thinking White’s in the morning then either Y Wal in the afternoon with a bailout option of Blue Scar if people are too knackered.

    Sound reasonable or am I going to kill them?

    joebristol
    Full Member

    I’d skip CC at the moment, there’s a lot closed there at the moment. Cafell completely closed and the twrch  has diversions. Next nearest place is the Forest of Dean, plenty there to keep you amused for a day. From the main site you have a fast blue flow trajl, a slight!t more technical red trail, a skills are a and there are specific downhill runs too.

    If you don’t fancy that is probably do a day at afan and a day at Brechfa. Did the letter recently combining the black and red trails into a 42km loop. Really epic with some great downhill bits.

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    Agree with Joe, at the moment Cwmcarn isn’t worth visiting, it’s a massive shame and Sod’s law that they’d have a massive Forrest fire at the same time they’re chopping down the other side of the valley but there’s currently only 10k ish of trail to ride aside from the excellent DH track, which is well worth an uplift day on if you’re brave.

    Afan is pretty much fully open from memory, probably for the first time since 2010.

    Brechfa is fantastic at the moment, went last weekend. Red is fully open.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos

    Obviously you know your mates best, but for people who are “slightly above beginner” that does sound like a big weekend !

    joebristol
    Full Member

    Forgot to say black mountain cycle centre could also be an option. That was also running really nicely the same weekend I did Brechfa and Afan (and Cwm Rheadr).

    meesterbond
    Full Member

    Cheers for the advice – sounds like Cwncarn isn’t really worth a visit at the moment and Forest of Dean is only another half hour away so I’ll investigate that a bit further.

    The Black Mountain Centre looks a little too downhill and gnarly to be honest.

    Definitely a big weekend but I think with the mix of people I’ve got, some will duck in and out of different days – doing blues and greens to finish the day rather than reds, or more likely end up in the pub early instead!

    qwerty
    Free Member

    Coed y Brenin is always great for a long weekend away. Lots of trails which can be pick n mixed if you do some homework. My favourite trail centre, which I should revisit soon.

    joebristol
    Full Member

    Forest of Dean has something there for everyone pretty much. Flow xc type trails, rooty downhill trails, and really wide fast easy downhill run (launchpad)  and there is apparently a lot of steep technical off piste if you know where to find it. Should suit your group.

    BMCC was a lot of fun when I went there a month or so ago, really relaxed atmosphere and a tractor / trailer uplift! Youndo need to be comfortable with sharp lips on jumps that launch you of you’re going at any speed. We did the blue from the top as the first run and both got to the bottom saying that was the least un-blue feeling blue we’d ever done. If you took it a little slower though it was just really good fun.

    The red actually was a little slower with more rocks and less in the way of lips, but again rollable. All the jumps on the blue and red were pretty much tables with no gaps. Blacks in the whole were a big step up though. We did some black options that didn’t have gaps and they were ok – but the big jump runs were huge so we skipped those.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

The topic ‘Afan / Cwncarn Trails’ is closed to new replies.