Best part of Wales to live for riding?

For rides from your doorstep?

XC/Trail ideally.

Caerphilly – surrounded by the stuff

Caerphilly certainly seemed about right when there recently…. looked (and felt) hilly though for sure :D

Near to Ponty, Risca, Cwmcarn, BPW, Merthyr Vale, Barrys, what more can you ask for.  Coming into town it seemed there’s some pretty nice parts of it as well…. I was quite taken with it and even sent Mrs Weeksy a few Rightmove links.

Pembrokeshire is not the correct answer.

I like the opensess and emptiness of mid Wales. Ride in any direction on any track you find and barely see another person or signs of life. For fun riding south Wales has it though. It is a mixed bag for places to actually live.

Reminds me of a joke a Welsh mate used to repeat endlessly

“Why are there so many mountains in Wales?

Because they stole so much land off the English, it’s the only way they can fit it all in!”

Mid Wales is a bit low on trail density, so riding from the door means the same admittedly epic tracks all the time. In my opinion, ‘good’ riding from the door needs to have multiple local riding spots that are close enough you can nip out for a few hours and mess about. In that context, South East Wales is fantastic, but there are other challenges. Road riding is mostly either bypasses, streets of terraces or murderously steep climbs on knackered lanes, and driving (which you often need to do to get to work) is a pain in the arse. However, the new train system is looking pretty awesome.

Cardiff is quite decent for riding – live in the North of the city so you can access trails to the North or East – but Caerphilly is probably better for riding and avoids most of the transport issues further up the Valleys.

I should add that even in the local spots around Cardiff I rarely see any other bikers. It’s not Surrey Hills.

I would say Machynlleth ( and nearby areas)

Aside from its links with Dyfi bike park, there is loads of fantastic xc, enduro and trail riding straight out of the town

I think Machynlleth is a good call too.

Swansea is excellent for MTB.

We have sanctioned trails at Clyne on the west side of town and Kilvey on the east. Both can be connected by the cycle path along the seafront, but with official and unofficial trails there’s easily a full day’s worth of riding at each location. These are both within 3 miles of the city centre. Grading is red for the official Clyne trails, but unofficial stuff at both locations can be bigger and techier.

Gower for XC riding – obviously rideable from the city, is gorgeous and is a two day trip to ride fully. Or one long, tiring day.

I also occasionally ride to Briton Ferry – 75% off-road en-route, – good, unofficial trail/enduro style. For me it’s a 30 mile round trip and can be extended towards Masts or Afan.

There’s XC stuff north of the city, where the hills start getting big and steep. Again, this is rideable from town and mainly off-road to get there,

Troserch woods over towards Llanelli is a decent sanctioned trail. There are unofficial trails all over the place which are of varying quality.

Most trail centres are fairly close – FoD is about 2 hours, and that’s the furthest one we regularly ride.

Gravel and road riding are excellent as well, and surfing is decent as are plenty of other outdoor pursuits.

Caerphilly is a big borough from what I can see and the southern part is close enough to civilisation. Personally I would be looking much further North and West … Aberystwyth or theres about.

The upper Amman valley is a bit soggy but there’s a fair bit to do in Ynys Dawaela, Cwm Twrch and Loamworld. The national park is a huge big around here but better over the other side, towards Bethlehem.

Wrexham or somewhere else closest to the Lake District.

Re: my previous post. For ‘big’ read ‘bog’. It’s so wet that it’s best ridden in a really hard frost.

I shall not be revealing where I live ;]

Do you want to live in a city/large town or something more rural ? North Cardiff close to the taff trail gets you completely off road routes all over S.Wales. including links to Cwmcarn and Afan. Same for any of the Valley towns.

I’d go for somewhere near Llanwrst.

Not solely for riding, but a good blend of that and being close to the sea and the mountains.

Somewhere in the Valleys probably?
Do you want to live in a city or a small town?
If you want a city then Cardiff or Swansea.

I would say Machynlleth

Bonus with this one is you get the amusement of hearing English people try to pronounce it.

I’m in Ystrad in the Rhondda valley (one of them). Lots of gravel as there are tracks all over for the wind farms. Trails in the ‘mountains’ opposite me, in Clydach Vale, Treorchy, stuff up nearer Treherbert – but it is all a bit steeper than trail/XC so riding alone in the midweek might not be the best idea – you can find videos on YT:

Smilog about 20 minutes down the road:

Barry Sidings a bit closer – also a lot of steepness and I’ve meet a guy that gave up mtbing after a bad fall there!

Afan about 30 minutes drive away although you can join on to Skyline up near Treherbert.

Bike Park Wales about 30 minutes away – if you live closer you can get a local season pass.

Cwmcarn a bit further.

Bridleways don’t really exist – they are all pretty rocky and chewed up by local illegal motorbikes going offroad.

Spectacular scenery, more so that down toward Caerphilly, but there’s lots of riding down there as well so that’s probably a better option.

I would say Machynlleth

Bonus with this one is you get the amusement of hearing English people try to pronounce it.

going off his LSD channel, hasn’t Bernard Kerr relocated to Machynlleth, presumably proximity to Dyfi / Hardline and his Atherton mates, plus the new Pivot workshop/garage

I would say Machynlleth

Bonus with this one is you get the amusement of hearing English people try to pronounce it.

Saw the Atherton brothers out for a drink in Machynlleth a while back. They’d cycled in on a couple of Atherton bikes. If it’s good enough for them…

I’m in the Lower Wye Valley on the Welsh side, loads of great riding here from the door and FOD loveliness just across the ditch, Black mountains and BBs not too far away.

I live 8 miles South of Aberystywyth and while i can ride from the door for trails i would be driving for 30mins in any direction normally (except West as thats the sea).

If i were to move, it would be North to the Mach area

Bridleways don’t really exist – they are all pretty rocky and chewed up by local illegal motorbikes going offroad.

Well – a bridleway is a legal definition so yes they do. I am not sure what you’re thinking of, but there is certainly a lot of ‘natural’ riding i.e. not purpose built MTB trails. Generally in the Valleys there are some that are certainly chewed up but they make good technical descents as part of a longer ride. You can certainly string together great and even epic long rides without having to do any tech, although I’d hesitate to call it gravel due to the steepness and rockiness you sometimes encounter.

If you plan a bridleway route up here assuming that you will be able to ride it on a horse then you’d be pretty foolish, whereas there is plenty of gravel possibilities without encountering rockiness, such as through St Gwyno Forestry or all the wind farm tracks that are present, as I said.

There are routes listed on the great Glamorgan way site as rideable and cycleable but they would a challenge for an Olympic xc rider even, with the steepness and huge gulleys and drops cut by the motorcycles. Take a horse on one of those bridleway so and I’d be surprised if you weren’t thrown at some point and/or the horse was injured.

And in places the mapped routes don’t even exist, whoever mapped it out and put it on the site clearly is a lazy fecker who has just assumed there’s a route there by probably looking at a map from when the old-time miners used to walk from valley to valley to get to work.

For those saying Machynlleth where is all this XC/Trail riding ?

Does appear that North Wales is not blessed with much XC/Trail riding

OP why Wales just out of interest?

why Wales just out of interest?

because it is God’s country?

People here in the south are very friendly – using that criteria rights off large parts of England or Scotland I reckon.

Not sure it matters….after doing lots of local rides you will want to access other areas by car. I live in mid wales and normally avoid trail centres, but go home-made xc and its very good and there is a lot of it.  People very friendly. …unashamed plug…we have a shepherds hut we hire out if you want to try the Knighton area..good luck

This guy rides a lot of stuff reachable from the North Cardiff area, as I think that is where he is based.

Not sure it matters….after doing lots of local rides you will want to access other areas by car.

If you have lots of local riding then you don’;t need to jump in a car so often. I can easily put together a week’s worth of full day riding from my door, just using my regular routes. If I do my normal thing of riding for 2 hours-ish, 4-5 days a week, then that’s an awful lot of riding available before you get bored.

Anyway, as per usual on the internet, the OP hasn’t made any more comment so we have no more idea of why they started the thread….

For those saying Machynlleth where is all this XC/Trail riding ?

Loads of bits to the south of a moorland/farmland variety heading across towards NyA, enduro woodsy type trails in the forest around Corris, Climachx, Dyfi bike park, BOATs and RUPPs out towards Aberdovey. For riding from the door it’s pretty good. Add a bit of travelingl in and there is loads.

If I could live anywhere in Wales, absolutely anywhere, I’d live in the forest of dean and sometimes drive to wales.

If I could live anywhere in Wales, absolutely anywhere, I’d live in the forest of dean and sometimes drive to wales.

I decided Shrewsbury to have plenty of good riding  but to put pretty much anywhere mentioned so far within a fairly short drive.

Fantombiker
Full Member

unashamed plug…we have a shepherds hut we hire out if you want to try the Knighton area..good luck

I tried a ride around here last year. Started off following the Heart of Wales Line through a million gates and then found myself trying to follow bridleways that existed only on the map… Definitely didn’t plan myself a good route!

The Shepherds hut thing sounds interesting though. Have you get a website? I would say drop me some details on a PM but I don’t think they work

+1 for Swansea/Gower. When you don’t fancy a ride you can go for a ramble or a paddle. Multiple indoor and outdoor climbing options. Actual mountains less than a hour away.