I’ve never ridden there, but was thinking of a Brechfa / Afan / Black Mountain combination for Bank Holiday.

There’s a bridleway that crosses the moor, running roughly SE over Esgair Ddu down to Dan yr Ogof, with maybe an anticlockwise loop running up to the Usk reservoir back towards the west side of the mountain.

The bridleway descent looks like it could be good, but I know navigation is notoriously hard there and some of the paths dont really exist on the ground.

The DyO track is great as far as the stream crossing. Beyond that the ground is, as you say- difficult. I wrote a guide to it years ago on the offroadadventuresonline website. I’m away from home at the moment so linking is awkward- have a look at the site. I’d suggest starting at Pont Ar Wysg carpark. The Cross Inn us now called the Red Kite cafe.

And beware- many if the bridleways really are not rideable. Or even there on the ground.

lots of hike a bike and as you say the b/w is non existent in places and is best done after a loooooooong spell of dry weather or when the ground is frozen hardg ,Ambrose of these parts posted a route here sometime ago. If you are going to brechfa then do the route over Mynydd Mallaen which a gem of a route.

beaten to it!

Be aware of straight bridleways on a map! 🙂
As Ambrose says (and he knows best) but Black Mountain is best avoided.

Usk Resivour is nice, although tame. There are a few nice bits within the Glasfynydd forest as well.
But if you are set on the BM, this is Ambrose’s guide: http://www.offroadadventures-online.com/rr026.html

Great, thanks guys. I cant do 3 days at trail centres if the weather is OK. Maybe I’ll do part of Sarn Helen instead.

shame though, the descent part of that BW must be good?

So, is the Mynydd Mallaen route obvious?

If you want a moorland/wilderness route then Mallaen is good and you can finish with Cwm Rhaeadr.
It’s another tricky one to navigate, so find a GPS and don’t trust the bridleways as they don’t match up with what is on the ground.

As said that BM route is a vague vague track, but if your into that stuff, dont mind having the map in your hand all day, a bit of pushing and the chance of a few wrong turns it really is worth a visit.

Once your up on the plateau and a few miles into the distance it does have a fantastic wilderness feel, I’ve wild camped up there a few times and it’s probably one of my favorite spots in Wales to do that, you’ll barely see anyone all day, I think the first time I went up a just saw a couple of squadies on maneuvers…

If I was going I’d just to an out and back, keep an eye on things and leave a lot of daylight incase anything went wrong. The first time I rode it I did an out and back but came back along a long dissapeared BW, it was a 7hr ride and I’d only took a twix!

The alternative MM route is a classic, plus if your in the area the Doelthie’s probably worth a shot?

I’ve wild camped up there a few times

me too, nothing like being woken up in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere by (what seemed like) very loud unusual noises to eventually pluck up the courage to peep out and see in the torch light several wild ponies munching the grass just a few feet from my head 😯

me too, nothing like being woken up in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere by (what seemed like) very loud unusual noises to eventually pluck up the courage to peep out and see in the torch light several wild ponies munching the grass just a few feet from my head

Haha, there’s a cracking spot up there very close to one of the streams, short grass and very flat, I camped up there with a mate one night, half way into the night a family camped almost on top of us, it was OK and stuff but…..all that space……