Cannock and Afan trail conditions

Hi all,

Just debating where to ride at the weekend, the original plan was to head over to Afan but since the weather is meant to be wet wet wet there is an ongoing debate whether to go somewhere a little closer like Cannock.

How are both these trails running? Anyone hit these recently? I’ve never done Cannock but really like Afan and seems it can take a soaking.

Thanks in advance

Cannock will be pretty sloppy. The one thing it doesn’t need is any more rain. Last Thursday was horrible due to the huge amounts of standing water on the Monkey. I rode the Dog last night and it quickly got very wet in the rain.

The forecast for the weekend here is pretty damn grim.

I was at Cannock a few weeks ago. As mindmap3 says, it is fairly muddy at the moment over there. I did both the dog and the monkey trail and forgot how much fun both routes are. There are plenty of climbs on the Monkey trail to keep your legs warm but there are some nice rewards afterwards :-).

I think it’s the same in most places at the moment, I’m further north, but we are in pretty pants shape as well, everything is saturated!

About the only place that’s managing is Llandegla, not sure if that’s a bit too far for you. Still really good riding 🙂

Interested in hearing about Afan, visiting Celtic Manor with work in a couple of weeks so was going to bring the old Pitch along for a blast!

I’d expect Afan to be fine, except the White’s Level climb which will probably be a muddy slog. We’re going on Saturday to do Y Wal then Penhydd – a bit of old school including some free ride fun then new school bermy, jumpy stuff.

Fingers crossed the weather is alright when I get there then, not rode Afan before, looking forward to it

Afan. Rode bits of the wall and walked penhydd & blue scar today. It’s always gine in any weather. Few puddles but nothing really bad.

Afan was fine last week. Other than washing out on a berm covered in a thick layer of hail from the torrential hail storm we were riding through.

The wall and whites level hold up very well in the wet, were heading up tomorrow to do a birthday ride as everything natural in the area is shite ATM.

There’s also the new Blue Scar and Penhydd trails which are a bit of an unknown in very wet conditions but IMHO they’ll be fine as well.

Only thing I wouldn’t do is Skyline ATM. Did it last weekend in the torrential rain and it was bloody hard work

Cannock holds up well to a certain extent, but there is now a huge amount of standing water on upper and lower cliff. Enough to take the fun out of them….they’re bloody deep and will fill your shoes with water.

I can’t wait for spring to arrive. I’m sick of cleaning bikes and trying to get kit clean and dried out in time for the next ride.

Very wet around Cannock at the moment. Braking bumps & craters full of water & topped up daily by the rain. Off piste mostly cut to bits. Some parts look as though they’ve drained well but it’s only a crust on the surface – the ground underneath is saturated

It rains all the time round here so Afan knows how to deal with it. It always runs well.

with this much water eveywhere, best centres are going to be rock based such as Coedy etc..

Agreed with staying off skyline, bits of it are pretty muddy. The exposed section of Energy on the Whites Level is looking worse for wear as well. All the above is perfectly rideable though, and the rest of the centre is as normal.

afan- rideable (it always is) but lots of standing water, the trails are saturated so youre riding through squelch even on the wooded pine-needly singletrack. The puddles in the short singletrack stretch in the Walls/whites link in W2 are near axle-deep.

Penhydd and Blue Scar will hold up worse, theyre mainly open (being built onto the hill that was logged), and the worst trails in the area (see Penhydd thread). The start climb on Whites is very exposed now after the felling so if its wet/windy you’ll feel it!

My AM40s have only just dried out after a week. The old knackered Vans I wore the day before got binned!