I am ashamed to say that in 13 years of visiting Cwmcarn, various circumstances mean that I have only ever ridden Twrch. That all changed yesterday, however, when I rode Cafall for the first time.

It was FANTASTIC, and far superior (for me) to Twrch. I can’t believe it has taken me so long to try it out, and I look forward to doing it again.

Anyone have a similar experience?

Isnt it half closed now?

There were certainly a couple of diversions, but it’s still a good 15-ish kilometres with a long climb and great descent, so I can’t imagine where the closures would be. Of course, not having ridden Cafall before, I have no previous experience to compare it to.

According to this post, there’s a section about halfway completely diverted, so you’re in for more of a treat when it reopens.

Haven’t been back for a year but I used to enjoy Cafall, you had to work for it in order to find any flow on the climbs.

Always felt like doing a compressed Enduro with climb, descent, climb, descent, climb, climb, climb descent, descent etc.

Want to get back there but I’m a bit put off going back right now by the diversions and I basically have to drive past the Forest Of Dean to get there.

Cafell rules! It’s our standard night route when everywhere is wet. We normally do the fireroad climb to quadzilla at night though. I thought it was twrch that had the diversion? Haven’t been over in a month or so though.

It has been very busy there at weekends lately, good thing of course! Hope it continues to be busy, it’ a killer area. Would like to find some of the off piste stuff there..

I am due to go up there on Saturday. Is both red doable easily in a day with some dh runs 2

For anyone who hasn’t tried the Pedalhounds DH off Cafall, it’s perfectly doable on a trail bike and heaps of fun. I skipped it for years thinking it’d be DH super gnar territory, but it’s pretty tame by modern standards. A few little drops and some nice off-camber. And line choice! At a trail centre! 😉

Do you have to book the Cwmdown bus to do the DH?  Cwmcarn is my fave stop over before a BPW day, and I do fancy a go at the DH side.  Can you pay the driver for just a couple of uplifts?

You’ve only ridden 2/3rds of Cafall, Hideout and Rocky Valley are just as good as the rest of it.

For anyone else going there in the next few weeks the first climb of the Twrch is closed, try send you up Cafall instead.  You then rejoin just after the Giant’s Carpark.  There’s still a good 3-4 hours of riding there, you just miss out one techy climb and the top loop of the Cafall, no boring fireroad climbs or descents!

Oh and there’s a new unofficial descent being cut in by locals running from the picnic bench at the start of the freeride section.  Think it ends up down by where the climb pops up onto the fireroad, will explore when it’s drier as it looks very slippery right now.

Yes and no.

I went through a bit of an arch with Cafal (and Blade for the same reason actually).

We foolishly rode Cafal on the weekend it opened, they even gave us Welsh Cakes for doing it! The problem being the first climb after the split was hell on a ‘not great’ 1x set-up and the rest of the trail was worse than the wettest day off-piste because it was slop over hard, not really bedded in (they opened it early IMHO under pressure from who-ever and it had rained solidly for weeks before) so it was tough as hell going up and I don’t mind admitting that it was scary coming down for me not because it was slippery, but because it was wildly inconsistent and I crashed hard (and got a parking ticket for over-staying because of it).

So, following my usual MO I told myself and anyone who’d listen that it was crap, rather than a bit tougher than I’d like and refused to ride it for over a year, until I was forced to do so again and I loved it, Twrch became very ‘old hat’ and I didn’t go back to it for  ages, then again I did and remembered it’s actually still one of my favourite trails I’ve ridden anywhere and the final descent is, despite being a veteran of Whistler, PdS and Les Arcs, my favourite descent anywhere, I can think of only a single way to make it better and that’s to make it twice as long, three times would be better still.

Anyway, these days I prefer a ‘megamix’ of the two.

Things I don’t like at Cwmcarn :-

The first climb after the split on Cafal,

The first climb after split on Twrch

The final descent on Cafal, it’s a bit crap, there’s a big climb in the middle of it and a bit crap back to the car park.

So I don’t do any of them, I ride to the split and take the fire road to Quadzilla (or the fireroad around now I guess which would suck) then follow Cafal until it ends back at the forrest drive and instead of doing that I ride back up forrest drive until the bend and finish off the Twrch whilst giving zero **** about anyone who cares that I’ve swapped some technical climbs for some fireroad/tarmac ones.

If I’m feeling brave I can even skip a bit of cafal for about 2/3rds of Pedhounds or the final bit of Twrch for the last 3rd of Mojo or even the last couple of descents of Twrch and do the whole thing.

A bit like Cannop, once you’ve got the lay of the land you can pick and choose different things to make of it what you like.

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;”>I am due to go up there on Saturday. Is both red doable easily in a day with some dh runs 2</span>

Yeah, I can ride the both in 2 to 3 hours (see above) and I’m old and fat.

<span style=”color: #444444; font-size: 12px; background-color: #eeeeee;”>Do you have to book the Cwmdown bus to do the DH?  Cwmcarn is my fave stop over before a BPW day, and I do fancy a go at the DH side.  Can you pay the driver for just a couple of uplifts?</span>

You can book, or ‘pay per run’ or buy a 5 run ticket, it’s just like BPW, it’s probably fair to say they pinched Cwmdowns processes. So it’s priority to day pass holders and only one van so it’s a 30 mins wait or so if you can’t get on one, but I rarely see it completely full.

<span style=”font-size: 12.8px;”>As individual trails I much prefer Cafel to Twrch. My prefered combo loop is up Cafell then coming down Cafell or Pedalhounds to the forest drive. Spin up the road (when it’s open) to bottom of giants finger, or go all the way up road /fire road to top of freeride section. Twrch to concrete ramp, spin up road to top of DH runs. Any of the DH runs to the fireroad, along fire road and finish with the last fast section on Twrch.</span>

Marksnook or anyone else who night rides there. Does the car park get locked at night, if so how to you manage, where do you park, any issues?

I’ve only done Cafell once and I did enjoy the climbs but overall, I’m afraid I found it dull. Apart from one very short lumpy rocky bit in a gully, the trail was just smooth. It also seemed like a lot of climbing for the down that you got. Went and did the fully opened Twrch straight after (which I have done many times before) and loved it. Fast flowing, not super techy but enough to keep you awake and involved.

I’d do it again to make the distance worthwhile when combined with Twrch…actually, I think I’d prefer 2 laps of Twrch.

Gates get locked at 8pm winter, 9pm summer.  If you’re arriving really late (I’ve done a lap at 2am!) you can park in the disabled bays in front of the visitor centre, just go through the village as forest drive will be locked at the entrance.

Alternatively you can park on the main road opposite the main entrance but I’d be wary there as I see the odd patch of smashed glass from broken windows occasionally.

Thanks milky. Useful info. Would certainly be riding after 8pm. Broken glass was a worry. Usually no problems outside the visitors center?

<span style=”background-color: #eeeeee; color: #444444; font-size: 12px;”>Marksnook or anyone else who night rides there. Does the car park get locked at night, if so how to you manage, where do you park, any issues?</span>

also keen to know an answer on this…

oh sorry just saw Milky’s reply…

Both trails are ace, I ride them both end to end when I drive there from home. If I stop in on the way back from my mates place I tend to do Cafall these days rather than Twrch.

I am due to go up there on Saturday. Is both red doable easily in a day with some dh runs 2

depending on fitness. I’m pretty much cooked after riding both but you might be alright and fancy a bit more.

Sorry I saw this way too late to be of any use!! Fwiw I normally park by the bikeshop/toilets and have never seen the gate locked but i might not be there much after nine. Not a lot of help Sorry!

Thanks for the reply Mark 🙂

Numpty question

Cafall = xc/normal trail (in the same kind if vein as Twrch) rather than gap and drop festooned gmar fest?

I always loved CwmCarn but haven’t been for a few years and it’s just day trippable with an early start / home for dinner.

The visitor centre car park and the main one both have CCTV so usually no trouble.  Just take the usual precautions.

I love caffal… Well the decent 😂

I don’t do the climb just my sneaky shortcut way

Yeah I know it’ a cop out but I avoid that first climb after the split.

Glad I could help!