Has anyone been there. Im thinking of going to Brechfa Saturday but as this is only 20mins away im tempted.

Is it worth a trip or is Brechfa better? also, is it easy to find your way around the common route?

Is it worth a trip or is Brechfa better?

trail centre vs natural….

doethie is a lovely ride; especially if it’s dry. easy to find if you’ve got a map/ route. do both?

I find it a bit over-rated tbh. It’s a nice ride, but never quite lives up to the hype. I think the dry/wet factor does affect things though.

both if you can. doethie is about the setting as much it is about the trail I feel. sum of all parts is greater, kind of thing. over hyped but definately a ride you’ll remember.
ride when dry (if possible).
cwm rhayader is just down the road and great (man-made) fun too. royal oak pub is great too.

Did Doethie Valley last summer and the weather was awesome. In fact maybe too sunny as I got burnt. The ride was good but I think the weather played a huge part in it. The views are great and it was brilliant to only see 2 other people all day. The riding is a mixture of fire road, single track and double track if parking at the dam. Planning to do it again this year and to take my dad for his first off road experience. 🙂

For some reason I expected it to ‘flow’ better than it actually is. However the scenery is stunning and has that true ‘lost’ feeling

We did Doethie earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very wet so did not truly flow all the way but 5 or so miles of single track trail is not to be sniffed at. Not quite my favourite ‘natural’ trail ever, Coquetdale holds that gem, but well worth the trip.

WTF? Overrated? Christ almighty, it’s 7km of natural singletrack, what more do you what?

We rode it on day two of the Welsh Ride Thing in 2010, my write up is here.

Welsh Ride Thing 2010 Day 2

I’ve only ridden there twice, but I just recall it being wet wet wet, and frustratingly slow due to the wetness. As an “out there” ride it’s great..nice views & feels like you’re properly in the countryside, but it’s not the ultimate flowy singletrack that I’ve read about in the past.

as above there are two great things about the Doethie:
1) remoteness (and mid week solitude – getting a bit busier at the weekends now)
2) sweet, long singletrack.

However when its wet, its still rideable but a bit less flowy for about half the ST decent.

When it’s dry it’s sublime – need to keep the speed up to make the most of it, it wont carry you all the way, you have to work for it a bit.

singletracksurfer – Member
both if you can. doethie is about the setting as much it is about the trail I feel. sum of all parts is greater, kind of thing. over hyped but definately a ride you’ll remember.
ride when dry (if possible).
cwm rhayader is just down the road and great (man-made) fun too. royal oak pub is great too.

^ this

If your riding is all about pitting bike skills against the trail it’s over hyped. If your riding is all about losing yourself in the whole existential experience, man, then you’ll stop halfway down and exist 8) It really is a beautiful valley.

I’d add, not only to ride it when it’s dry, but also when it’s *been* dry for quite a while before-hand. I most recently rode there during a nice dry spell but it was still wet as hell whereas all my local trails were bone dry.

it’s 7km of natural singletrack

with a gate every 500 yards, regular wheel-sucking mud pits, and a swamp half way down. It’s a nice ride but not remotely weatherproof, which can be a bit of an issue in Wales.

Well the pics on my blog would indicate otherwise, considering it had pissed it down all day previously, the splashes were full and we’d basically swum the last km of the Monks Trod, the Doethie Valley was mostly dry and a lot of fun. Yes there are some boggy bits, and a couple of gates but every 500 yards? Really? Maybe I have rose tinted specs on, it was two years ago and it was one of the best day’s riding I’ve ever had.

After Monks Trod, anything would seem dry! The Doethie Valley sees a lot more use these days which is spoiling the trail compared to what it used to be. Along with Pont Scethin it is one of my favourite rides.

I loved it, but not as a thrill or anything – much more as a view and an exploration – very little downhill excitement, lots of breaks and doglegs and stuff. Cym Rhaeder is a proper lovely trail though, with plenty of adrenaline, and it’s short – so you can do it a few times and get better. Climb up is tough but fun as well.

I ride there pretty much every week and it is an amazing ride, even when its raining! The bridleway/singletrack that runs through the valley is completely incomparable with any man made singletrack as this is about as natural as it gets and you will have to work to get round it, even when its dry! Depending on where you start, the entire ride is around 25k but will feel more like 25m if you have never riden this type of terrain before. When you ride it for the first time try to pick a rainless day, take a packed lunch, take a friend and take your time! There are sections where you are more likely to come off and the track does become quite narrow in places which can mess with your head. If you still have legs drop into Cwm Rhaeadr for quick trail centre fix as it’s only 10mins away and its pure disney 😀

Rode it on the last day of the recent sunny period we just had. Still had really boggy places and some parts of the trail had collapsed into the valley below. Gets far too much use nowadays and is suffering as a result. Rode it before a few times and it definitely isn’t as good as it used to be. The section by the ruined outbuilding is now just marsh, whereas it used to have a dry high route and the ascent after the chapel has been machine-repaired and is now all loose stones. Lost it’s fun factor now 🙁

rode it in the drought of 2003 – amazing
rode it in the washout of 2009 – horrid

choose your day with care.

+1 Royal Oak.