Share your South Wales 'gravel' rides or trails

By which I mean those wide jeep track type trails that cross the mountains or go along the tops. Stuff like Sirhowy Valley ridgeway, the Senghenydd loop, the one that goes over from Cwmbran, or Merthyr Common which I really enjoyed when I did it earlier in the year.

The aim is to create longer rides with say 50/50 road/off-road for my rigid 29er, so technical bits are fine but the aim is to cover distance.

Have you tried Strava or Garmin Connect? I make a load of routes up from both of those..

I dont have any in that part of the world though.

I have and it is useful, but that doesn’t tell you the character of a trail, just how busy it is. I also use a combination of OS maps and satellite imagery sometimes.

The high level sustrans from Neath to Llanwonno is a good day out combined with the forest roads and some of the remoter sections of the old Skyline route at Afan which have not been touched by the wind farm.

You could cyle from Cardiff up the Taff trail to join the sustrans route and get the train back from Neath – I was thinking of doing similar from home in Swansea Valley taking in the forest roads around Crynant – I think I could cyle from home to Cardiff mostly off road then.

I did Cardiff to Garwnant forest visitor centre, it was one of the best rides I’ve done recently, really enjoyed it. Really enjoyed being high up on the tops.

In addition to general riding I’m looking to assemble a giant 100 mile loop around the Valleys.

In addition to general riding I’m looking to assemble a giant 100 mile loop around the Valleys.

Count me in!

Which route to Garwmant did you take? Straight up taff trail??
I’ve done Llanwono to neath years ago… nice ride.

SaxonRider, you’re most welcome – I’m going to recce it in sections before doign it in one go.

Which route to Garwmant did you take

Noo, that would be dull 🙂

https://www.strava.com/activities/255698654

Over to Caerphilly, up and over to the east of Senghenydd, then over Merthyr Common, through Merthyr on Taff Trail then onto the A470 for a bit, nipping into the woods to the West of the main road, coming out at Garwnant. The Merthyr section was a pain in the bum* and could be improved, but otherwise ace.

* although the industrial archaeology was interesting.

Is there a trail next to the Brecon mountain railway? That would link to the fire road that goes down to talybont then on the canal path to Brecon (from there onwards I have no idea)

If there is it would be a good thing to inlude in a Welsh C2C..

You definitely caught my eye with this post!
I’ve done a lot of gravel riding but mostly north of valleys. There are great forestry tracks around Pontsticill and Talybont reservoirs, and some good trails in the Black Mountains that can link in with them. You can also take gravel all the way from Merthyr, parallel to A470 all the way to Libanus, except 1 mile on tarmac. I tried a 50 mile loop last week but had mechanicals and had to bail out at Llwyn On.
I have a planned 90km loop so far, which includes a bit more technical stuff and lots of climbing and would take 5+ hours probably.
There’s also good stuff in the Begwyns/ Llanbedr hill further into Powys
Please gimme a shout when you are planning something, was just about to start a S Welsh gravel Facebook group to get some rides and routes going
(ps did you see my gravel calendar?)

Cheers @molgrips… couldn’t see how the TT could have made for an interesting ride! Will have to give your route a go on my next free day

I often ride from work in Abercynon, so from taff trail, up route 47 through Ynysbwl to the top of the Rhigos along with loads of variations which would be perfect.

If you want some routes which will take you from Cilfynnyd up to Rhigos and Skyline let me know. I have most of them mapped in RideWithGPS

I also know Afan/Rhondda areas very well.

OK, this is great 🙂 when I plan my 100 miler I will post it up for work in progress; will also look for the Facebook page

Calling taxi25 and/or mooman to the thread!

Interested in these. I’ve not ventured much off Taff trail.
I’m scared of going down trails that my bike won’t handle and I’ll be stranded and have to call out air rescue or something,

Mooman might know a few routes, I know he’s done Caerphilly to Afan off road. Me I’m a bit rubbish with gravel forestry stuff. Normally use them to link up fun bits of trail 😀
Mg’s ride sounds fun though and would definitely be interested in joining in.

Swansea to Cardiff along Sustrans route 47 is good, train there ride home if you live in Cardiff or along Taff Trail.

https://www.strava.com/activities/96471970

You can definitely get down the side of the mountain railway on the east (ish) side of the resoviour. I remember doing it a couple of years ago. Bit of a climb up from there but you gradually loop back around to the cycle route that leads onto the high grounds above talybont resoviour. We then followed the high line gravel and black sludge route down to talybont resoviour. Fun but muddy and slippery were my main memories of the ride…….

What about:

(i) Swansea to Coelbren on the Swansea Valley cycle path;

(ii) Coelbren to Brecon via Sarn Helen and the back lanes over Mynydd Illtyd;

(iii) Taff Trail from Brecon down to Ponty;

(iv) Ponty back to Swansea via the above high level sustrans route.

Or you could join in with this at any point i.e. Cardiff etc.

I think of Margam park when thinking of nice gravel roads. Easy to link up with Afan area and further afield, e.g. to resolven, then onto Sarn Helan and up in to the Brecons

Ohh – you could come from Brecon via the Gap and then onto the Taff Trail.

(i) Swansea to Coelbren on the Swansea Valley cycle path;

That’s a nicer ride than it should be, especially as you start gaining height.

(ii) Coelbren to Brecon via Sarn Helen and the back lanes over Mynydd Illtyd;

I’ve done that plenty of times on the mtb heading south. I’ve a feeling that it could be seriously hard work if I used my cross bike. But I’ve been meaning to do it for a while. (Or get a lift to Brecon and ride back via Sarn Helen.)

the rest of your ride is alien to me! 🙂

I thought that much of Sarn Helen was pretty rocky and not very crossbike friendly, but I don’t know it well. The southern bit of the gap is fine, but I did get carried away once and took my cross bike down the proper descent towards Brecon and it was mostly a walk!

https://www.strava.com/activities/420699191
This strava route I did from work in Merthyr and is shows the full gravel section around the Pontsticill reservoirs, you can also easily link to the taff trail that climbs from Talybont dam to Torpantau, and there’s lots of forestry on the West side of Talybont also see here, but it has quite a bit of climbing and the northern loop has a bit more gnarr
https://www.strava.com/activities/388392349

This bit shows great trails NW of Merthyr and can take you all the way up to Storey arms behind Garw Nant
https://www.strava.com/activities/402037757#9638322526

This is a loop in the Black mountains which is good too, the climb up the hermitage valley that is part of the Killer Loop

Need to have a look at your strava routes above as my work computer cant show strava!

Mg’s ride sounds fun though and would definitely be interested in joining in.

Excellent.. Stw south Wales epic 🙂

Just to clarify re bike, my distance bike is my rigid 29er with 2.4 tyres currently so I can handle Rocky trails generally. The reason I put gravel bike in the title was because I fancy long distance less technical for the ride, not because the bike can’t do it. Sarn Helen is ideal.

Will check all these lovely links when I am back on my computer

Sorry, this is the bit in the Black Mountains

This is all very interesting….. Potential to rival the classic Brighton-London-Brighton!
I’m going to keep an eye on this thread, I’ve done some riding in the area but an experienced guide would be help keep the emergency services at bay! A 100mile loop would be well worth a weekend trip down the M4.

Just be aware, whilst the route will not have isolation and hike a bike like the barebones 200, it will have a hell of a lot of climbing in it 🙂

Great idea, definately interested in what you come up with

Don’t overlook the Brecon & Monmouthshire Canal towpath that runs from Brecon all the way to Pontypool (and possibly on through Cwmbran, Newport and back up to Risca, though I am not sure on that part of the system). Offers opportunities to cover big distance in relative ease while linking lots of potential higher level ridge routes.

(i) Swansea to Coelbren on the Swansea Valley cycle path;

I’ve just been thinking more about this. I’ve been vaguely planning to explore a track running from the valley north of Abercraf/Craig y Nos, which heads west over the mountain past Llyn y Fan Fach and Fawr. I walked it decades ago, as a boy, so it can’t be too difficult but I’m not sure of the legality, as it’s a dotted black line on my OS map. (Old OS map!). To extend this you can drop off the mountain west and head to Llandovery by various routes, on or off road. Again, I’ll stress that I don’t know the legality or ground conditions but certainly part of it seems to be a scramble along the ridge.

Snot legal.

you could come from Brecon via the Gap and then onto the Taff Trail.

Yep this works well rode it Cardiff to Brecon back in 1993 as a 15 year old. Time flies 😯

I’d be interested in joining a big ride…Will bookmark this thread

Snot legal.

We chatted about this on the Defiance ride -I couldn’t remember what you said. 😳

For anyone wanting to get to Rhigos mounatin or onto skyline/afan from the Taff trail this is hands down the best way to do it. Mixes fire road with single track descents and single track cross country then onto route 47.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/11264812

It’s all gone quiet…
Any more thoughts on a big route anyone?

I am interested in this, I live in Cilfynydd and I am member of the Abercycnon road club, a large section of the club own cx bikes and we have local knowledge of the area.

Instead of taking the Swansea Valley cycle path all the way to Coelbren, jump off at Alltwen and take the back lanes to Cilybebyll where you can get onto the forest roads over Mynydd Marchywel to Crynant and then out of the village and up a long forest road climb to Sarn Helen. When you get to the junction with Sarn Helen you can turn left and follow Sarn Helen to Banwen (ok on a mtb or bigger tired cx/monster cross) or go right and then immediate left and follow the forest road down to Rheola, down the road a bit to Resolven then out the back of Resolven up a steep lane into the forestry again which brings you onto the above high level sustrans route – this is part of my planned out of the door to Cardiff gravel ride.

This ride would be rigid-friendly (perhaps leaving out the Cwmcarn loop)…

Cardif > Cwmcarn Loop