We had chatted earlier in the year about a Weekend away at Afan in South Wales - Nathan had never experienced any of Wales's dedicated MTB'ing centres so I knew he was in for a treat!
We arrived on Saturday afternoon at the Afan visitor centre campsite and within half an hour were ready for the off. After a slight detour along the river side cycle track in the wrong direction we eventually rolled up at the start of the Wall. We spent the next hour riding uphill! for some reason we were riding quite fast - probably faster than we should have! After all the climbing we were blessed with fantastic sections of single track. We rolled back in to the campsite after 1 hour 27 minutes which we were really pleased with as the ride guide said it should take 1.5 - 3.0 hours.
After a quick energy bar and drink we were back out on the trails again, this time it was the Penhydd Trails turn to punish us! This ride is quite different to the Wall in that once leaving the campsite we were straight in to the woods for really technical singletrack. This ride was quite challenging especially as we were starting to feel the effects of doing the Wall at silly speed! After another 1 hour 25 minutes we arrived back at the campsite for a well earned cider. Overall we were really happy with the first days riding and the times we were putting in on both routes.
The evening was spent tinkering with the bikes and generally preparing for the Skyline we were riding the following morning. We were planning on having a few well earned beers but (luckilly) we ended up sharing a 2 litre bottle of cider as Nathan had forgotten his beer!
We rose from the pit as about 7:30am and were both ready for anothers day riding. After having some mandatory bacon rolls and a lrge cup of strong coffee we were off on our way to Glycorrwg Ponds MTB centre further up the valley. We started the Skyline trail at about 09:45 and were pretty unaware of what was in store for us as I'd never riddent his trail before. The weather was turning now and as we finally arrived at the top of the climb the rain was coming in horizontal and stinging our faces! This ride is a real mixed bag of different tracks from loose rocky descents to rooty damp wooded sections but the one thing they did all have in common was their technicality. Luckily for us all these sections were stitched together by fireroads which gave our backs and hands a well earned respite!
We rolled back in to the visitor centre after 3 hours and 55 minutes feeling quite knackered but also buzzing from the final 6km descent we had just smoked.
All in all it was a really good weekend and worked out well - I would strongly recommend Afan, just keep driving when you get to Cwmcarn and you wont be disapointed. I have include copies of the route maps below.
