[Closed] Cwmcarn trails - conditions and diversions

No diversions that I know of, trails are fine, if there's mud it'll be a couple of patches, nothing to worry about.

Sweet, thanks!

Generally it’s not a muddy / sloppy place as it’s quite rocky. Tend to feet flicky mud sprayed up rather than anything gloopy. So you should be mostly fine - it’s the most weatherproof trail within an hour of Bristol.

I’ve recently been riding the off piste and dh trail - but I’m not aware of any diversions on the main Cafell / Twrch trails.

If you’re planning to ride both I tend to go for Cafell first as it’s the hardest climb in terms of cardio - it constantly changes gradient so it’s hard to get into any kind of rhythm. The Twrch climb is generally more technical but it’s less tiring.

There’s also a blue called Pwca - I thought it was really fun and flowy when build but it’s quite rough now vs how it was and it hasn’t got so much gradient so it’s less fun than it was for me. It’s literally 10-15 mins long so if you’ve got a gap to fill then it does a job.

Cwmcarn is ace - probably my favourite non-uplifted trail centre. Although I do really like Brechfa too.

We went for the fist time in ages this weekend, the conditions were great. I would say that Twych was the best trail of the tow. Have a great time.

The DH Y Mynnd trails at the top of Twrch are good too as one has been refurbed, don’t bother with the new bit off Twrch, if it’s been wet as it can get quite greasy and it’s more up than down.

I find the Cafall descent is more fun than the Twrch down as more berms, drops and rocks.

I'm heading there on Friday so some interesting reading here. Don't think I've ridden there for maybe 10 years or so and consequently can't remember much about the Twrch trail (I know it changed a lot). How long would it take to ride both trails, for someone of moderate fitness?

I’m an average sort of fitness - if you’re into stats 238ftp and weigh 75kgs. Riding a fairly robust long travel trail / enduro lite 29er.

I’d say allow 1 hour 30 to 1 hour 45 for Cafell. Twrch is shorter (and more varied trail elements) - maybe an hour 15 to 1 hour 30.

Make sure you fuel sufficiently / take snacks as the climbs are fairly chunky.

Many thanks for that. Genuinely very helpful.

My top tip for Cwmcarn - When you get to the bottom of rocky valley on Cafell, you can turn left on the fireroad (rather that right) and do Quadzilla/hideout/rocky valley again with almost no transition; it's just around the corner on the fire road.

If you're that way inclined I would highly recommend doing the off piste right now, both were running so so well the last couple of days. This rain won't be helping things but looks like it should be drying out by the weekend again. The off piste tends to hold up well in the wet IME, always near golfie levels of grip.

It's easy to find them now - it looks like they've been half sanctioned by the forestry as there are signs up marking them as natural off piste. Trailforks app is v accurate in showing you where they start.