[Closed] Is Afan worth a 3 hour round trip?

You can ride all day at Afan, and not get bored. It's a classic Welsh trail centre, that drains pretty well. Whether that's 'worth' it, is up to you.

get a mate to share petrol?

2 of us did cwmcarn from london on sunday 5hrs driving, 25 quid each all day riding worth it imho as everything round here is still wet

Yes.

I guess it partly depends on what you've got locally, but I've done it from Kent for a day trip - that's over 3 hours each way.

Does that tell you enough?

Yep, as per Kimbers, I used to do quite a few day raids on Afan, Cwm Carn and even Brechfa from London. 3 up in a car to split the fuel and away you go!

I'm off today and was wondering if it's worth the day. General consensus seems to be "yes"

It's great place I've gone for a few weekend stay overs and used it as the easy access to trails. As a once in a blue moon visit yeah might be worth given it ago but there's likely to be better natural trails within a 3 hours catch area of you.

Another person to split the driving. It's a long ol' day with some hard riding doesn't leave you in the best state on the drive back.

As above depends what you've got locally and what type of riding you like. For me it was 7hrs round trip. I was living in Surrey Hills so local riding is so good I don't bother with Welsh trail centres now I only go for natural rides. I will take a trip to the new Bike Park Wales for the uplift, I doubt I'll go back to Afan as with trees down in a lot of places it doesn't appeal. My favourite "away trip" is Peak Disrrict which is similar 7hr round trip of driving.

I'm off today and was wondering if it's worth the day.

Not any more it isn't. If you were on a day raid, you should be almost at Afan (having stopped for a motorway fry up, of course!)

Was talking to a guy at BPW a few months ago who'd driven from London for the day at BPW. Sounds reasonable... but he didn't arrive until lunchtime, had no uplift booked and refused to pedal to the top. He banked at getting a space on the uplift but it was so busy after lunch that he only managed 2 runs the whole afternoon before heading home that night!

If you make a day of it its worth it, and 1.5 hrs each way isn't that bad.

Yes, it's a classic, especially if you can go mid week when it's not too busy.

Enjoy!

yup... i go up from the new forest. i leave at 6am, get there for 9:15am and then ride until mid-afternoon. i'm usually home for dinner.

well worth the trip.

i'm going on saturday as it happens.

Thanks for the push, Gents.

T'was a great afternoon 🙂

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Nice.

Depends on your personal definition of "worth". I went lat weekend. Drove up Fri evening and came back Sunday afternoon. About 3.5 hrs each way plus fuel, accom, food, beer, parking etc. For me definitely worth it. Up to you to decide if it works for you. Only one way to find out........

Rate Afan as it has miles if fast trails. More bang for you drive buck. Best cafe as well. Skyline cycles have always been helpful.

Only been once, but yes well worth it even if only the descent on y wal

Two and a half hours each way for me, I'm not there every weekend, maybe once every 4 - 6 months as family and free time dictate...

1 One and a half hours each way? Is it "worth it"? Entirely depends on you and what you expect to get out of the day, what's your local riding like for comparison? If it's similar then probably not, for those of us dwelling in the flatter parts of Englandshire a trip to see some Welsh hills generally brings benefits...

Up at the crack of sparrows fart on the M4 get there good and early, ready to spend the whole day riding yeah its worth it.

BPW is maybe 25 minutes less driving but its a different sort of centre, not better or worse, just different.

Seems I'm in the minority of people who think Afan isn't all it used to be. I went over the Christmas break for the first time in over a year and really can't see myself going back.

We rode whites level and the trail was a bit of a let down to be honest, seemed like a lot of climbing for not a lot of reward, the new final descent was ok but not great. The showers are still pretty manky and the cafe is so sterile and soulless compared to how it used to be, oh and the food was awful.

I used to really rate it but not so much now, prefer cwmcarns two trails to anything at afan.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be 😉

Just over two hours each way along the M4 for me and worth it. The new trails are very good and the kids enjoyed them. The climbing is a little brutal for them, however. I do miss the trees.

The first time I did the White's first climb without the trees it [i]was[/i] disappointing, partly due to the absence of the familiar woods and partly due to the extreme muddiness; the next time was better, partly because the trail was drier and partly because I started enjoying the trail again despite the absence of trees. I think the ratio of ascent/descent is the same as it ever was, isn't it?

You need to do W2 not just whites level otherwise you missed half the ride

25 mins drive for me. The new trails at Afan are OK. That is all. Brechfa, Cwmrhydr and Cwm Carn are where the cool kids go to nwadays it seems. So that means I'm off for the natural stuff in the hills.

Trees and cafe gone. Not likely going back. Shame, as it was once MTB heaven.

Afan is better than its ever been IMO. OK the trees are no longer there, but the Whites climb is pretty much all the same (1 small roller section replacement). Blade + Penhydd + Skyline opened up, newish bike park, a blue trail and green.
Well worth a 3.5 hr trip up from Portsmouth 8) Daffy, looks like you had an extremely rare blue sky day!

Trails are the sam and more of them. Cafe is as good as ever in fact still one of the best. So a few trees have gone. It's a working forest. I enjoy the new final down, now two of them, as much as dark side with trees.