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Hello
Myself, wife and kids are going to the Gower, in South Wales, next week for a week. Shall I take my bike ?
I have ridden at all the trail centres in South Wales over the years. It would take me an hour to drive to Afan from where we are staying in the Gower.
Should I not bother with the bike and stay at home with the family or spend a morning riding (and 2 hours driving) ? I cannot make my mind up; One half of me says 'leave the bike at home' the other says 'take the bike, get up at 0600 one morning, ride Whites and be home by midday - what's wrong with you ?'.
Please advise - its doing my head in.
Better to have it and not ride it, than want it and not have it.
There's some good riding on Gower itself, a crazy steep climb on to the top of the hill above Rhosilli and some good descending in to Llangenith, then some singletrack around the old hillfort (Bridleways), then a scenic ride along the top ridge to Port Eynon.
There's a good 'natural' loop you can do around the Gower - links Cefn Bryn with Rhosili Down. It's in my Wales Mountain Biking book 🙂 Mix that with a morning at Afan and it would be a good enough reason to take it.
No need to drive to Afan - get yourself right the OS map go ride your MTB on the Gower. It's about 1% as technical as Afan, but there's some hidden gems and miles and miles of good views out to sea. Just remember there isn't a flat bit of the Gower anywhere that isn't a beach.
Good 2-3 hour loops possible depending where you staying and how fast your ride. Lots of good stuff stuff around cefn bryn and rhossili down that's easy to follow. Lots of good cheeky too, although some of it you'd need to ride at 6am in stealth mode (busy cliff paths etc).
Yes take your bike.
The classic natural loop as described above is also listed on the trail guides sections of this website. Lots of places to start it.
There is some good cheeky stuff around Caswell woods, bishopston valley and along towards 3 cliffs
Also there is a decent short loop in Clyne Woods just off Swansea bay towards Mumbles. This is waymarked like a trail centre.
On the far side of Swansea there are some good trails up Kilvey Hill.
Ok. I am taking my bike..
Just got back from Llangenith, would have liked to have had the bike as there were some interesting looking paths about the place but I go there for the surf. Afan is about 45 mins away for a day out. Also looked like there was some great road riding too, bloody steep hills though!
I was camping at Pitton Cross last week.
I took my bike and had a couple of short rides on the hill near Rhossili.
Some Singletrack route map guides here
http://singletrackmag.com/trailguide/uk/wales/the-gower/
You can see Rhosilli / Worms Head on foot. We've done the looped walk quite a few times, it is a good few hours though. If it's easy to take the bike then do so but otherwise not sure it's worth it for one or two rides.