[Closed] Talk to me about W2 at Afan .

It's OK. Just whites and the wall joined up. You can stop at one of the cafes halfway round if you want. I always get the whites climb out of the way first, no stopping for lunch. Plenty of fun!

Like wrecker said, it's 2 trails with a bit of fireroad linking them top and bottom. I've never been tempted but I enjoy The Wall and don't mind White's if someone twists my arm behind my back.

We usually do the Wall climb, take the W2 link into Energy, then either back up the fire road (keep left all the way)to the W2 link, or back up the fire road and take the (I think)2nd fork right to the start of Windy Point,which brings you back to the W2 link/Energy if we've not got enough in our legs for the full W2.

There's about 15km of almost flat fireroad so not as big as it appears

I really like it .
A few ups and downs. A little bumpy in places. 😀
Definitely worth doing imo.
I usually start from the Wall too.

It's not that tough unless you are very out of shape.

Well worth it for the excellent trails and what else are you going to do all day anyway?

We parked at afan and did the blue scar (?) route after, which was fun too.

did it a couple of weeks ago. haven't been for a few years. the whites climb/descent stuff has lost character without the trees, unfortunately, though the climb is still 'good', as much as any climb can be, in the sense that it gets you up without really noticing, as it keeps you engaged. i'd probably leave that trail another few years for stuff to regrow before doing it again, unless there with someone who 'really' wanted to do it.

don't do what one bunch of lads did we met, and miss the turn off the fire road by the windmills, as they trogged up a climb on to the very top. it's not very well signposted. when you get up under the windmills, if it looks like you're going to have to do another decent sized climb up a fire road, you're not going the right way - this is when heading from the afan forest park end towards the ponds end.

otherwise it's not a bad day out. not that much climbing really, but i do feel like they eked out as much traverse as they possibly could on the descents, when they might have been better off tipping down a bit more and sticking in another solid climb.

Yeah it felt a bit more pedally down to Glyncorryg without the tree cover now. With it being a valley I guess there's often a headwind.

There's about 15km of almost flat fireroad so not as big as it appears

I'd be amazed if this was true. The only flat fireroad I can think of is the link road, which is 2-3km at most. Maybe a bit more if you go to the afan argoed trail centre.

Its 28miles and 4000ft of climbing, last time I went managed to get round in 3.5hrs (moving time). I'd say its a hard ride, the uphills are technical in places so you are putting more effort in.

Prefer the Blade descent, it does mean a bit more fire road climbing but well worth it. The darkside descent into glyncorag is ok, just the Blade descent is rougher/faster/steeper.

Following on from what others have said. I find it enjoyable, even now some of the trees have been felled so a little of the character has been lost, but it's still a lot of fun on the right day.

Difficulty wise I'd say it's comparable to a blue at BPW so as has been said, the Blade descent is better but in my opinion not worth the hassle to get to. Blade seems uphill almost all the time until you get to it.

"There's about 15km of almost flat fireroad so not as big as it appears"

Bollocks.

Tbh, the best things is to skip the final decent to Glyncorrwg and just ride the good bots on Whites/Blade. Unless you like the Whites climb, which is good.

It's a big ride, but good trails so you'll enjoy it. As long as you have some fitness you'll be able to do it. That said I don't remember much of it being flat!

We're starting from Glyncorrwg if that makes a difference ?

I think that's probably the correct way. The Whites climb is interesting technically, the Wall climb isn't. Is the cafe at the halfway car park open? If it isn't (or you don't need it), I wouldn't bother heading across the river after the Wall descent.

The most annoying thing is having to dismount for those bloody gates at the start and end of each section.

One of my favourite trail centre rides locally, feels like a good all-day effort. Usually start from the Afan end and do Blue Scar to get the legs going before the first main climb. You will have a headwind for 50% of the White's climb as it traverses, unavoidable now there's no trees but no stretch is too long. There are also two different descents for Darkside now, the last bit of White's after Goodwood. The first one is the original and obvious, the second starts a bit further up the fireroad running along the trees. The second one is better IMO, fast and loose.