Soldato
Thought I'd post a quick story about my first trip around the Gap in Powys. Strating and finishing in Brecon
My route is on Komoot (which I highly recommend for MYB route planning and exploration). Route here.
I'm by no means an expert so there was probably about a mile of the route that was enough of a rock garden that I walked it. But still an amazing 5 hours round trip with a few stops for food and the views.
Started of in Brecon and headed out along the canal towpath towards Tallybont:
Lovely and flat for a few miles with a few kayakers and narrow boats to say hello to. Then an aquaduct over the river usk.
They the climbing started. A long 5 mile climb up the side of a resevoir giving some gorgeous views....
Then the final climb up to the Gap between Pen-y-fan and the hilariously named Fan-y-Big. Stopped to pose the bike (see if the GMBN dirt show give it a nice/super-nice)....
Then 12 miles of mostly downhill with a mixture of mountain track, single track and a small amount of road back to Brecon. You can see the track running along the side of the mountain on the left in the photo below.
Arrived back in Brecon tired and looking forward to a cold beer. Neuron did wonderfully, really glad for the full-suss as some of the rocky bits of downhill were pretty intense.
When setting a route and reading about the loop, people were saying it's a bit of a rite of passage for all MTBs. I can see why. Really glad I took 3L of water with me as well as a load of food. Didn't end up needing any of the tools/spares but again you do get pretty remote up there.
If anyone knows of any other great Welsh routes in the Brecon Beacons please let me know.
My route is on Komoot (which I highly recommend for MYB route planning and exploration). Route here.
I'm by no means an expert so there was probably about a mile of the route that was enough of a rock garden that I walked it. But still an amazing 5 hours round trip with a few stops for food and the views.
Started of in Brecon and headed out along the canal towpath towards Tallybont:
Lovely and flat for a few miles with a few kayakers and narrow boats to say hello to. Then an aquaduct over the river usk.
They the climbing started. A long 5 mile climb up the side of a resevoir giving some gorgeous views....
Then the final climb up to the Gap between Pen-y-fan and the hilariously named Fan-y-Big. Stopped to pose the bike (see if the GMBN dirt show give it a nice/super-nice)....
Then 12 miles of mostly downhill with a mixture of mountain track, single track and a small amount of road back to Brecon. You can see the track running along the side of the mountain on the left in the photo below.
Arrived back in Brecon tired and looking forward to a cold beer. Neuron did wonderfully, really glad for the full-suss as some of the rocky bits of downhill were pretty intense.
When setting a route and reading about the loop, people were saying it's a bit of a rite of passage for all MTBs. I can see why. Really glad I took 3L of water with me as well as a load of food. Didn't end up needing any of the tools/spares but again you do get pretty remote up there.
If anyone knows of any other great Welsh routes in the Brecon Beacons please let me know.
