Rode the Skyline trail at Afan the other day.
Approximatley 46km and over 2000 metres of climbing and I'm still a little sore now, but it was well worth the pain. The trail is absolutely fantastic and I can see why its been voted as one of the top 10 mountain biking destinations in the world.
I've never known weather change like it did. In some sheltered sections it was fine, some open sections very cold with a light breeze and then down the section known as the air strip it was blowing a gale. The wind was so strong it nearly took me with it.
The scenery is incredible but you can't really take that much of it in when you're tanking along as some of the terrain is pretty dangerous with plent of rocks and one of two drops to the left into oblivion.
The estimate to complete the trail is 4 - 7.5 hours depending on fitness, not really for newbies, though there are other shorter trails starting from 15km. I managed to get around in a touch under 5 hours with a couple of brief stops.
If you're looking for a new trail to ride and haven't yet visited Afan, then I highly recommend it, but make sure you go prepared. I think pretty much all of the trails end with a 6km decent which is as much hard work as the uphill!
Approximatley 46km and over 2000 metres of climbing and I'm still a little sore now, but it was well worth the pain. The trail is absolutely fantastic and I can see why its been voted as one of the top 10 mountain biking destinations in the world.
I've never known weather change like it did. In some sheltered sections it was fine, some open sections very cold with a light breeze and then down the section known as the air strip it was blowing a gale. The wind was so strong it nearly took me with it.
The scenery is incredible but you can't really take that much of it in when you're tanking along as some of the terrain is pretty dangerous with plent of rocks and one of two drops to the left into oblivion.
The estimate to complete the trail is 4 - 7.5 hours depending on fitness, not really for newbies, though there are other shorter trails starting from 15km. I managed to get around in a touch under 5 hours with a couple of brief stops.
If you're looking for a new trail to ride and haven't yet visited Afan, then I highly recommend it, but make sure you go prepared. I think pretty much all of the trails end with a 6km decent which is as much hard work as the uphill!