Doethie Valley with the Pigs

As a special Fathers Day present from Sarah and the guys, I spent most of Sunday riding in the Cambrian Mountains with a great bunch of guys from Swansea’s MTBPigs Mountain Bike Club.

Photo by Rob.

We met up at Llyn Brianne reservoir (check out this YouTube video of kayakers shooting down the overflow at 45mph – the last lad really flies!) and set off on the MBR Doethie Valley route.

I have walked this valley several times – it was part of our Cambrian Way route, but riding it was a wonderful experience. Miles of natural singletrack and every foot of it perfectly legal to ride. It’s a very ‘climby’ route though, we notched up around 2500 feet in the 14 miles we rode.

After a quick sandwich, we travelled the couple of miles to the Cwm Rhaeadr Forest to ride the short but entertaining trail. Built by Rowan Sorrell (who designed Brechfa trails), its a 20 minute 500 foot climb followed by a 10 minute downhill that has been described as a ‘BMX track in the woods’. It was bloody brilliant!

This video isn’t us, but it’ll give you an idea of the trail…