‘The new gap’, brecon beacons
DISTANCE 31.6km (22.4 miles) CLIMBING 980m (3,215ft) TIME 2hrs 30mins to 4hrs
Start/ inish Talybont Village Hub and Bike Wash car park, Talybont-on-Usk (grid ref SO 113/229, postcode LD3 7YQ)
Route summary A great twist on the classic ‘Gap’ route (as the northern descent isn’t what it once was), which packs in some extra miles and even more great trails
1 Head left on the road, then right, towards the bridge. Don’t cross it – instead, turn left, alongside the canal. Cross the next bridge and join the Ta Trail, heading uphill. Keep ahead on this, climbing gradually on a good, narrow trail. Continue onto the Brinore Tramroad, still uphill.
2 When the trees disappear on your left and there are a couple of byways on the right, going downhill into the trees, keep ahead/left, up a rocky climb. Keep right at the fork. Pass through a gate and up a rocky climb to the top. Bear right at the fork here. Go across the top and then bear left to drop down the hillside.
3 Turn right on the forest track and follow it all the way to a road. Go over the road, left and then right, and keep right at the fork around the corner. Keep ahead on the bridleway, along the side of the hill, to a road. Join it briefly, before bearing right onto a wide, rocky track, uphill. Keep ahead on this, with a steep techy drop and climb after a gate.
4 Follow this track up the hillside to the top/Gap. Descend the first 100m on the other side if you wish, then climb back up. Retrace your steps back down the hill, all the way to the (second) road. Go left on the tarmac, uphill. When a forest track appears on the right, take it. After a while, it becomes singletrack through the trees, and then some gates and fields.
5 When you reach a track crossing back in the forest, turn right and climb the steep, tricky byway back to where you were earlier (step 2), on the edge of the trees. Keep left and left again, back into the trees and down a steep byway. Cross a couple of forest tracks and pass under a small bridge to join a track alongside the reservoir.
6
At the end of the reservoir, turn right and then left in the trees. After a short distance, bear right onto a forest track heading back uphill. This climbs to meet the Ta Trail you came up on earlier. Follow it left, retracing your steps, to descend back to the start.