Rhayader, Mid-Wales
Distance 33km (21 miles) Climbing 1,300m (4,265ft) Time 2hrs 30mins to 5hrs
Route summary A very hilly ride with plenty of technical descents, lung-busting climbs, amazing scenery and a stunning inish Start/ inish Rhayader central car park (grid ref SN 969/679, postcode LD6 5AL)
1 Go south on the B4518, down to, and over, the bridge out of town. Take the road on the right (just past the cycle path on the left), signposted ‘Mountain Road, Aberystwyth’. Climb for 4km to the top and turn left onto an obvious track that drops to a ford with a small dam.
2 Cross the dam and bear sharply left (it can be boggy here). Join a stony track heading uphill. At the top, follow the waymarker that directs you right. Continue on a grassy track, uphill, past the trig point and bear right at a fork. Keep ahead and descend to a gate. Continue through fields, bearing left through another gate on the bridleway, pass a house and stream then climb uphill past a house (on your left).
3 Turn left on the bridleway, heading steeply uphill to, and right at, a fork. Proceed up to a crossroads and head straight over onto flatter ground. A track joins from the left, cross a boggy section (there are numerous options here) and join the better, stony track soon after. Ford a stream and bear left at a fork, following the main track downhill to a drive.
4 Make a right, then a left into the woods on a bridleway. There’s a fast singletrack descent here, so be careful of the Maps produced in association with road at the bottom, which you go right on. Keep left at a fork, head past a cottage to a bridleway turning on the right. Continue through a gate and head gently uphill.
5 When it gets steeper, just beyond a gate, cross a stream and turn right on a faint track (not left on the obvious one). Push your way up the steep valley with the stream on your right. At the top, bear left around a boggy section, then right. Descend on singletrack, bearing left across a stream uphill, then drop steeply down with a technical, rocky bit at the top.
6 Head o right on the road at the bottom, by the reservoir, then fork right on the NCN route to climb into the trees. Keep left at a fork, passing the dam and heading alongside the reservoir. Pass Craig Goch dam (to your left). The track starts to climb steeply uphill here and becomes faint, but then improves. Drop down to a ford and then go back up to a road.
7 Go left, for 1km, then right on a track at the top, and keep ahead on it, with one small climb. Follow the red arrows (left then right), downhill, all the way to a house. Keep ahead, through a gate to a road. Turn right on this, then left at the T-junction to the B4518. Bear left, back into Rhayader.
LOCATION DETAILS
Often described as a ‘mini Lake District’, this area has steep hills and reservoirs aplenty, providing some wonderful, wild and remote riding, with plenty of technical, rocky terrain too. It’s ridable even when wet, although some sections can get boggy, even when the weather’s dry!
GETTING THERE
Rhayader is on the A470 between Builth Wells and Llangurig. It can be reached by heading north from Abergavenny on the A40, A479 and A470, or south then west from Shrewsbury, through Newtown. The car park is on the northern side of town, close to the tourist information centre.
MAPS & BOOKS
Ordnance Survey Landranger 147: Elan Valley & Builth Wells. Wales Mountain Biking by Tom Hutton (Vertebrate Graphics).
FACILITIES
Brynteg Guesthouse is nice and they’re bike-friendly (01597 810052). For other options, see tourist information (01597 810561, www.rhayader.co.uk). Clive Powell’s bike shop (01597 811343, www.clivepowell-mtb.co.uk) is very good and o ers hire and guided rides.