Black Mountains, Wales

Distance 48.5km (30.1 miles) Climbing 1,670m (5,479ft) Time 3hrs 30mins to 6hrs

ROUTE SUMMARY A big, tough, hilly ride around some punishing Welsh hills and over some tough terrain, but with bail-out and shortcut options available if needed START/FINISH Talybont Bike Hub car park (grid ref SO 113/229, postcode LD3 7YQ)

1 Turn left on the road. By the bridge/pub, go left on the cycle path, alongside the canal. After 6km, just before a bridge and car park, go left on the road. Cross Llangynidr Bridge and head up to and left on the A40. At Bwlch, after a sharp left-hand bend, turn right on Tremynfa Road.

2 Continue until a layby just past a house, then turn left up a bridleway. Bear right then left, uphill. Head right along the ridge, beside a wall. Before the summit, fork right. Bear right towards another summit, then keep left to descend steeply.

3 Bear right at the bottom, to a track by the woods. Go right on this and then left, past a farm. Turn right on a singletrack road. At Waun Fach, go right on the A479, then immediately left up a bridleway. Turn left on the road at the end. At the junction, go ahead/right, through a gate, on a bridleway.

4 Follow the minor road right, then go left on a bridleway. Bear right on the moorland, uphill, joining a wall. Follow this sharp left. When it bears left again, continue ahead. Climb to a cairn. Bear left and left again to descend to Rhiw Trumau.

5 Go right on the road and immediately right again on a deadend road. Bear right at the end, uphill. Keep left on the open moorland. Follow the wall left, then bear right, over two streams. Go left at the foot of the hillside, then climb up it.

6 Descend the far side and go left at the wall/moorland edge, to and through a gate in the south-west corner. Join a rocky downhill, then tarmac to the A479. Go right on the cycle path, cross the A479 and bear left on a bridleway before the church

7 Go around the foot of the hill, bearing left by the road and then right. Cross a minor road and forest track, then climb into the trees. Keep ahead/left by some farm buildings. Continue, across fields, uphill and bearing left, to a track crossing at the top. Turn right (you rode up this track earlier).

8 Keep right, alongside the wall, then follow a steep downhill to a road. Turn right into Bwlch and go right on the A40. Turn right when the main road bears left (by farm shop). When this road turns right, join a bridleway to the left of a cattle grid.

9 Climb to the top, then descend. Cut sharp left, back on yourself, through a grassy field, to a gate. Descend through the woods and fields, then bear right on a track to a layby. Turn right on the A40. After 0.8km, go left on a path between barriers, left on the road and right at the T-junction.