AFAN: THE RISE AND FALL… AND RISE
Closed for nearly a decade, the Skyline trail at Afan is open again and hoping to evoke the golden years
Ten years ago, Afan was the most important UK mountain bike destination south of Glentress. It drew more riders than any other trail centre in Wales, despite fierce competition from the likes of Cwmcarn and Coed-y-brenin, with thousands showing up to traverse White’s Level, Y Wal (The Wall) and Skyline every weekend. The riding was the best manmade stuff in the country.
Afan was also our favourite bike test loop, as well as the erstwhile magazine’s too. It hosted races like the Gravity Enduro series and Kona Mashup, while bike brands hosted launches and demo days there. Politicians jumped on it too – when the venue opened a new section on White’s Level called the Energy Trail, then secretary of state for Wales, Peter Hain was there to look ridiculously out of place in a suit and cut the red tape.
Then in 2012 Afan’s famous Skyline trail was closed to allow for construction of a wind farm, now known as Llynfi
Afan Renewable Energy Park and one of the UK’S largest onshore sites. A huge construction project that’s taken close to a decade to complete, the wind farm and its heavy operational traffic meant Afan’s longest and gnarliest trail was kiboshed. It wasn’t the only blow to Afan either, larch dieback disease meant huge swathes of the valley’s trees were felled, robbing White’s Level of its character and beauty, and exposing it to greater erosion from the elements.
“When they cleared the trees for the larch disease, as soon as they went, people went to the Forest of Dean instead,” explains Jeff Lewis, who now