The way points of this bicycle route:
So, if you can't start in Hafod, start from Pont-Rhyd-y-Groes. Parking may be an issue. There's more space up the hill towards Ysbyty Ystwyth. The route starts with a monster climb out of P-R-y-G to a property called Storehouse.
The bridleway has been redirected from through the Storehouse. Turn left off the lane. This is a nice short downhill with a steep grassy climb to a forestry fireroad.
If you come up from the Hafod Estate, you'll join the route here.
Take the left fork just here.
Take the right fork away from the small-holding. Muddy but later a very rewarding track.
Not really obvious, but take a left here. It starts to go downhill and becomes a superb long downhill blast. Eventually you reach a junction where you hairpin back on yourself to the left.
A good XC bridleway. A few gates, but well marked and a reasonable surface.
Not sure the next bit's worth doing, may be better to just turn left here and skip it.
This is what I thought was the start of the bridleway, but it doesn't match with the OS map. I couldn't see the start further up the road. I followed my nose through a gate at the top of the climb and then down a track through a farm. That doesn't appear to be right.
Rather than go through the gate at the top of the climb through the trees, keep climbing the track to the right all the way up the the hill (very steep) till you can turn left and skirt the drystone walls at the top of the fields and come back down to the road on the north side of the farm.
Turn right now for a big tarmac climb to The Arch.
The Arch. Take the left fork, at the back of the carpark then take the first left. You've got a very fast fireroad descent ahead watch out for the hairpin left you need to take at a junction.
Not sure of the legality, but you could turn left here if you prefer to skip the next section (e.g. if you don't like paddling in rivers!)
Easy to miss this gateway as the fireroad heads back into the forest. Hairpin left and follow your nose across the field, you can see the faint line of the bridleway down to the right - use it or lose it!! You need to make for the fork in the river where there's the remains of an old bridge. This is where the bridlweway officially crosses.
Pick a point to cross - don't bother agonising about where to do it, just go for it, you'll end up wet wherever you go!!! The bridleway skirts the edge of the river and is sunken and wet. It's a hard slog but is nearly 100% rideable.
Time to leave the river - head through the trees through the gates (it's waymarked if I remember correctly).
The map and the waymarkings take you into the drive of the second property on the left, but the waymarks look like footpath ones and there's a horrible style to climb. Go this way - it looks far more suitable.
Take the right fork here.
Say hello from me to the beautiful friendly chocolate labrador in the house on the left!! :-)
This next section is unknown to me. It's a suggestion I didn't do because I was short of time. I'd had navigation issues and had done way more than 13 miles by this point! I reckon I may have missed an excellent track here.
Go straight on through the gate where the road bends sharply to the left and follow the track up the hill.
I went right here towards the church over the hill, fearing I'd have nav issues and running out of time. Left towards the derelict mining works looks like a more interesting choice, but may be more difficult to follow. I think the route follows some old drystone walls around the edge of the hill.
According to the OS map the bridleway climbs the shoulder of the hill on the left. However I can't see any sign of it on the sat photos - stick with the boundary wall.
The bridleway runs through the farm buildings and right round the far edge of the old spoil tip. I took the pragmatic approach and turned left straight away as I entered the tip. It looks like a nightmare to navigate, but it's improved since this photo and the track is easy to see.
Steep climb on tarmac then gravel. Good track with a short fast smooth downhill.
If you wish to skip the next section just turn right and head south along the road back into P-R-y-G to miss this out and finish.
Another one I didn't do. The track I did instead of this is back down the road on the right but don't bother with it, it was a total nightmare. This one looks more do-able and though it's difficult to see on the Sat photos I reckon it should be navigable. The start on the OS map looks as though it's closer than this to the T junction you just came out of and shows it going to the south of the derelict building ahead, but being pragmatic might be more sensible.
Fork right just after the derelict building, after that, you're on your own!! The bridleway probably just used to skirt around the edges of the common land above the fields. Follow that philosophy and you should be OK.
It should be possible to see the farm below and to be able to see when to turn downhill towards it.
If you're riding through the Hafod Estate turn left here to get to the car park by the church.
Welcome to Bikely, take a step by step tour of this path:
Press Start Tour - then use the navigation buttons below to move along the path.
Not particularly a great route, hence I haven't spent a lot of time annotating it and correcting errors in the track points, but it's good enough to kill some time! Good scenery. A couple of the tracks are gems and redeem the bad ones! I should like to have made the Hafod Estate the start point, but didn't research the situation with regards to cycling through the estate. A suggestion would be to ride up through the forest and join the route at point #34. I've uploaded a suggetion for this.
Tagged with: Recreational, Onroad, MTB, Steep, Intermediate, Offroad, Low traffic, Rough, Rural, Scenic
