Coed Trallwm    Back to: Coed Trallwm Feature      Home

Coed Trallwm is a new riding centre,  go soon before it loses it's special shine. A solid ride in the Winter,  the scenery is a real bonus on a sunny day.
Infant trails
There's a new riding area in Wales with hand built trails opening soon but the main route is posted and ready to ride now. Coed Trallwm is still in it's infancy but already offers a lot for the weekend visitor. We (the MTB Britain riders) find ourselves sometimes wistful and are given to sad reminiscing about 'The good old days'. True there are more miles of singletrack open than ever and technology has transformed the performance of our bikes. But some trails have changed out of all recognition from their beginnings: and they're not necessarily a better ride for it.
Hound of the Baskervilles
We're left longing to ride those sunlit, magical trails of rides gone by. At Trallwm I think we found some of the old magic, get yours before it's too late. If you do go now be warned there are as yet no facilities, visitor centre or car park charges! There is a small car park and further parking along the side of the forest road heading up from there. You can download a map from here there are post markers on the route and that's about it for now. Our guide on the day was Will Johnson, as he built the trails it's fair to say there is none better. We were accompanied by Will's faithful Alsatian (OK, faithless local ex-sheep worrier, now reformed). It's become de-rigueur to do the occasional ride with a hound leading and who are we to bust up the trend?
Floaty light feeling
The route begins on an easy section of trail dropping down from the car park and then following the edge of the stream for a few hundred yards. Ford the stream and the climb begins but it's not too tough and soon rewards you with a swift descent and some sweet jumps that will have the most grounded of riders a little weightless - without breaking bikes. A first-class warm up under your belts and the next climb is more serious. Soon turning on to a wide forest road for a well paced grind up to a spectacular wilderness view.
Dog days
On the day it was hot in the shade and this was full midday sun, we were suffering and Will's dog took every opportunity for a dip in the local pools, except these were more often local bogs. We soon christened it Bog-Dog as it ran streaming and rank from another trailside sump, no more friendly pats for you. A narrow single along the edge of the forest turns right and cutting the corner of the wood you pop out to the best little trail section we've seen in a while. As this section of the route forms part of the technical Black Trail it's scarily close to the steep mountainside before arcing back in to the tree cover for some banked turns. These aren't flat in the by now loathed 'water run off' fashion, they dip downhill at the exit helping your acceleration and that roller coaster feel, bliss. All too soon this little romp ends with a narrow and tasty serpentine above a small quarry hole, fine ending that. Across the fire road and the pace quickens with a not too smooth doubletrack showing off our full suspension capability, then a right single fork fades suddenly and scarily with the speed we'd gathered - slide Charlie Brown slide! Good job we managed to slow as the gradient increases and the surface loosens for a locked out panic down to a sudden meeting with a flat ninety right hander, we didn't quite make it but staying upright was good enough for me.
Box clever
Ziging on to another steep double for a hundred yards, we took the right hand edge to avoid the loose shale and then made the tricky turn around a tree on to the next single. Soon after you drop back in to the car park so it's a good idea to have a cool box and some supplies in the boot, we certainly did. Off next on the Red Trail this has some great fast singletrack and a few sand sections that will seriously challenge your handling, don't brake hard or you will stack. At the end of one long speeder bike zip-along trail is a rocky water splash, which is a total blast and pretty scary at the rate of knots we had gathered. We took an extra climb on here which steepens gradually over solid rock and is a feather in your cap if you make it. If you do make it and can still speak fairly normally have two feathers on us. We slogged up here to take a closer look at a mad new trail Will has recently begun to cut. Sliced in to the drop of an impossibly steep woodland it's too narrow and soft to ride properly as yet but shows great potential for an Afan Argoed style 'Hidden Valley'. We reckon this is even steeper...
Go and see for yourself, best bet is to stay the weekend and ride the unspeakably beautiful singletrack at the nearby Dovey Valley.
Below is Will's description of the three routes.
The Blue trail
Is the easiest and has the least height gain. Care is however needed at 'Foxes Den' where you drop down into darker forest and the trail narrows and can be slippery. At the bottom there is a tricky stream crossing after which you can turn right back to Trallwm car park and the red trail or left to go up to the black trail.
Distance 3km
Climb 95m
Time 20mins
Grade Easy
The Red trail
Starts with a 400m ride up the county road before turning off to the left for the climb proper. This rough track takes you to the top of Bryn Mawr, which is where the trail from Llanwrtyd Wells joins Coed Trallwm. The descent starts gently along the same track before dropping right into the forest with a long left-hand traverse. There is then a right hand traverse before snaking through the trees, over the up track and back to the county road opposite Trallwm. Take care crossing the road.
Distance 4km
Climbing 140m
Time 30mins
Grade Medium
The Black trail
Is the toughest, the view from the top is spectacular. The descent starts with a mossy trail down through the woods dodging onto a stoned path before dropping steeply onto a level forest road. This takes you through to a switch back ride through forest to another level section and finally twists and turns its way down to the Nant y Hwch car park.
Distance 5km
Climb 155m
Time 35mins
Grade Difficult