Misty Mountain Hop Halfway between the middle of nowhere and the back end of beyond it's not surprising that
llyn Brianne reservoir is less well known than some MTB hot spots. This doesn't mean you should give it a wide berth though, far from it. We had one of our most memorable rides of the year there and go quite misty eyed at the mere mention of the deserted Doethie Valley. Strange Beginnings
At this point it's only fair to admit that the stunningly perfect weather had just a little to do with our rose tinted Oakley view point. But if the weather is at all kind when you go, you will surely find yourself defending the long journey to and from the reservoir car park. We arrived a little later than planned and rushed to kit up after the long journey. The ride begins strangely with a short, steep climb up the side of the reservoir dam and across a modern motorway style bridge which towers above the hydro-electric sluice gates. Once across here the climbing continues on a wide, rough access road which rises and falls this way and that and affords panoramic views over lake
llyn Brianne. Eventually the same stony road turns right and we shoved our chains on to the large ring for a pedal propelled plummet towards the chapel at Soar y Mynydd.
At the bottom there are two alternative routes, the first and longer option is to continue on to the chapel and then hike up the fiendishly steep and laughingly long double-track to your left. This catapults you up on to a rolling moorland trail and soon after sucks you down a dangerous (but fun:-) rocky double, much like the climb in reverse. Stopping for the small gate on your left, one hundred vertical yards above the bottom, requires big hydraulic brakes and a big serving of bike handling skills. Once through here you are on one of the longest and prettiest natural singletracks in Wales (Hurrah!). Being Wales of course it has many boggy bits and several quite simply soggy pits. But don't let this put you off, this trail is exquisite with one or two surprising challenges and also it wins our 'cute deserted trail of the year award'. A title not to be taken lightly... The Grassy Knoll
At one point the narrow path evaporates and leaves you lost on a grassy knoll in the middle of a striking steep sided valley. We didn't care, we were having one of those not too rare, but so-sweet-they're-ecstatic moments where the burble of running water far below is the loudest sound and the sun shines through your soul. As the grass steepened and became a cliff dead ahead we realised we had strayed off to the right. With no fences and only faint trails on the grass this sort of meandering is a dead certainty. It's not important though, you can't be far lost heading down one side of such a narrow valley. Paradise Lost
Back on track after fording the stream the going soon becomes firmer and faster, at a sudden rise the path scales a rocky outcrop then another with a scary off-camber to the right. Hit them fast and without (too much) fear and you'll ace them. Don't fluff the off-camber section! A long bracken bordered grass straight follows until you reach a gate in a stand of trees. immediately after the gate is a drop in to a 'v' shaped ditch. Yank up your front wheel or you'll come a cropper in the bottom of this bike trap. Finally and with a sense of great loss you swoop down to a farm track and the valley has at last run out of magic, so we thought. Up through the gate and past the farm yard with it's obligatory fierce and vocal collies then bearing left bags you the bottom of a brutal climb. The brutality of this one is it's nightmare like, seemingly infinite perspective. Keep your eyes on your front tyre and you'll be OK, look up and your mental fate is sealed. A short way after the top the loop is complete as the forest road joins the lakeside outward leg from earlier on. Now we were tired but we were surely not done. A quick look at the map and we decided to do the second, shorter loop as well. Turning left on to the now familiar lakeside trail of three hours ago we set a fast pace to match our ambitious new route plan. In short order we reached the turn off which heads up towards an isolated looking barn. The isolation turns out to be an illusion as a little further on the bridleway passes through the yard of a small farmhouse. It's a kinda Magic
An unassuming rocky grass double track climbs from here and affords one fun drop, before rising and fading on to high open grassland. There are faint ruts bearing right across here and we followed these as the gradient tipped in our favour. Suddenly the magic of the Doethie valley struck us once more at full force, we were high up on top of it's steep left side with a birds eye view of it's grandest aspect . This experience is what walkers call 'The Surprise' when the finest view of an entire route is suddenly revealed and you stop in your tracks to gawp and wonder. Not for too long though, a madcap
descent awaited and we plunged over it's edge with a devil take the hindmost whoop of joy. We barreled down this grassy Eden way too fast and almost missed the right turn down and through a rocky cutting then left to follow it almost to the valley floor. The singletrack gets a little swamped under the bracken here but remembering our mornings course we picked it up quickly and soon completed a glorious take 2 of the lovely lower Doethie. Which put us right back at the bottom of that brutal climb again...