Rating: 4/5
Length: 22km
Climb: 1071m
Time: between 2-3 hours
Difficulty: Red
Thrills and ease of use of a trail centre with the remote feel of a local trail.
The Gorlech trail at Abergorlech near Brechfa in wales is what could be described as a trail formed from two sides of the same coin. Those two sides, however, are quite removed from each other in terms of character and trail style.
Generally speaking the first half of the trail is formed by single track climbing through lush, green, pine woodland. The trail follows this pleasant format for most of the climbing and the top sections before becoming progressively faster and bigger as you near the end. Large berms and tabletops litter the final descents (the final descent is made up from a number of linked sections which generally blend in to one).
The trail starts from the car park by means of a pretty standard fire track climb. After about half a kilometre the trail kinks right on to gravelly single track. The first half of the trail is, generally, single track climbing through lush pine woodland. There is a damp atmosphere and it can often be quite misty (giving rise to the feeling that the woods are haunted).
Even on a sunny day it can be quite a contrast as you emerge at the top of the climb and out from the tree line. Your climbing is rewarded with an additionally contrasting downhill section of berms and jumps. The section flows nicely and at each apex there are tree stumps designed for riding over - don't avoid them as they are good fun!)
This alternative style of trail is accentuated further on the final descents. Following some final switchback climbing to gain altitude, the trail then immediately gains speed and scale. The speed increases gradually with plenty of off camber turns as well as some huge berms, plenty of table tops and technically challenging corners (speed and momentum/flow are your friends here) all the way to the car park.
The trail surface is made up by hard packed slate and gravel, making the corners loose in places. The design of the trail does provide good lines through the corners so grip is still plentiful. The trail has good bedrock beneath and as such, even in wet conditions doesn't churn up much like some other centres might do. This trail has obviously been designed to take account of the prevailing welsh weather.
The car park is pretty much all that exists in terms of facilities. There are some portaloos however, there is a very nice pub just around the corner, which serves good food and has much nicer toilets.
