Length: 6.7km
Duration: 45mins
Climb: 210m
Grade: Red
Rating: 5/5
Cwm Rheaedr or 'valley of the waterfall' is a little gem of a trail nestled deep in the hillside overlooking the Tywl valley. It is a short but, ultimately, fantastic trail and well worth combining in to a longer visit to the centre of Wales.
The trail at Cwm Rheaedr begins from a fairly typical Forestry Commission car park just outside the village of Cil-Y-Cwm. There are no facilities. However, that merely adds to how great the place is. Rather than your busy, sanitised trail centre like Cannock (which does have its merits) this is serenely quite with very light trail traffic. On our 2 loops I did not see one single other rider (apart from my riding partner that is) - although it was a Friday afternoon and welsh trail centres tend to be significantly quieter than say Cannock or Ashton Court.
With designer, Rowan Sorrel's name preceding him, expectations were high and we weren't disappointed. The trail starts with an all too typical fire road climb straight out of the car park. This is not much of an issue, however. In this case the fire road climb is long but lacks gradient so can be dispatched reasonably quickly and without need of much grimacing or curses.
Chatting is a sure fire way to make the dull bits pass quickly and, despite the fantastic views and relative ease of the climb, it is still just a fire road. So, chatting all the way up, we were somewhat surprised to find ourselves at the top so quickly. It's a fair amount of altitude gained in a short time with somewhat less effort than I am normally used to - maybe I'm just getting fitter!
Anyway, the fire road gives way to graded singletrack, which climbs for a short while longer. And, after a short break on the bench provided at this threshold to admire the view of the waterfall we were on our way. There are a few switch backs to navigate and a small across section before you climb steeply to reach the summit.
There is no ceremonial indication to suggest that you are now pointing down but be assured, you will not want your seat up from now until the end of the trail.
What follows is possibly one of the most flowing of sections of singletrack descent I have ridden and deserves maximum attack. Its hard to really put in to words how much fun I had coming down. The surface itself changes from the man-made compacted, stone gravel of the fire road and opening singletrack sequence to a much more natural, earth based surface incorporating odd outcrops of the underlying strata - which is exposed on its edge providing a rumble strip effect - to create a bit of added interest.
In the dry and damp there is plenty of grip available. Even the loose shingle that litters the corners of the upper section give way to a base of hard earth and stone eager to provide the daring with ample purchase.
The top section is reasonably quick but quite rocky in places with a number of drops to send it off. As you head in to the woods things get a little more loamy due to falling detritus but not by much. The tacky sub-base and loose scree follows you most of the way down - the scree becoming more absent the further down you travel - where it gives way to the plain tacky earth base.
The middle of the descent becomes quite tight with the trail becoming no more than a few inches wide in places where people have exploited the 'racing line' and crosses two rutted access tracks at two points. This was a little like changing tracks at a railway junction - especially as it was off camber - and took commitment and speed to ensure I stayed on line.
As you come in to the bottom section things get a little faster still with wide cambered corners (not quite berms) catching you at every turn and allowing you to maintain a significant speed all the way to the car park. Somewhere in this section (before the final crossing point) you'll come across a reasonable wall ride.
My riding partner and I were at full speed pretty much the whole way down and with no gates or styles to cross it was literally all the way from top to bottom.
