Tarquin's cycling pages

18 September 2013 - Craig yr Allt Loop

WhereCraig yr Allt Loop
(Brecon Beacons and South Wales)
Date18 September 2013
Duration1 hours
Distance3.6 miles (~6 km)
WeatherSunny
Trail conditionsFairly dry single trail and tarmac
RiderAgeBike(s)
Chris Poole 41 Baracuda Jacabat
Mark 'Tarquin' Wilton-Jones 33 GT LTS 2000 (TWJ)

Trip report

Description by Mark 'Tarquin' Wilton-Jones

This is a short route taking in the summit of Craig yr Allt, and was intended as an evening ride, ending at sunset. It begins at the end of the dismantled railway line on the southwest side of the A469, close to the A468 roundabout at the southewest end of Caerphilly. From the A468 roundabout, take the A469 towards Cardiff, then take the first right onto Blackbrook Road, and immedately right onto a tiny lane, which becomes a dirt track at the end of the railway. This is where the ride starts.

We returned down the lane to Blackbrook Road, turned right onto that. After climbing up to the top of the rise, passing a couple of driveway lanes forking off to the left, and a couple doubling back to the right, we forked right onto a lane that continued to climb, signposted to the Rockwood Riding Centre.

See pictureSee pictureWhen the road levelled out, we took a dirt track that forked off to the right, signposted as a footpath. The track swung hard right, and we continued ahead on a narrower track (OK, we got it wrong at first, and followed the first track to a gate, then had to backtrack). Soon afterwards, a narrow path is hidden in the trees on the right, which we took. It soon becomes the main ridge path, running directly up the ridge. The first part proved nearly impossible to ride, and it would perhaps have been better to take the next path doubling back to the right, zig-zagging up to reach the ridge path.

See pictureSee pictureContinuing up the ridge from the point where the (possibly) easier path joins, it became possible to ride, but hard work at first, being quite steep with a rutted surface. Chris still proved to be better at climbing than me, despite his claims that he was too out of practice.

See pictureSee pictureAfter reaching the summit, the downhill fun begins. We stuck to the main track, which eventually slips off the left side of the ridge (we took a wrong detour along the ridge for a bit), picking up another track to continue ahead along the ridge. The main track abruptly turns a hairpin bend to the left, as it reaches a drop ahead, requiring very effective braking. Instead of following it to the left, we took a smaller single trail to the right, into the deep bracken and brambles, heading towards a radio mast. At the trees, it turned sharp left, and zig-zagged down to reach a dismantled railway line. This single-trail part was rather painfully overgrown, and we both earned a good few attacks from the brambles.

See pictureAt the railway line, we turned right, dropping down a slope, and turning left just before a bridge, to join the Taff Trail on another dismantled railway. We followed this up to the right, continuing ahead when the Taff Trail branches off to the left. After passing through some old railway arches, we were back at the start of the ride.

Home page
Trip list
11 October 2013
02 October 2013
25 September 2013
18 September 2013
22 June 2013
08 September 2012
02 June 2011
12 March 2011
23 January 2011
12 June 2010
08 November 2009
15 October 2009
10 October 2009
19 August 2009 No. 2
19 August 2009
16 August 2009
17 July 2009
25 October 2008
30 July 2008
29 July 2008
13 July 2008
22 March 2008
02 February 2008
10 November 2007
28 April 2007
16 December 2006
12 November 2006
05 November 2006
29 July 2006
23 July 2006
15 July 2006
01 July 2006
22 June 2006
10 June 2006
04 June 2006
01 June 2006
20 November 2005
19 November 2005
13 November 2005
05 September 2004
21 August 2004
16 August 2004
27 June 2004
20 June 2004
21 March 2004
14 March 2004
08 February 2004
17 January 2004
20 July 2003
Rider list
Bike list
Contact me
Disclaimer
See my caving site

Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict, CSS, JavaScript and DOM!