Afan Argoed - 10/11/12 September 2004

[jon]

Time to sample the fine ales and trails of the south of Wales ;)

The provisional date is now Friday 10th Sept -> Sunday 12th Sept, although at this early stage, there is some flexibility if it means we can fit with everyone's current plans.

Please let us know as soon as possible if you want to come - the sooner we can book the accomodation, the more options we'll have.

Hit List
Jon
Ruth withdrawn
Stevie withdrawn
Cheungy
Ceri withdrawn
Andy

Stuff to bring

general stuff
--------------
tea towel (just in case) - i've got the towel from cyb (jon+ruth)
washing-up stuff (scourer, cloth, detergent) - andy
ketchup - jon+ruth
loo roll - mike

evening food
------------
beer - I've got bout 18 330ml bottles (jon+ruth)

bbq
chicken - mike
burgers - andy 4 should be enough
steak - jon+ruth
sausages - i'll bring enough saussies for this + 2nd day's brekkie (jon+ruth)
salad - andy
bread - andy
random sauces (other than ketchup) - jon+ruth
random marinades - jon+ruth


fajitas
chicken - mike
tortillas - jon+ruth
sour cream - andy
cheese (cheddar or similar) - andy
guacamole - andy
salsa - andy
onions - andy
pepper - jon+ruth
faj mix - jon+ruth

brekkie
-------
eggs - mike
sausage - mike (one day's worth), jon+ruth
bread - andy may only need the 1 loaf, the decision is yours ;)
coffee - andy
tea - mike
milk - andy
butter - jon+ruth
marmalade - jon+ruth
sugar?

[stevie]

I'm pretty sure you can count me in. I'm double-checking, but I can't see there being any major problems. On the accommodation front, there isn't much (as far as I can tell) right next to the trails, but there should be some in Port Talbot, and Swansea has plenty of B&Bs.

[cheungy]

i apologise profusely for this but i've been reminded by my partner that the 3/4/5 weekend is my daughter's last weekend before starting school again, which means we will be doing a lastminute deal somewhere. :mad2: Please don't let me spoil the party, but i can make the following weekends! :roll:

[andy]

Hopefully I'll be there this time, now just need to get myself a bike!

[ceri]

I'd definitely be interested in another trip! The only thing that might concern me is that the trails may be too technical for me... But I've had a read of some info on it (http://www.mbwales.com/afan_forest/) and I'm sure there'd be alternative routes. I'll be in Brecon for a week during August so I could take a trip over and get a preview!

Any weekend in September is OK for me although my first choice would probably be 18/19 as it's the only one where there are no Trailquest/Bike Orienteering events for me to do!

[jon]

following on from discussions in the mailing list, the provisional date is now 10/11/12 ;)

Ceri - when Ruth and I went down a couple of years ago, the trails weren't overly technical. I know the Whyte is supposed to be a tricky trail, but i wouldn't get overly concerned about the possibility of getting in over your head - the tricky stuff can always be assailed by foot if need be!

[stevie]

Having ridden the White's Level, I can safely say that it is not incredibly difficult to ride. It isn't even that long! It's mostly just singletrack, but at the end, the are a couple of miles of flowing downhill. You can easily stick to smooth(ish) track, but if you edge a foot to the right, there are loads of slabs of rock with opportunities for jumps and such.

[ceri]

I am duly reassured!

[ruth]

This site will be useful in finding accomodation when we get to that stage http://www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk/visitorguide/accommodation/acc_guide.html and that points you to this which has possibilities http://www.brynbettwslogcabins.co.uk/

[andy]

I've just booked the 10th off and my bike should be here next week so count me in!

[jon]

don't forget we'll need a picture of your new bike in the gallery :D

/me prods stevie for a pic of his new bike in there too

[jon]

updated the list - just the 4 of us now..

[Paul]

hi guys,long time since I got involved but don't worry i'm still alive.Am looking to come on this trip, just need confirmation of the dates.speak soon Paul

[jon]

Ok Mike & Andy - Stuff to bring down. Towels seem to be provided. What do we want to eat?
BBQ one night, fajitas the other?
Beer?
What about breakfast - eggs, bacon, sausage, toast?

[cheungy]

i can bring a box of eggs and some sausages for 1 mornings worth of breakfast and a box of skined and boned chicken thighs for 1 night of BBQ. what about toilet rolls? do we need to bring them? :oops:

[andy]

I can bring some stuff too, just let me know what I should bring so I don't bring the same as everyone else!

[jon]

Dunno about Mike and Andy, but I'm absolutely knackered :)

The accommodation (http://www.tytanglwystholidaycottages.co.uk/) was great, and the weather, considering how bad it had been forecast wasn't really too bad at all!

Not 100% sure on the trails though, to be honest.. We rode The Wall (22km) at Afan on Friday afternoon (in the rain) which was fun, mainly because the wet slippery rocks were keeping all 3 of us on our toes :shock:

On Saturday, we rode the Whytes Level (15km) which, although billed as 'Very Difficult' didn't really pose much of a challenge; even with the wet, slippery rocks. The final descent was great fun - loads of dropoffs and stuff that could be taken at speed, but whether it was worth doing the rest of the ride just to get to it was an issue of much discussion. To be fair, I reckon the Whytes would have been possibly a bit too much for Ruth, but considering this trail was supposed to appease the riders that claim Coed Y Brenin isn't techincal enough (a view i don't agree with) I expected far more.

We popped up to the visitor's centre at Afan for lunch after which we decided to try the penhydd trail. (formerly the 9feet.com) Although billed at 22-23km it ended up being a touch over 16. The first climb took the majority of 6km to do, and to be honest followed the theme set by the previous two rides - Too much climbing and not enough reward on the other side.

On a brighter note - the heavy rain was good enough to wait until the bikes were on the roof before descending upon us, although if it'd come 5 mins earlier, we'd have saved the £1.50 it'd cost to hose the bikes down!

One final note - the anti-motorbike contraptions at the entrance to a lot of the woodland singletrack.....

Oi! Forestry Commission! No!!

Assuming they measured the dimensions of an adult-sized mountainbike before making them, I wish they'd measured something bigger than a vanilla xc bike :( Having to wheel the bike through on its rear wheel is bad enough.. but having to lift the chuffer through because either my rear axle was too wide or the inside posts were too tall for my pedals was the biggest pain ever. Any chance of getting a rhythm up on the afan trails was totally destoyed by these things :cry:

[andy]

Yep I agree totally. Fantastic accomodation, company and nosh.. It was just the trails that were a bit of a let down, but still good fun!

A great weekend, slightly dampened by Mr Plod - I was pulled for speeding :oops: on the way back which also resulted in me getting fined for my bike rack obscuring a brake light and a bit of number plate! Oh well it was fun doing a breath test for the first time, quite glad I passed on that beer before departing!

Hope we can do something again this year, if not I look forward to something early on the next one!

[jon]

That really sucks.. :(

I remember reading on bikemagic once that someone using a boot rack had suffered someone hitting them from behind. They ended up being the guilty party as the driver who'd hit them had claimed he'd not seen the brake lights come on because they were obscurred by the bike's wheels on the rack..

One thing i'd forgotten to mention before - Mike, you are a steak-cooking god :D