Enough mud already, let's go to Wales and do rocks instead! And off we - me, Claire, Lukasz and a trio of London pals - went, a frosty, early start offering high hopes of a cold but dry day of riding. OK, this was Wales we were talking about here but it was looking good.

We'd decided to tackle the W2 trail , a combination of The Wall from the old Afan trail centre and the newer White's Level from Glyncorrwg. Top tip time - the W2 can be ridden from either visitor centre but the best place to start is actually the car park by the footbridge in Pontrhydyfen, which means you avoid the 'charms' of the Afan visitor centre and the schlep down from there to the footbridge too. Bonus! And it also means the not-actually-closed-down Drop Off cafe at Glyncorrwg is a mid-way lunch stop. Which given the W2 weighs in at 27 miles and has nearly 1,000m of climbing (that's pretty much Snowdon, folks) is more than a bonus. Welsh Rarebit all round!

 

 

 
Even missing off the first run down from the visitors' centre there's still a fair old haul up the valley for the start of The Wall but best to get it out of the way first and from there and into the singletrack it was soon obvious the conditions couldn't have been better.

 

 

 
The ground was just tacky enough for a bit of grip but without a hint of slop or gloop anywhere. Ideal! It was a bit parky out in the open on the cut through from The Wall to White's Level but other than that it was perfect, the clear views and fresh air just the tonic after the apparently endless mud back home in Berko.

 

 

On the run down to the visitors' centre at Glycorrwg we encountered a charming fellow biker who nearly mowed down a gang of walkers and, when challenged, gobbed on my bike. But it was alright, he was a local and we were English and therefore deserved it, he gladly pointed out. Probably just as well for him/Anglo-Welsh relations Karl wasn't with us…

 

The White's Level climb was brutal but strangely rewarding with it, the run across the tops and back to The Wall not quite as cold as before and the trails just as wonderfully dry and fast rolling as at the start of the day. And the low sun on the last descent made for stunning views across the valley(s), aggro, gobbing locals thankfully too distant to be an issue.

 

 
In short a simply stunning day's riding and well worth the early start!

Dan