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By
Nicky Crowther
From WhatMountainBike MagazinePRESELI
MOUNTAINS, PEMBROKESHIRE
ESSENTIAL
INFO
Rating: Moderate-hard
Distance: 37.6 km
(23.5 miles)
Time: 3-5 hours
Best time to go: Officially Spring and Summer only,
plus the drier the better because of erosion issues. (Local
Weathercall reports can be had on 0906 850 0414, premium
rate).
Getting there: The Preselis lie in north Pembrokeshire
at the far western end of south Wales. Fishguard, at the
western end of the range, is the terminus of a branch
line for train services from Swansea (change for Cardiff,
Bristol and London Paddington), and a ferry port for Ireland.
The fastest drive into the area from south Wales and southern
England is along the M4/A40. The A40 finishes at Fishguard
at the western end of the range.
Food and where to stay: Good places in little Newport
include the Fronlas Café (including seafood), Café
Fleur (Belgian waffles) and the Beehive. The best views
are from the Morawelon Coffee Shop on the Parrog seafront,
1km distant. The traditional Royal Oak pub and Golden
Lion inn are also fine.
Tourist information: Newport TIC, can be found
on Long St (01239 820912) just opposite the starting car
park - see pullout route guide info.
YHA: Trefdraeth (Newport) YHA (0870 770 6072, email
reservations@yha.org.uk) is near the centre of town, and
is self-catering only.
What to take: Weatherproofs, food, drink and toolkit.
This is a lengthy ride with no facilities outside Newport
so stock up on food, drink and safety biking kit.
Bike shops: Havard's Ironmongers (01239 820300),
on the main road, Bridge St, has a small bicycle department.
Maps: OS Landranger 145 Cardigan & Mynydd Preseli.
People who only know Welsh mountain biking by Coed y Brenin
in Snowdonia may like to hear not all the country's trails
demand such graft and grit.
Mynydd Preseli (Preseli Mountains) in the gentler southerly
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park are a line of high rounded
hills just in from the shoreline with good views and soft
edges. They're ideal for a decent summer end-to-end ridge
ride without any freaking out. Indeed, you can spend the
best part of the day riding, and be licking ice cream
and cooling your toes in the estuary in pretty Newport
by tea.
The Preselis peak at 536m at Foel Cwmcerwyn (actually
off route) and are made up of grassy moorland and bog.
A harsher core is revealed in a series of jagged summit
outcrops exposed over time by the Atlantic winds and rain.
In this fine open landscape of simple beauty lie numerous
remnants of earlier civilisations, from Neolithic - we
pass a stone circle on high, while Pentre Ifan, the finest
cromlech (burial chamber) in the region, lies 1km off
route - through Iron Age to Norman and Medieval. Brochures
promote the Preselis as 'bluestone country' as, astonishingly,
they were the source of the Stonehenge stones which sun
worshippers dragged 180 miles to Wiltshire 4,500 years
ago. Without hydraulics or motor vehicles...
Today, holidaying families are drawn here by the beaches
and cliffs, and walkers by the spectacular cliff top coast
path. For bikers, the general bridleway network is compact
but interesting - note the coastal footpath is out of
bounds - so visit the area as a whole and bring your bike
along, or come for a long weekend and ride what you can
(but not, please in winter). Family cyclists can enjoy
exploring the pretty Cwm Gwaun, Gwaun Valley, on National
Cycle Network route 4, which this route crosses early
on.
Newport, Trefdraeth, has plenty going for it. Lying at
the mouth of the Afon Nyfer, it boasts little Parrog Beach
townside and great Newport Sands over the estuary. The
starting car park has toilets, and the tourist office
is opposite. On main Bridge Street you'll find most of
the shops, cafés and pubs, bookshops and antique
shops, plus Havard's Ironmongers, the town bike store.
But what of the route? Against a background of views of
the sea to the north and inland Pembrokeshire south (to
St Bride's Bay on a good day), there is nothing tricky
to ride. Regarding navigation along the ridgeline, we
are officially permitted to follow the natural route marked
by the black-dashes rather than the bridleways. After
that, there are two big issues in the route. The first
is the big initial climb, up from sea level in Newport
to the first peak of Cerrig Lladron, a rough total of
560m height gain on lanes and rough moorland bridleways.
Expect to walk in places. Once at the top the ridgeline
track rises and falls along a series of little peaks and
saddles, with occasional hard pedals over hummocks and
along sheep tracks.
The second issue is the degree of boggy ground underfoot.
The national park requests you ride only in summer (to
contain wet-weather erosion), to which we add ride when
it's as dry as possible. Riding in semi-wet conditions
is probably worthwhile (see Weathercall in info), but
after recent rain you'll treble your work and halve your
satisfaction.
Good descents come off Foel Feddau and Carn Sian, each
down to a saddle. Off Carn Sian, resist being drawn too
far left, and follow marker poles up to Carnmenyn. The
final extended 80m descent behind rocky Foel Drygarn marks
the end of the ridge and is great fun, but you must slow
down for livestock. Then contour round Drygarn, for the
remains of the descent through rough gorsey ground with
few clear tracks - just head downhill near the drystone
wall. Thereafter, you're on lanes for 12km back to Newport.
Bar two sharp climbs, this is cruising through pretty,
sheltered countryside. If you really have the energy,
climb up the signposted lane midway (2km return) to the
Pentre Ifan burial site, to see an ancient delicately
balanced capstone.
The start: Car park, Long St, Newport, Trefdraeth.
Map ref 145/394057.
1. 0.00km (0.0 mile) From the car park entrance/exit
go R, up to the crossroads with Bridge St/East St (high
road), and go L (East St). Continue for 300m and go R
SP 'Cwm Gwaun'. Climb up the lane, go L at the T-junction
SP 'Cwm Gwaun', and continue uphill for 1.2km to a fork.
Go R SP 'dead end' for cars and continue for 2.4km to
the end at houses. Continue straight ahead on the bridleway,
and descend with care (continue downhill at crosstracks)
to the farmyard. Cross the yard (greet the farmer nicely)
and reach the lane. Go L and continue 400m as far as the
bridleway uphill into woods.
2. 5.5km (3.43 miles). Go R up the bridleway, emerge
at fields at the top. Cross two fields, staying near the
right-hand edge each time, to emerge at the top at the
lane. Go R, and continue for 800m. Just past the sign
for Tregynon Country Cottages, take the bridleway L, through
the wooden gate uphill on the grassy double track. Beyond
the farm, continue uphill on the clear track, heading
for the next farm (Penlanwynt). There, continue
in the same direction uphill beside the drystone wall,
as far as the first fingerpost on the horizon. (From here
follow bridleway fingerposts all the way to B road; at
the first veer L uphill (10 o'clock), at the second contour
R (3 o'clock) round the slope, continue on clear contouring
tracks, round three sides of the mountain, to the road
at the top of the pass (B4329).
3. 12km (7.5 miles) Go R, through the car park
heading for the pines. Continue beside the pines, and
emerging the far end, continue straight ahead up the north
side (left-hand side in this direction of travel) of the
first peak, Foel Feddau (467m). Continue on the clearly
marked way (numerous tracks) along the top of the line
of hills, crossing the saddle and climbing up Carn Sian
(pole markers through bog and up hillside), down and across
Bwlch Ungwr, and across the next knoll (Carn Gyfrwy and
Carnmenyn). Continue alongside the pine stand, and descend
(with care through sheep and cattle), to the drystone
wall at the bottom.
4. 21.8km (13.62 miles) Go L directly (not through
gate, drystone wall on your R). Continue 2km contouring
round Foel Drygarn, on tracks of varying clarity heading
in the same direction. At the end of the drystone walling,
go downhill R, making your rough way down through gorse
and across wet ground for 500m, staying roughly near the
wall. Pick up the track that serves the isolated house,
and go downhill L on that. Stay on this track to the first
T-junction and go R (not across the ford). Continue on
the lane downhill to a larger T-junction.
5. 25.6km (16 miles) Go L (on the yellow road),
across the bridge, and continue to the bigger T-junction,
go L. Continue through Pontyglasier as far as Crosswell
and crossroads.
Go SA and continue 6km to the T-junction. Go L on the
A487, continue back into Newport.
Total distance 37.6km (23.5 miles)
This route
was provided by WhatMountainBike? magazine.
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