Wales’ last true wilderness? The Cambrians
Thursday, 23rd February 2012
The Brecon Beacons in the south and Snowdonia in the north of Wales get plenty of press time. If you’re looking for an adventure or day out in the great outdoors, they’ve both got lots to offer.
But if you’re looking for some real wilderness south of Hadrian’s wall, the Cambrians are real treat to explore. If Snowdonia, the Cambrians and the Brecons were siblings, the Cambrians might feel a bit left out in the middle. But if you’re wanting to explore a relatively untouched wilderness, the mountain landscape of the Cambrians is one of Wales’ best kept secrets.
When you take a journey through the Cambrian mountains, you will be struck by their silence and tranquility. Heading North from Llanwyrtd Wells, you discover incredible open hillsides accompanied on your way only by mountain sheep and red kites.
Our ‘Wales Mountain Biking Coast to Coast’ itinerary gets under the skin of the Cambrians. Having picked our way through the Brecons, we find ourselves exploring the real wilderness of the Cambrians. We sweep past the stunningly beautiful Caban Coch chain of reservoirs, before heading west to Nant yr Arian. A wild camp en route here will help us to really soak up this little visited part of the country.
The start and end of our route through the welsh landscape may be able to boast some of the most well-known singletrack in Wales. But it’s the wilderness in the middle, in the Cambrian mountains, that will leave a mark on you that you won’t want to forget.
Mountain Bike Wales: 2012 Challenge with Monobo Adventures
Saturday, 4th February 2012
Guess what - our epic two-wheeled adventure across Wales is being promoted by Mountain Bikes Wales.
Our adventure-packed 'Mountain Biking Coast to Coast' itinerary from Cardiff to Llandudno features as one of Mountain Bike Wales' 2012 challenges on their blog here.
The end of the circular route
Wednesday, 14th December 2011
You know when you’ve been working on something for a long long time and you’ve got that little bit of nervousness and a whole load of excitement going on about sharing it with everybody else. That’s where we are right now.
So what’s this excitement all about? Well, bear with us on this….
We’ve been travelling to Wales from where we live in the Midlands for the last ten years to go biking in the hills. Whenever we’ve had a weekend free, the bikes are slung in the back of the car and we head west. There’s always a new route or valley to be explored and it’s also great going back to the personal favourites every now and then.
Most of the time, we’re doing circular routes. We park the car and head out in one direction with a route in our heads to return to the car coming back from the opposite direction. There’s a pretty sound logic in all of this. Or is there? The problem was that when we got to the furthest point away from the car, we had that little burning desire to explore a bit further. That furthest point was usually the best bit as we found ourselves in the most remote part of the route. So that got us thinking.
Why can’t we create a route that just keeps on going. When we found ourselves on that furthest point on our circular route, lets carry on to the next valley, and the next and the next. And so the Welsh Mountain Biking Coast to Coast itinerary was born. (This is what we’re so excited about).
Travelling from the banks of the Bristol Channel in Cardiff to the Irish Sea at Llandudno’s Victoria Pier, we’ve created a mouth-watering biking route with over 200 miles of breathtaking tracks and trails that celebrates everything that is great about the Welsh landscape.
We’ve had some fun putting it together. Maybe we’ve had a bit too much fun. Choosing between a forest trail here or some singletrack there obviously meant we had to ride both to select which was the best for the itinerary. It was such a shame when we couldn’t make our minds up as we would just have to go back and ride them again. Suffice to say that we had a great time doing the route and we think you will too.
A Journey through Dragon country
Monday, 5th December 2011
There’s no denying how useful the mountain bike can be for getting you into the wilderness in quick time. Wheels on, helmet on and shoes tied and you’re off into the trees to explore the great wide open for the day.
But our two-wheeled friend offers us so much more potential. With some more time at our disposal, our mountain bike gives us the opportunity to embark on a journey where we can travel through many landscapes and communities.
‘Mountain Biking Coast to Coast’ offers this incredible potential as you journey from one end of Wales to the other. From the city lights of Cardiff to Llandudno’s Victoria Pier, this trip explores the ever changing Welsh terrain. So you can save all your energy for turning the pedals, we’ve got all the details covered. Our support vehicle will carry your kit all the way and catch up with us regularly for lunch and snacks throughout the day.
You may have had a great day recently at Nant Yr Arian. The wild open hillsides of Penmachno might be more of your cup of tea. Or maybe the singletrack at Cwmcarn is your favourite at the moment. But ‘Mountain Biking Coast to Coast’ gives you so much more. We travel through all these places and journey through some sections of wilderness that not many people know about to give you that authentic Monobo experience. Let your bike show you what it can really do as it sweeps through Dragon Country Coast to Coast.