This trip report is from a month of so back, when Alex and I saw a break in the weather and trained over to end-of-the-line Aberdare for an overnighter, following the Black Mountains Traverse that I posted to Bikepacking.com a few years ago. The words below are an IG rehash and here’s the link to the original route on Bikepacking.com.

Finally, the promised ‘summer’ weather materialized – in the form of a heat wave, no less. Cue a quick jaunt over to Wales to tackle the Black Mountain Crossing, a route that @alastair.outside helped put together some years ago, and one that has lodged itself fondly in my mind. Based on my experience of it back then – ridden after a solid bout of autumnal rain – the main crux of the crossing was quite the commitment, both terrain-wise and with its navigational challenges. This time around, however, it was easy to trace, relatively bog-free (remember, this is Wales we’re talking about), and the camping was just sublime.
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To bid farewell to summer, we dined on a handful of semi-sour blackberries (luckily, I’ve eaten my fare of plump and sweet ones over these last months, so no hard feelings). We pondered the history and energy of druid stones and bounced merrily along old Roman roads (Jones LWBs for the win!) Then, we crunched a big second day to make the train back in time to our respective destinations, feeling our bodies fry in this abnormal heat.
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But wow, the Brecon Beacons… what a wonderful place to ride a mountain bike. So close to Bristol and Cardiff, yet so quiet and bereft of non-wooly beings!

Double Trouble. Alex titanium Spaceframe on the left and my steel diamond and truss on the right.

Click to big!

Cass’s Setup:

• Jones LWB Diamond and Truss Fork (steel, M)
• Tailfin proto seat pack
• Tailfin custom frame bag
• Buckhorn Bags stem bag
• Frost + Seker handlebar bag

Alex’s Setup:

• Jones LWB Spaceframe and Truss Fork (ti, M)
• Tailfin Aeropack
• Wizard Works stem bag
• BXB Goldback (M)
• Rogue Panda custom framebag

We’ve bike swapped a couple of times over the weekends and whilst direct comparisons are hard, as setups are very different (we didn’t standardise our tyre pressures, for instance), we both had more than a sneaky suspicion that there’s a little extra, fuzzy magic about the Spaceframe, and the oh-so-smooth way it rides…

Alex came bearing gifts from Scotland. A wedge of ‘tablet’, made by his friend Mary in the Hebrides, ensured there was never a risk we’d run low on kilojoules.

Fueled by tablet, onwards we rode. This druid stone was just beyond hand’s reach… so we couldn’t quite feel (what we expected would be) an awesome and ancient power…

Then, we followed the course of an old Roman ‘road’.

Oh my gosh, Wales! You just keep pulling out all the stops, don’t cha.

More sandal terrain, aka bikepacker’s foot spas.

Then, leaving Glywtare below us, and were push ‘n pedalling up towards our first Black Mountain crossing.

Oh, the glory of open tromping.

Push, Pedal… and Sit. The three disciplines of bikepacking in Wales.

Alex is a hammock creature by nature but he rolled out his sleeping mat to cowboy camp that night, dreaming of were-sheep and druid stones, and sugary tablets…

Hello friend.

Sunrise coffee and matchy-matchy gear. The Aeropack is a prototype from Tailfin and the tarp is the Ultamid 1 from Hyperlite.

Disclaimer: the crossing isn’t without its off-the-bike pushes, but it does get you to spots otherwise unreached.

Talking of feet… mine have never been so clean of late! This should definitely be a Bedrock Sandals-sponsored route.

Seeing as we’d already come this far and were becoming so comfortable with pushing… we forged on just a little further to the blustery trig point at Carreg Yr Ogof.

We considered flapping our arms and soaring into the cloudless sky.

The Jones Fanclub. This particularluggage iteration is amongst my favourites. Easy to access, toploading bags with a neo-retro twist!

Then, we were flying back down the cairn, towards the patchwork valley below us.

Did I mention the heatwave? The next day was searingly hot and almost completely devoid of shade…

And did I mention the gates? The number, and Krypton Factor skill level required to open them should perhaps be data points on routes in the UK…

This would be Crossing No 2, wending its way between the peaks of Fan Gyrhirgch and Fan Fraith. This one is less lumpy and trompy, but splendid nonetheless.

FYI: 29 x 3.25in tyres eat chunky granola gravel for breakfast and it barely touches the bottom of their big, rounded bellies.

The route reconnects briefly with the outward loop along the Beacons Way, then again at Ystradfelte, via a series of magical and mysterious-sounding shake holes, swallow holes, cairns, and pillow mounds…

From there, it’s a quick run on the Sustrans bike path back to the train station, and home in time for dinner. Just look at all that room for bikes! And no discrimination against big tyres!

The Route

The route is up at Bikepacking.com, with all the POIs. This one is pretty much the same, except for the bonus trig point, and a couple of extra byways and bridleways on the way back, which are on the map below. I’ll add them into the original route at some point.

Thanks for reading! Any questions, fire away!