Riding the Elan Valley Trail

The Elan Valley Trail, in the remote Cambrian Mountains, had been on our wish list for a while. There are few family cycle paths as spectacular.

A child rides their bike up a trail through a tree-lined section of the Elan Valley Trail on a sunny day.

The trail takes in a series of dams built over a century ago to supply water to Birmingham, climbing steadily to the final dam, Craig Goch, which sits 317m above sea level.

G had just turned five and this was a chance for him to get a taste of the ‘Welsh Desert’, with its tough and remote riding, on his own terms. He pedalled keenly along the gently inclining gravel path that contours along the reservoir shorelines.