Description
Radnorshire sits on the Welsh side of the Welsh/English border, with Shropshire and Herefordshire next door, and offers a large amount of natural cross-country riding. There are a couple of dozen plotted routes across the area, ranging from 14km up to 48km epics. This is open natural terrain rather than hand-cut, waymarked trail-centre loops, so a GPS device or a map and compass and some local knowledge are essential, along with proper clothing for exposed moorland.
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The Trails
- Hergest Ridge: steady climbs, fast descents and grassy tracks, with routes from 14km to 30km.
- Caety Traylow: shallow climbs across grass moorland that can be bitterly exposed in winter, from 16km to 30km.
- Painscastle: heather and bracken moorland on well-defined tracks, from 18km to 48km.
- Radnor Forest: forest and moorland routes from 14km to 33km.
- Border country: English in character and seemingly a world away from Radnorshire, with shorter and longer options up to around 34km.
The routes across this area were mapped and popularised by the Rough Ride Guide, long the de-facto resource for riding this corner of mid Wales.
Bike Hire and Guided Riding
- Drover Holidays, based at Hay-on-Wye, hire mountain and electric bikes and run guided and self-guided trips across Wales and the Welsh Borders.
Getting Here
New Radnor (LD8 2TU) makes the natural base for Radnor Forest and the eastern routes, with village parking. Kington, just over the border, is the handiest base for Hergest Ridge. There is no dedicated mountain bike car park: routes start from village and roadside parking across the area.
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- If you have ridden the trails around Radnorshire, please share your reviews, photos, and videos to this listing.