Upper Swansea Valley

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Bonzo

New Member
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With the help of this forum I should have my Series 111 Mot,d and on the road in the next couple of weeks.

I would like to do a bit of gentle greenlaning not to far from home I live near Abercrave.

Can anyone recomend a route that,s suitable for a Novice and I won,t upset anyone or get locked up.

I was hoping to do a bit on Sarn Helen but I am confused whether you can drive it now.

Thanks in advance.

Tony
 
Hi Tony,

You can drive the section from Coelbren across to the NE. The route from Aberdylais to Coelbren is now closed. There is another nice lane to the east of Llandovery which is short but good.

Brecon NP is clamping down on lanes open to motorised traffic and there is very little left in your immediate area unfortunetly. There is plenty more to the NW of you near Rhyader, Tregaron and Brechfa Forest near Carmarthen is good to.

Hope this helps,

(from a Pontardawe born & bred :) )

G
 
Griffdowg said:
Hi Tony,

You can drive the section from Coelbren across to the NE. The route from Aberdylais to Coelbren is now closed. There is another nice lane to the east of Llandovery which is short but good.

Brecon NP is clamping down on lanes open to motorised traffic and there is very little left in your immediate area unfortunetly. There is plenty more to the NW of you near Rhyader, Tregaron and Brechfa Forest near Carmarthen is good to.

Hope this helps,

(from a Pontardawe born & bred :)
Thanks for the info go to Pontardawe every day the Lad goes to Cwmtawe a great school.
Click to expand...
 
Bonzo said:
With the help of this forum I should have my Series 111 Mot,d and on the road in the next couple of weeks.

I would like to do a bit of gentle greenlaning not to far from home I live near Abercrave.

Can anyone recomend a route that,s suitable for a Novice and I won,t upset anyone or get locked up.

I was hoping to do a bit on Sarn Helen but I am confused whether you can drive it now.

Thanks in advance.

Tony
Click to expand...

The information I have about Sarn Helen from Coel Bren to Forest Lodge is second or third hand so I'm not quite sure how accurate it is. What I've heard is that this section was made into a Restricted Byway (which are not legal to drive) in November 2006, when the NERC act came into force. Since then many people have continued to drive the route. Some of those the Police have attempted to prosecute, but have failed because users of the route and GLASS have argued that it should have been reclassified into a BOAT before NERC came into force, because the route has been used extensively by motorized traffic. The last I heard was that the legal classification of the route is in limbo, but that currently it is O.K. to drive while Powys county council are deciding whether or not it should be reclassified as a BOAT. Have they done this yet?

As for the section of Sarn Helen from Neath to Coelbren, the last I heard was that it had a TRO on it such that it was only legal to drive during the months of June, July and August (according to the signs at either end of the trail) Is this still the case or has it been permanently closed?

I reckon the section of Sarn Helen between Coelbren and Forest lodge would be fine for a novice - still it would be best to go with somebody with some experience as it's quite rough in a few places.
 
Dear fenby
Hope you are ok thanks for the reply do you have a map referance for Forest Lodge to help me keep on track.

Planning to get the MOT this week once sorted out a few gremlins.

Since we met I ran around most of last summer and it went well. I did not do anything serious so looking to do more this yerar.

I intend to keep the roof off the kids love it.

Thanks Tony
 
Hi Fenby,

Yes your info is correct. Powys CC have also done this with the GAP in Brecon, they are trying to shut down the lanes. The lower section of sarn helen that used to have a TRO is now closed with large boulders blocking both ends. We tried to drive it last September? i think. Its only a matter of time before they close the rest of sarn helen and the Gap, but it may take years. They take their time from issuing a TRO to actually closing a lane. I have put this in ba post elsewhere i am sure.

G
 
Bonzo said:
Dear fenby
Hope you are ok thanks for the reply do you have a map referance for Forest Lodge to help me keep on track.

Planning to get the MOT this week once sorted out a few gremlins.

Since we met I ran around most of last summer and it went well. I did not do anything serious so looking to do more this yerar.

I intend to keep the roof off the kids love it.

Thanks Tony
Click to expand...

I'm doing O.K. - lots of greenlaning over the last few months.

The OS coordinates for the middle section of Sarn Helen are: SN 879 117 >> SN 926 167 and the coordinates for the North Eastern section are SN 925 184 >> SN 961 241 (Forest Lodge)

I'm planning on taking the roof off mine for a while this summer too - it's great fun! Good luck with the MOT and give me a shout if you want to meet up and go laning in Brechfa or something. Here's some photos of a couple of laning trips I've done around Brechfa:

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f13/greenlaning-trip-around-brechfa-68809.html

 
there's some half decent looking ones around the bridgend area. next time im there i will let you know. i want to have an explore - feel free to tag along! i got all sorts of recovery gear so if anything too hefty comes up it'll be alright
 
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