South Wales is a mecca for mountain bikers, and the Afan Forest Park trail centre in particular has taken on a slightly legendary status.

Whether you want to go for an epic day-long cross-country adventure, an adrenaline filled afternoon in the bike park, or go exploring with the family, there’ll be a trail to suit. And even more importantly, there’s also two trail centres for post-ride tea and cake.

Located just north of Port Talbot in South Wales, it’s easily accessible from the M4 motorway. Be warned; Google Maps can send you wrong around here, so your best bet is to pop the postcode of one of the trail centres in your satnav.

Both trail centres have parking and the usual facilities, but they can get quite busy at weekends.

The Afan Forest Park Visitor Centre is the best one for those coming with the whole family, as the green and blue trails start from there. Around the other side of the mountain, the Glyncorrwg Mountain Bike Centre is the starting point for most of the red and black graded trails.

A series of steep sided hills and valleys make it perfect MTB territory, with trails weaving through Forestry Commission managed woodland. Expect long singletrack that winds its way through the woods and snakes across open ground where the trees have been felled.

The topography and trail management mean that the trails usually run well even when the weather is bad, so it won’t be a complete mud-fest. Riding some of the more exposed trails when the weather is grim is tough going, but when the weather is fine the views are spectacular.

Afan has well over 100km of trails so you won’t get bored if you’re up for a weekend. One green, 1 blue, 5 reds, 1 black and a new bike park should keep you busy for a while.

Most types of bike will cope fine with the terrain here, and you’ll see everything from cross-country hard tails to beefy all-mountain bikes with loads of suspension being ridden.