PEMBROKESHIRE COASTING

Head as far west as you can get and you'll find Llys-y-Frân reservoir, and a new 14km route packed with Welsh trail centre history

“There's not much elevation here." Ranger Pete Haskett's words from our phone call the day before, keep coming back to me. I'm tackling a series of seriously steep switchbacks down towards the reservoir below, but with the overnight rain lingering on a surface of crushed stone and clay, it's really the trail that's tackling me. My rear wheel wants to go sideways more than forwards, and it's taking me close enough to the edge to be scary. There are high lines round these corners that take proper commitment, and I'm not ashamed to admit I don't dare. Honestly, this wasn't what I was expecting from a blue route round a reservoir in Pembrokeshire.

The trail we're being shown round is new. It hugs the shore of Llys-y-Frân in Pembrokeshire, a small reservoir at the foot of the Preseli Hills. Pete was right, we've driven past most of the big highpoints of South Wales on the way here, leaving behind the Wye Valley, the Black Mountains and the South Wales Valleys and swapping them for hills topping a few hundred metres.

It's what you do with it that counts though, and here Welsh Water, which owns the site, has done a good job. The trail is 14km long, machine-built but looking pretty natural already, and hugging the shores of the water. This means there's a mild feeling of exposure as you flow round, with the ground falling away to your left.

The fact it's here at all is down to a series of fortuitous meetings, according to local rider Stuart Westmorland, who drove the project on to completion.