Trail Rides Wales is accredited by the Wales Tourist Board.
Trail riding is motorcycling on roads and byways which never received a tarmac surface or where the tarmac was not repaired and the surface has reverted to grass or natural stone. That makes it sound as if trail riding is easy, but some of these "roads" go up and down steep hills and have mud, boulders, rocks and rolling stones so that they are virtually impossible to ride! Trail riding is fun, challenging, exciting, improves your skills and our trail riding takes you into the most scenic areas of Wales.
Whilst trail riding you encounter stream crossings, deep puddles, loose surfaces and sometimes big stones and rock steps. Most of our information is aimed at riders who are trail riding for the first time and who don’t have their own trail or enduro bike. If you can’t find the information you require, please email or phone 01686 430522. When emailing, please include a phone number. Best days to phone are Mondays and Fridays between 9.30am and 8pm. On Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, you may get a real person too! If not, please leave a message on the answer machine.
If you have your own road legal trail or enduro bike, quad or sidecar, we provide guided trail riding. Enduro tuition for solo riders can be included if you wish. Please see the Trail Riding on Your Own Bike page.
Trail riders with their own bikes who wish to introduce a friend or friends to trail riding only pay £35 each for one day or £60 for two days, providing that the friends use our bikes at our usual price.
For riders who are not road legal, we do have access to two farms. One is excellent for teaching beginners with wide open fields, and the other is good for the improving rider as it has steep hills, a bog and some woodland. Riding Off Road page.
For road riders without any previous offroad or trail riding experience, we offer two choices: a day which some find quite challenging and strenuous with hills, boulders and rocks, or a more scenic route with lanes which avoid the steeper hills and roughest bits. The usual day is near Aberystwyth and the scenic day goes from near Machynlleth.
In winter we trail ride near Aberystwyth as there are lots of lanes without more than a couple of miles of tarmac lane linking them. In summer, we use a larger variety of routes when time for trail riding is not limited by daylight. Apart from the easy beginners’ day, all our routes have a good variety, with plenty of hills and other scary bits!
"Just a note to say how much fun we had at the weekend! You’ve a nice approach to the trail riding: not too fussy or strict but serious enough (just) to keep us all intact. Thank you for the tips and coaching - key ones for me were positioning while standing and looking further ahead. We were chatting in the van on the way back and the bits we enjoyed and will remember best are the beautiful views over the valleys and coast, great hill ascents, fast valley trails, and Ian swimming in the deepest puddle!"
Phil, from Cirencester
We organise special trail riding days for riders of big trail bikes, enduro and long distance trials sidecars and quads and women trail riders, both for people with their own bikes and people who want to use ours (including our enduro sidecar).
We also do "adventure riding days" which are not quite trail riding. They use minor tarmac lanes and gravel roads, and are ideal for new motorcycle riders who wish to improve their riding skills, for people with bikes on road tyres and with pillions, and for riders who enjoy the scenic and wildlife aspects of the countryside of Wales. See Ride Adventurefor more information.
We have trail and enduro bikes available, from 125cc to 510cc. Usually people who are new to trail riding are best using one of our trail bikes. These are two Honda CRF230s, two CCM CXR230s, a Suzuki DRZ400 and a Serow. The Serow has a very low seat height, so is ideal for riders with shorter legs. Our enduro bikes are Husqvarna TE250s and a TE510. We have a Suzuki DR125 for riders on L plates. All have electric start.
We also have an enduro sidecar - not for the faint hearted! It has a tuned Honda XR650 engine, with electric start, in a custom built Kevin Hollister Racing chassis.
Nothing! Well, nearly nothing - only spare socks, and a little cash for your lunch at a cafe. If you are riding in winter, thermal underwear (if you own some!) All protective clothing is provided.
For people who want to experience trail riding but don’t have a licence, we offer riding on farm and private land. The two farms we go to are very different: one is great for complete beginners and the other is mountainous and challenging. For more details, please see Riding Off Road page. Please note that we do not usually teach beginners from November to February as conditions are often too difficult (either wet or frozen) and we are restricted in use during March and April due to lambing.
Visit our Things To Do in Wales page for some ideas of activities and places to visit for people who don't want to ride motorbikes.