Mid Wales at the end of November

[L19MUD]

A mate and I are planning a trip to mid Wales in late November. I have done the Strata Florida before and remember it to be a rocky route with very shallow water (but I went earlier in the year), is there a risk that this will be closed in November? What other routes are there nearby that will be open and not damaging to either the lane or the vehicles?

Will be going in my 200 tdi 90 with 2 inch lift and 285/75's BFG mud terrains and a Puma 110 that is standard suspension wise but has 18 inch wheels and BFG all terrains (decent sized sidewalls though). Both trucks have winches although I am rather hoping we don't use them. My aim for this trip is to do quite a few miles off road enjoying the scenery and not worrying too much about breaking things/getting stuck

[Retroanaconda]

Part of Strata Florida is closed at the moment for repairs, I’m not sure of the timescales for reopening. The river crossings can be very deep after heavy rain and so caution is required. Under most conditions though it is passable in a standard vehicle driven with care.

Do you have access to Trailwise via GLASS?

[Ed Poore]

Um, fairly sure Strata is currently closed for repairs (or at least most of it). If I remember correctly they were hoping to have finished repairs by now but winter weather and Covid has put delays on it.

https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/2444/Temporary-closures-of-Public-Rights-of-Way-in-Powys

Shouldn't have an issue with a standard vehicle in the slightest - OK mine is twin locked and winch but running standard suspension setup and never had an issue before any of that, remember it is a green lane after all. I did it in my L322 a few years back so 18" tyres on a Defender shouldn't be an issue compared to the smears of rubber that Land Rover deemed acceptable at the time.

Water wise it's sensible to pay attention to what the weather's done the day or two before because that area of the Brecon Beacons is liable for flash flooding and the river through Strata Florida can rise several feet in the matter of hours.

[didn't click post and James responded first]...

[L19MUD]

5 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

Part of Strata Florida is closed at the moment for repairs, I’m not sure of the timescales for reopening. The river crossings can be very deep after heavy rain and so caution is required. Under most conditions though it is passable in a standard vehicle driven with care.

Do you have access to Trailwise via GLASS?

That's a shame re Strata Florida as I remember really enjoying that when i did it before. We are not looking for challenging, we are looking for a fun day out enjoying the scenery.

What is trailwise? Not heard of that before. Not been a member of GLASS for a lot of years

 

What other lanes are worth a look? I seem to remember doing one called Golf Links?

 

Information on the web seems really hard to verify and difficult to work out what is open or not and what is still legal

[Ed Poore]

Further south and west you have Brechfa Forest which has some real gems - all perfectly drivable in a normal Defender.

If you want some more scenic routes then although not challenging there's the Elan Valley (Claerwen Reservoir) but you'll almost certainly have to do a U-turn at the end. There's also Soar-y-Mynedd near the western end of Strata Florida.

[L19MUD]

Thanks that is really useful. I have rejoined GLASS and am waiting for my Trailwise account to be activated. I found most of those on OS maps.

A good part of Strata Florida is still open so can always drive up to the closure point and turn back assuming it has not opened by then and the river flow is low enough

 

Now just got to find all the lanes that are suitable and some back ups in case of heavy rain and loop them all together!

[Ed Poore]

From memory Soar-Y-Mynedd only gets slightly slippier in the wet, it's over the top of the mountain (clue is in the name). Gets fun in deep snow and ice mind.

Brechfa just gets muddier in the wet, some puddles can get deepish but nothing to bother a standard vehicle. The stream / river crossings don't swell up like Strata so there's no flow issues to contend with sweeping a vehicle away.

[Mo Murphy]

Discretion is the better part of valour.

Be very careful on the Strata at that time of year. The main crossing can be deep with a very strong current and the pools can be deep especially where the floor drops away to one side which can catch the unwary out.

Mo

 

[L19MUD]

2 hours ago, Mo Murphy said:

Discretion is the better part of valour.

Be very careful on the Strata at that time of year. The main crossing can be deep with a very strong current and the pools can be deep especially where the floor drops away to one side which can catch the unwary out.

Mo

 

Agreed, we have all seen what happens sadly when you underestimate the force of mother nature in that area. If the rivers are too high/flow too much we will just retrace our steps. Plenty of other safe lanes about from my research so far