Trans-Cambrian Way

The IMBA Trans Cambrian Way is an epic 100 mile route from the English border to the Irish Sea across the remote hills and moorland of central Wales.

A free Ride Guide can be downloaded by clicking here: IMBATransCambrianWay.

A printed Ride Guide with annotated colour maps can be ordered by clicking here.

A route outline can be viewed in Google Maps.

The route is sponsored by TrackLogs digital mapping.  See below for downloads.

There are more photos here.

The April-May 2008 issue of Cycle magazine covered the route. Read the article CTC-TransCambrian (PDF 250KB).

These route log files are useful only if you have the appropriate GPS Mapping software plus map tiles for mid Wales.

Problems Downloading?  Some web browsers display the raw file instead of saving to disk: confusing!  If this happens, please use “right-click, Save As” to save each file to your computer. On an older Apple Mac with a single-button mouse, just hold down the ctrl key when you click on a file link.

Should you wish to convert these files into another format, we recommend the free online converter at www.gpsvisualizer.com/gpsbabel.  For best results, start with the GPX files.  Or better still, just try importing the GPX files directly into your own GPS Mapping software.

The Time To Beat?

We recommend riding the route over three or four days, though very fit riders with good navigation skills may attempt it over two days.

In July 2007, however, John Houlihan rode the entire route in a single day, taking just 12 hours 20 minutes.   You can read all about his ride here (PDF 17MB) courtesy of What Mountain Bike magazine and www.bikeradar.com. The article gives the total elapsed time as 13 hours 30 minutes, but we feel it’s only fair to subtract the time spent stationary taking all the photos for the magazine.

John is a top mountain-bike orienteer, and is the chairman of the Trail Cyclists Association, which organises some excellent MTB orienteering events throughout the year.