Thursday June 7

Bwlch-y-Sarnau to Llanidloes. 19.5 km. 495 m of climbing.

Mostly sunny with a bit more overcast in the afternoon. Temps - probably reached the high teens C.

Another beautiful day in the neighbourhood.  Back to our group of 6. Debbie picked us up at 8:30. Lots of ground to cover so we wanted an early start. We started out with some flat walking but later had lots of steep - both downhill and up. The deep valleys were spectacular. The idyllic came to mind often. But we also seemed to have a bit more tarmac (road) walking today.

Just one significant miscue today as we missed a signpost on a gnarly downhill stretch. GPS to the rescue; it led us right back to the track. At another point some signs were missing, but we fairly quickly figured out that we were in the right place.  Here are some of Gary's pictures showing Ron with the guidebook - our primary source for navigation.  Our backup is that I carry a GPS with the route loaded in it as well as a set of maps.  Also below - two modes of getting from one field to another - gates and stiles.

We are in our first town since Knighton. Went to The Angel Inn for dinner and had a young Welsh rugby player serenade us with a Welsh ballad. What a voice!  Earlier in the day we met a very nice sheep farmer going about his chores. He very kindly took some time to answer our questions. He was one very busy man with over 700 breeding ewes and well over 1000 lambs.

We also passed by a rather large wind farm today with over 30 large machines. Dotted among many other hilltops. though, were individual towers.

Wednesday June 6

Llananno to Bwlch-y-Sarnau.  14.5 km.  430m of climbing.

What a gorgeous day we had today!  Every day is a bit different, yet very similar in many ways. Today the biggest difference was that we were missing 2 of our peeps. Since we were staying in the same B&B for two nights it was easy for Irene and Nada to take a day off.  It was a great place to do that since there was lots to see - The Abbey and The Hall.

Meanwhile the other 4 of us set off at 9 for a short ride with our hilarious cab driver, Debbie.  We had such a good time with her that we snapped a photo with her before leaving the following day.

Not as muggy today, so the early morning haze lifted quite quickly. The walking was easy and we made good time as we had some stretches in shade and nice grass underfoot.  We were in Abbey-cwm-hir by about 11:30. We tried to look around the grounds at “The Hall” but were informed that there was a charge for that. No time for a tour, so we moved on to the church. Irene and Nada did take a tour of the house and grounds in the afternoon, though, and came back with a wonderful report and photos. For us walkers, it was over to our Laurel Bank B&B for lunch before heading back to the trail.

A shorter walk in the pm but equally enjoyable. We had the opportunity to take a nice leisurely break partway through, and could have lazed about there for a good long time. But - time to move on. We made it to the pick-up point about an hour before our estimated time, so entertained the neighbours by doing all manner of stretching in the churchyard. Debbie retrieved us and returned us once more to the Laurel Bank. We went over to look at the Abbey......  Then back to the B&B for another great dinner. I passed on the pub tonight. Time to catch up on “stuff”.

Tuesday June 5

Felindre to (near) Llananno.  16 km.

Everyone managed to haul their battered bodies out of bed this morning and negotiate a set of stairs to get down to the breakfast table. “Full Welsh breakfast” #2 in our expanding tummies. What a lovely hostess we had for our stay here.  She and her husband have escaped a larger city in England and have owned this place for about 10 months. I hope they do well; we had a lovely stay.

A bit of a cool start to the day, but it warmed up fairly quickly and got downright hot in the afternoon - probably low twenties C. Our taxi arrived about 9:15 and returned us to the Wharf Inn, where we had finished yesterday’s walk. Less distance today and probably less elevation, but I forgot to turn my watch off before the taxi ride at the end of the day.

We did a bit of “bonus miles” early in the day - maybe 1km down and 1 back up. The instructions were a bit fuzzy and there was no signpost at the corner. Oh well - we weren’t alone. Another lone hiker came down after us, but then we didn’t see her for the rest of the day.  Then back on the trail.  Sheep and windmills were the order of the day.

Beautiful views pretty much all day. Mostly fields of sheep with lambs, and some cows. Quite a few farm buildings but little other civilization. We did come to a small town where we were hoping to find some food & beverage at The New Inn, but they were closed. Oh well - we ate lunch in their yard and then moved on, passing by the lovely old church and graveyard in town.

More of the same in the afternoon, but we also walked through some small bogs and moorland as well. We had arranged for a taxi to meet us between 4 & 4:30. We were a few minutes late, but she was very forgiving. We’re staying in Abbey-cwm-hir tonight at the lovely and quite new Laurel Bank B&B.  Our hostess kindly let us use her washer & dryer and then served us a scrumptious meal. The pub down the street opened at 8, so after reviewing the plan for tomorrow we headed there. Obviously a popular meeting for locals, the patrons were very welcoming.

We will be passing through this town mid-day tomorrow so we’ll take more of a look around then. We’re staying here again tomorrow night so it will be nice not to have to pack up suitcases.

Time for bed; where do the days go!?