The Welsh Marches (2)

Sep 8 - 11

How green was my valley

Wednesday, the day to move sites.  We had heard or read somewhere that there was a good farm shop quite close to the site, so we headed there for some provisions (and coffee/hot chocolate of course!).  A red teapot was also purchased and John almost bought a cap, right size, wrong colour.  We stopped off at Eardisley, village number four, to have a wander along the main street and to poke our nose inside the church to see its 12^th century font. 

Eardisley

Eardisley Church...

...and font

More local friendliness came our way – a gentleman asked if we realised the road was being closed imminently for resurfacing – and so we beat a hasty retreat to the van.  And as we drove away, we did indeed see many contractor’s vehicles heading into the village.  Lucky escape!

Kington should have been our final port (village) of call, but we didn’t find anywhere to park so continued on our way.  In our path was a single decker bus with hazards flashing, which we assumed had broken down, but a policeman appeared out of nowhere to explain that a wide load (turbines) was travelling in the opposite direction and we needed to wait until it had pulled into a field up ahead.  His five minute estimate was rather optimistic but then we were on our way again, looking for somewhere to stop for lunch.  We found a picnic spot off the A44 just beyond New Radnor and then drove on to the Wyeside site at Rhayader.

First impressions of this site were good; open, level, well-maintained, good facilities, with red kites flying overhead.  Just a shame the good weather was about to come to an end.  The site is just a six minute walk from the town so we paid a quick visit to get our bearings

As forecast, there was some heavy rain on Wednesday evening and first thing on Thursday, but then it dried up so we spent a couple of hours on the riverside walks by the Wye.  We had lunch at the van, while the heavens opened, then pottered about during the brighter afternoon.  That is unfair to John who, as well as doing the usual “blue” jobs, spent a bit of time with a couple on the pitch next door but one.  They were in a hired a van conversion and were having trouble with their gas supply and TV aerial.  A bit of research on my part found a nice pub just outside the town centre, The Triangle Inn, where we were able to book a table for an early dinner.  It was a temporary menu due to staff shortages, but we both found something to our liking and enjoyed our meals.  There was quite a bit of distraction from two little boys aged about four and two who were with their Mum, two other young ladies (aunties?) and Grandma.  John commented that “at least they’re not wasps!” but my response was that at least you can swat wasps!  It was dry on the way to the pub, but oh boy, did we get wet on the way back!  Inevitably the rain stopped almost as soon as we got inside the van.   Grrrrr…..

Friday’s forecast was a bit mixed, but we headed off in the van to Gilfach Nature Reserve, just two miles up the A470.  There was time for a short walk before lunch part way up Wyloer Hill, from which we had some lovely views across the Marteg Valley.  After lunch we were just about to set off on one of the suggested walks when a couple stopped by to say hello.  They also had an Autotrail V-Line like ours and wondered if we were part of the V-Line Facebook Group.  Apparently it is a great source of information.  The male half of the couple has made countless modifications to their van, some of which sounded worth implementing.  Over to you, John!

The Marteg Valley

Falls on the Afon Marteg

We opted to walk the Marteg Valley Nature Trail, half of which follows the River Marteg.  Sadly we didn’t see any Dippers from the hide, but John stopped to photograph a small waterfall and at the mid point there is an ancient farmhouse.  The byre has been turned into a display area, which was quite interesting.  The walk then took us back along the other side of the river, higher up, through woodland, finally following the track bed of the old Cambrian Railways Mid Wales Line.  All very pleasant, and nothing more than a few spots of rain.

The purpose of the stay at Rhayader was to cycle along the reservoirs of the Elan Valley and Saturday’s forecast had always looked best for that.  We drove to the visitor centre, where there is plenty of parking even for motorhomes (£2.50 all day) and then watched an informative film and had a look around the display panels in the shop area, before completing a 30 minute circular walk including a strenuous climb to the top of the first of the four dams. 

While I prepared lunch, John got the cycles off the back of the van and ready to go.  From the car park there is a steady incline towards the second dam.  This part of the trail is tarmacked.  After that it becomes ground chippings, which was a bit more taxing.  The trail runs to the east of the reservoirs all the way to the fourth dam, a total of 8 miles.  However, we could only get as far as the third dam (about 5 miles), as there had been a landslide so you had to divert onto the road. Anyway that was as far as our time would allow.  We were surprised by how low the water level was in the second reservoir and disappointed not to see water cascading over any of the dams, as depicted in the film we had seen.

John and I agreed that it would be good to come back to this area.  We could have explored the Elan Valley a bit more, paid a visit to the red kite feeding station at Gigrin Farm and our neighbours at Wyeside said they had had an interesting visit to the Bryntail Lead Mine near Llanidloes, to the north of Rhayader.  They also sang the praises of its café!  And there are walks galore.  A little bit further away is the Vale of Rheidol Railway from Aberystwyth to Devils Bridge which could be a second stopover.  We bought a book of walks at the visitor centre shop so let’s hope we do come back to use it.