Rough-stuff ride to Drygarn Fawr - Day Two
27.8.07
I opened my tent at 05:30 as the Sun blazed down, I decided to leave the tent open while I snoozed till 08:30. Two Red Kites flew gracefully over the mountain. After Nick has awoken we had a cup of hot coffee and walked up to the cairn. It was time to take in the morning view, again this surpassed the evening view and we stopped for nearly an hour making out landmarks in the distance. We were sad to leave the peak, but we knew we would be back another day! On a holiday Monday I expected a few walkers but there were none to be seen, we saw no one from the time we left the Irfon valley until we reached the main road in the Elan valley, in fact Nick had set his tent more or less on the main walkers track! We followed this track to the north and at last the bikes came an advantage! The dry weather meant we were able to cycle all the way along this plateau and down into the Claerwen valley. After a few miles on a rough farm track we joined the asphalt road to the Elan valley and all it’s many tourists who had come out in their droves to see the dams. A quick ride on Sustrans cycle track to Rhayader was taken, here we had some lunch in this busy town. A short ride along a narrow lane took us out into the quiet of the country for a while and we followed the Wye valley walk to Llanwrthyl, here we made our way up a mountain track and then on to the eastern part of the Abergwesyn common and over the Rhos Saith Maen mountain ridge. The bad weather earlier in the year had caused this track to be in a terrible state, at the other side of the pass there was a sign saying it was impassable! A couple of miles of cycling through some really pleasant forestry and farmland brought us out on to the main road to Beulah. It was not long before we were back by the car after enjoying an extra special trip!
Day 1 ~ Day 2
Click an image to see larger version.
Day 1 ~ Day 2