Farewell to the Wynnstay Arms

The luxury of a proper breakfast meant we set out later than usual, but we had a reasonably easy distance to cover and it was worth it anyway! The clouds had cleared up overnight and we were back to the ‘norm’ of blue skies and warm sunshine.

Llanbrynmair from the nearby hills

As we had come to expect, the day’s walk began with a steady climb out of Llanbrynmair back up into the hills. Looking back at the village it was striking just how sparsely populated this area of Wales is.

That radio mast again from the other side and in sunshine this time!

As we climbed higher we could see across the valley to the end of the previous day’s route with the radio mast halfway up the hill but now also visible around the back were the tops of some wind turbines – part of a wind-farm that we’d walked past without even realising it was there just on the other side of the hill.

These are definitely working forests - this one was quite busy

We soon found ourselves on yet another forest path, this one a couple of miles long and very busy with various lorries and tractors moving logs around. It’s always good to watch an experienced workforce go about their jobs, and the people working in these forests were no exception. The speed and accuracy with which they maneuvered the huge lorries and trailers around the narrow and uneven forest tracks was quite amazing.

Paths get rather buried in some places with all the felling going on

Some parts of the path were piled deep with crushed twigs and other shredded debris which made it quite rough and bouncy and difficult to walk on. The last section before we emerged back into the sunshine was nice though – it was a narrow footpath through older, bigger trees alongside a thin drainage ditch that was becoming populated with a wide variety of mosses and flowers.

Guilty looking ponies - or at least we thought so

After the forest the route led across open farmland to a road, then along the road for maybe a couple of miles through a neat little hamlet consisting of a couple of houses, some barns and stables and a small church, then onto a patch of moorland. This was one of the few places where we used the GPS for more than just a quick check as the paths were quite indistinct and almost all of the way-marker posts had been pulled up and thrown on the ground, making them impossible to see from a distance and useless as direction pointers anyway. We spotted the likely culprits at the far end of the moor – not human vandals but ponies. In the absence of trees the posts were probably great for scratching on until they gave way and fell over!

Riverbend Caravan Park - the second 'standard' campsite

Normal signposts were resumed at the end of the moor and led us into Llangadfan. From there it was an easy short walk to our chosen site – Riverbend Caravan Park. At first this site looked like it might only be static caravans as the main road into the park is lined with them but we spotted the touring area down by the river and soon found the reception office. The guy that welcomed us was nice and helpful – the site tariff for tents was rather expensive but as they normally only get family tents there he just charged us for one pitch between us which brought the price down nearer to the normal backpacking rate. As we were allowed to pitch anywhere on the touring field we chose a spot close to the loos. There were nice showers with plenty of room in the cubicles and the place was very neat, tidy and quiet so all in all a very satisfactory site.

We ate at the Cann Office Hotel (just up the road from the site) that evening and had really tasty curries – a speciality of the landlord’s using local ingredients. Mine was a lamb and leek one which must be about as Welsh as a curry could ever get! The landlord was very enthusiastic about his pub, the beer, the food and Glyndwr’s Way. He seemed to know Pauline at Llanbrynmair quite well – they are both members of The Glyndŵr’s Way Association which has been formed to coordinate information about accommodation on the trail.

The clear sky stayed with us overnight so it was very cold down by the river but as there wasn’t a breath of wind we were cosy enough in our tents and didn’t realise quite how cold it was until we got up the next morning.

Day 6 | Introduction | Day 8