So this is the last of this year's challenges for our
fundraising for Velindre, 2016 - the 130 + miles of Glyndŵr's Way. If you would like to donate just a small amount, I would be really grateful, the link above will take you to the Justgiving page - I know it's so hard these days with so many worthy causes to help but every little does help...
We have done quite a lot of walking over the lovely summer - quite often in our own Radnor Hills but also some new exploring in the Black Mountains and the Black Mountain; there are so many lovely walks in the Brecon Beacon National Park. So it's kind of good to be back in our mid Wales hills again, finding new places which aren't that far from us.
These first 2 days we had walked before back in 2010-2011, over the winter which was a very cold and icy one if you remember! However, it is only fair to repeat these - and there will have been much we missed!
Day One: Knighton to Llangunllo
Glyndŵr's Way is just over 130 miles so not too far (I hope...). It is of course named after the Welsh hero, Owain Glyndŵr, the last native Welshman to be Prince of Wales. He rebelled against the English in a revolt lasting from 1400-1415 during which there were many fierce battles, particularly along the Welsh Marches. Today he is revered and celebrated as the father of Welsh Nationalism.
The first day was a short one as that morning was my first Welsh class - funnily enough! I am trying again to learn at least a basic Welsh....We drove to Llangunllo - our destination for the day and a taxi ride got us back into Knighton - Tref-y-Clawdd - to begin. And Knighton had been the start of our
Offa's Dyke walk last year!
It was a lovely sunny afternoon as we set out through the town. Up past the clock tower and now following a new path sign once more....
....passing the weavers' cottages in a pretty, quiet part of the town, overlooking the town and its church....
and up into the woods around Garth Hill with great views into the Teme valley behind and below. Across the valley was Panpunton Hill - a steep climb we remembered very well from our Offa's Dyke walk!
It was an autumnal sort of day with some mistiness but very pretty and so peaceful. Mid Wales is sensational - and also not without its elevations.....phew!
Leaving the Teme valley behind, we went uphill passing Racecourse Farm - there were a lot of racecourses on the hills in mid Wales in the past. Then it was a really steep walk up a lane passing Brandy Hall - not sure what the Brandy was about as there is another Brandy Farm tomorrow....
We went up Bailey Hill with great views back to Radnor Forest and all around. We passed a weed covered pond which on our walk 6 years ago had been very frozen - and on that walk we got slightly lost! And guess what? ...we did the same again today!...we did have some memories of our last walk here but they didn't seem to help with finding our way!
We wandered through some sheep pens, which last time they had been full of sheep, and proceeded through fields where we met up with some cows - my favourite!
Thankfully they didn't turn out to be the bull I was fearing...Then through more fields with kites and buzzards above us - and surprising to me, still a few martens or swallows circling with them; as we dropped down past Cefnsuran with its Rally School.
Our youngest daughter had a wonderful day there several years ago. We passed by the farm through more field with wonderful views of Radnor Forest and soon dropped down towards Llangunllo.
Its Greyhound Inn still opens in the evenings - feeling quite envious of a village pub as ours closed earlier this year - very sad.
Llangunllo is a pretty, peaceful small village - today smelling of autumn garden bonfires. We had had such a lovely walk to get us back on the trail - it is good to be walking a trail once more and only 6 and a half miles today broke us in nicely. The bracken is now all turning brown and the flowers like willow herb going to seed.
Blackberries are looking tasty in the hedgerows and the yellow hawkweeds are still brightening the verges. Huge fungi - and small - are ever prevalent at this time of year.........
......... wish we had a mushroom eating culture so we knew which we can eat!
Day Two: Llangunllo to Felindre
Not such a beautiful start today - rain was bouncing as we got up. It was a bit of a stressful start as we were later arriving in Felindre than we hoped and were worried our taxi would leave without us as we struggled to find the new village hall - this wasn't here 6 years ago...not having a phone signal doesn't help on these occasions. We made it in the end and the taxi took us back to Llangunllo.
Off we set passing the Greyhound - up the road and then over fields and under the railway line -
the track of the Heart of Wales line from Shrewsbury to Swansea - I'd like to try it one of these days.. Then it was uphill passing a smallholding, through fields where a curlew cried ahead of us somewhere and arriving at some barns where we promptly got lost again. This time we did at first head in completely the wrong direction so had to retrace steps and try again! On the right track once more we crossed fields, sheep watching us through the thistles!
Then we walked along a really old track between fields which then turned into a track much like the Kerry Ridgeway.
We love our old tracks. Horse chestnuts all now turning brown and giving their fruit.
The track was followed all the way to Beacon Hill nature reserve - a wonderful area, where we ate our picnic!
We would have had great views but today was really very misty, quite like the day we walked Kerry Ridgeway really back earlier in the year. Still it did stay dry and the sun tried to peek out now and again. We passed Short Ditch -
- there are so many unexplained ditches like this in mid Wales - why they are we really can only guess. It was a lovely walk across the Beacon Hill plateau :
a super heathland walk and hard to think habitation was never really very far away. We passed Stanky Hill and Black Mountain......
and could see the ridge with Kerry Ridgeway just ahead of us before we turned right between the hills. More uphill and downhill walking, crossing fields...
....before we very soon began to drop down through fields as we approached Felindre below us.
Rowan and hawthorn all showing their bright red berries - I think it may well be a bad winter ahead...
The Wharf Inn here is incidentally also still open - another small village with its pub and the one at Lloyney, a village we passed through on the return to Knighton and where we almost lived, is also still operational!
Still we had walked 10 wonderful miles today - a super walk. We only passed 2 other men all day also walking the Trail, one of whom was in a hurry to get back to Knighton to catch his train home to Anglesey - hope he made it! His pace was much faster than our leisurely one. Maybe about another 14 days to go - some days will be short ones as parking will be difficult in the more remote places ahead....
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