Day 10 - Machynlleth to Glantwymyn (Cemmaes Road)
We have had a few false starts to get day 10 under our belts, mostly due to the weather as we haven't wanted to travel in early morning when fog or ice have been possible. So the forecast looked promising for today and whilst it wasn't quite as brilliant as the last walk, it was a lovely day.
We left the car at Cemmaes Road and Mach Taxis duly returned us to Machynlleth once more. We "posed" at Glyyndŵr's Parliament House where he had himself crowned as King of free Wales in 1404.
It was quite a chilly East breeze and a little misty as we set off leaving the town and crossing its golf course,
but the sun was never quite out of sight and the breeze had more or less stopped - for now at least.
We soon passed through the village of Forge, in a little steep valley, a small river, Afon Dulas running through its middle and therefore in its industrial times it was home to 5 fulling mills - or as they are known in Wales, Pandys! The last mill closed in 1937 and it is now a peaceful but quite large hamlet. With the village behind us, we soon left the road to turn onto one of our lovely tracks - it's wonderful to imagine all those footsteps before us! And to accompany us a lot of the walk again were many Kerry Hill sheep,
a popular breed in these mid Wales hills...The morning's walk was always much closer to civilisation today, often just walking on the slopes of the Dyfi valley with the road passing through it too. We passed a ruined farmstead, Pen-rhos-bâch, lost amongst the fields
and then dropped down to the next village, Penegoes, a village on the busy A489. More signs of former industrial times here too with its now restored 17th century water mill - really impressive.
It was restored in 1984 along with its adjoining granary building.
No doubt this too was later used for fulling. Leaving Penegoes, heading uphill, we followed a pretty little valley, all in the throes of being refreshed with much old tree pruning, new trees being planted and new chestnut fences installed.
It was lovely views all around after the steep climb though. Back to the Dyfi valley, and to the hills around Llyn Clywedog; Cadair Idris and his friends though were hiding in the mist today. Really spectacular though.
We headed off then with the Dyfi valley beneath us on another old track, looking across the valley to the village of Llanwrin -
Originally the church was set up here by Saints Ust and Dyfrig who arrived from Brittany in around AD 516! And a rector from this village compiled the first Welsh dictionary in 1903!
Soon we dropped down to the village of Abercegir, now following an old miners' track.
These former mill villages now look so picturesque nestling in steep valleys between streams. Another stunning mill has also been restored here - Factory Isaf, another mill which was a fulling mill in more industrial times, now a private home but still with its 20 foot mill wheel in place. Hope you can see it..
And in a tree along the track was - you would never guess....an elephant! It's strange what you see on these walks!
Abercegir is another lovely now peaceful village and in its middle is another old mill, its water wheel not at all in tact but it is an impressive building still, now a B & B, Yr Hen Felin.
Then up we went again onto more old tracks...climbing to the tops.
And it was here that the wind got up making it a bit hard going with an oncoming Easterly! We walked on still looking down on the Dyfi valley passing another ruined farmstead and it was here that we slightly lost our way......had to retrace steps a little, some of which were uphill on the return....oh dear!!
We found the required old, wide, green track and headed off. Had to cross some bogginess in parts but it could have been worse on a wet day. The afternoon walk had been a little more remote than the morning's. There were also lots of old stone walls up here which had fallen in parts as the slate is not quite up to limestone for wall making. Wonder if it has been better value in the end than fencing? Soon we saw the Cemmaes Ridge ahead with its wind farm on top - only 1 going round today...
We could also see the valley stretching ahead with its village of Dinas Mawddy heading to the north. Then the downward walk began. Down another old track - a second coffee stop was enjoyed here and the blue sky behind the winter tree looked so lovely....
Unfortunately we missed seeing an old standing stone in a filed here - Maen Llwyd...a reason to go back! And to the south of this track is the village of Darowen where there is a nearby farm, Pwlliwrch, where it is reputed Owain Glyndŵr may have died....
We crossed fields descending to Cemmaes Road, disturbing a small flock of fieldfares as we walked and with Cemmaes Ridge shining ahead of us in the sinking sunlight.
Before long we could see the village before us - and our car in the car park....
We passed a group of old tractors making a bit of a sorry sight ....
...and here we put up a merlin in front of us....maybe he had been sitting in the last of today's sunshine.
That was a lovely day - 9 and a half miles more (maybe a mile more that it should have been....). Today was a walk we dedicated to our friend, Gerlinde who died peacefully on Tuesday. Another reason why we are raising money to help at least a little in the fight against cancer.
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