Glyndŵr's Way - Day 14, Tuesday 25th April, 2017

Tuesday 25^th April, 2017 – Pont Llogel to Meifod

So….nearly there now! Final lap….these last 2 days of the walk had been planned for a while but we have been wondering if we would make it still as Chris’s leg has been a problem…not good when you are planning a long walk. But we made it…..

The weather forecast when we booked these days had looked fine but over the last few days it changed and snow and low temperatures were now the order of the day. Following a lovely, sunny and hot lead up to Easter, it was a bit of a shock to be hit by winds from the Arctic. Thank goodness for warm coats. There was a dusting of snow on the hills as we drove up to Welshpool, leaving the car at the Royal Oak hotel and the taxi taking us back to Pont Llogel. I had to buy gloves in Welshpool.

It was a lovely start walking alongside and sometimes above the river Efyrnwy, so pretty and so peaceful. This is also the beginning of the Ann Griffiths walk which I mentioned in the last blog and we kept meeting up and crossing her walk all the way to Pontrobert.

Bluebells were plentiful and so lovely, trees are all bursting forth in all the shades of green imaginable, wood anemones in profusion in the many woodlands along with wood sorrel, violets and in the boggy areas marsh marigolds – enchanting! I love walking in spring.

 

.....and always the ubiquitous daisies and dandelions!

We followed fields and old tracks and little lanes all day with no sign of other walkers, now and again we caught sight of Cadair Idris – with snow atop – what a magnificent mountain.

Soon we could see ahead the common land of Allt Dolanog with its fort atop, quite an impressive sight.

In fact the hills just here are almost like an escarpment all with rocky outcrops on top and the apparent “gateway” of the fort is in fact rocky tops to the hill. They seem sculptured by nature – and man no doubt. If indeed theis was a fort, then they had neighbours very close by I think. It was VERY windy on top here but we had fantastic views to Cadair Idris and the Rhinogs past Barmouth

to the north and of course now to the Breiddens at Welshpool.

We dropped down to Dolanog from the hills, a pretty small village with sadly with no café but we enjoyed lunch on a bench near the old bridge.

We followed the river then, sometimes leaving the valley way below us,

almost like the coastal path! It was really pretty here, the trees silhouetted in the water…..did I see a kingfisher?

Maybe not but bet there are some and apparently this is a good brown trout river. Once we left the riverside, we crossed fields (only a few cows out so far, luckily it’s still a bit early for them-they were mostly dairy here though and no bulls so not so scarey!) We then followed lanes into Pontrobert, another small village with its now obligatory CLOSED pub, so no coffee here then. As we climbed out of the village the sky became really black and we felt sure we were about to be wet through but it just passed over with a small hail shower so no problem. As we were approaching the end of the walk, we managed yet again to miss a sign – it was really well hidden. It looked as though the owners of a really lovely Georgian manor house didn’t approve of walkers as there was a wire across the lane – whereas in fact we had missed a sign, luckily only a short walk back! A lot of fields we crossed today had been with really long grass – in readiness for the cows when they are set out but it made it quite hard going so our legs were tiring. And in the woods, the anemones looked amazing...

As we headed towards Meifod though, the gorse was looking and smelling gorgeous.

We kept looking out for  Mathrafal on the way and think we maybe caught sight of the palace location…the palace replaced an earlier motte or hillfort – dating from who knows when originally, It was the seat of the Kings of Powys remaining important until the 13^th century when the capital of the kingdom moved to Welshpool. We finally hit the road into the village of our destination for today. We awaited our lovely hostess from Tan y Graig bed and breakfast at their CLOSED village pub, the Kings Head. Apparently it very recently closed mainly because it is unsafe with ivy eating into its every nook and cranny. Such a shame but some people are looking at buying it so hope they do.. Eleri took us back to her lovely home as it is about 1 and a half miles outside the village along a busy road so we were very grateful for the lift. 11½ more miles…..