Saturday, 2 July 2016
Glyndŵr's Way
Meifod → Welshpool
Distance: 12.43 miles
Ascent: 630 metres
Duration: 4 hours 7 minutes
Changing character
« Not walked | Not walked »
Much of Wales will have a headache this morning, if my experience at The Angel Inn in Welshpool is anything to go by. The national football team made their way to the quarter-finals of a major sporting event for the first time in decades, and while the sport wasn't rugby the beer and cheer flowed freely.
Just like yesterday, today's walk demonstrated a change in the landscape. The fields are no longer all dedicated to grazing, and when I came across my first barley and wheat crops I knew there'd be no more mountains to climb.
From the higher points on the walk the flattening of the landscape to the east was apparent. And in the middle, the familiar double-hump of the Breidden Hills marked where I knew the border with England lay.
Glyndŵr's Way ends firmly in Wales though: in a park beside the canal in Welshpool.
As I arrived the annual Coracle Regatta and Food Festival was just swinging into action, although I wasn't daring enough to try my hand in one of these ever-so-local lightweight vessels.
According to my records the Way has taken me across 141 miles of countryside, climbing a total of 7,500 metres over 44 hours of walking. It's been a tiring week, but I've thoroughly enjoyed getting a taste for this part of mid-Wales, wet-weather and all.
Notes for future walkers:
- There are a few diversions on this stretch, all well-marked on the ground.
- The most substantial was from the road at the foot of Graig Wood (SJ 176 084). Instead of crossing the fields at this point, the route now follows the minor road to SJ 174 083, then takes the path to SJ 177 077 where it crosses another road to continue to SJ 174 076.
- Watch out when you get to the roundabout on the outskirts of Welshpool: I ignored the map and headed into town on the B4381 instead of the A458, thus denying myself a triumphal entry!