Wednesday, August 24th, 2011: Driving and walking in the Dinas Nature Preserve west of Cilmery
Bob: We awoke just before sunrise to see a magical scene outside our window, which faced East. A mist was hanging over the low spots in the valley where sheep were grazing, but the reddish pre-dawn sunlight was already refracting down into the valley and coloring the mist an infinitely soft pink. The sky, by contrast, was a vivid melange of white clouds scattered on an orange backdrop. Rather stunning, really, and we took turns taking pictures of it all out of our bedroom window. |
Monika: We woke up to a rather beautiful sunrise. Of course, we both opened the window to take pictures. This was rather difficult. They eye adjusted easily to the difference between the light of the sky and the darkness of the surrounding area. So to get a good picture of the colors of the sky, the surrounding pasture and mountains were dark, but when I tried to get a picture of the pasture (with sheep) and the mist rising out of the trees, the sky was washed out. So we took a lot of pictures of either/or until finally the sun rose completely. But what a hoot. |
Bob: We had decided to do Walk # 1 in the Pathfinder Guide to Mid Wales and The Marches, which was located in the Dinas Nature Preserve in the mountains west of us. Our hostess at the B&B had shown us a route through that mountain range to the reservoir in the middle that looked quite interesting, and our genial host expanded on that description during breakfast, indicating that the driving would include narrow roads, encounters with logging trucks, and the "Devil's Staircase"! But it also looked as if it would rain sooner or later in the day, so we hustled off as soon as we could after breakfast and headed West, detouring only to turn left at Garth and drive up the mountain to a lookout at the edge of a military firing range. That overlook gave us some marvelous views back out over the valley wherein our B&B was located. |
Monika: Our host had told us about a scenic overlook just a little ways on, and given us a map of an extremely scenic drive in the neighborhood. This dovetailed nicely with one of the smaller walks in the book. When we were told the sunshine would not last too long, and rain was forecast, we set out immediately. The scenic overlook, that took us into one of the firing ranges of the army, was indeed worth the drive up the hill. We had a great view into the valley and over to where our B&B was. It was fun to look down into the valley and see a lot of white dots in the green meadows. Yeah, sheep definitely outnumber humans, luckily they are not smart enough to take advantage. |
Bob: Turning off on a tertiary road to meander through the mountains, we ran across the three "Irish Bridges" our host had mentioned. They were so low that water could easily flow over the top of them, but it had not rained in a couple of days so the water levels of the river were down and we could cross safely. |
Monika: On we went to the one lane road that took us into the heart of the mountains. It really was beautiful to see the soft rounded hills and the deep valleys with small streams. Across the stream, we could see where a trail zig-zagged up the mountains. At the bottom of the valley, we crossed over 3 ford like bridges (our host called them Irish bridges). |
Bob: Directly afterwards we started to climb out of the valley up a VERY steep ridge. A sign at the bottom of the "Devil's Staircase" cautioned drivers to already shift into first gear as the gradient up the hill was 24%! Well, I don't think I've ever actually driven a 1-in-4 graded road before, so that was a first. Our rental car certainly could NOT have made it up that road in any gear other than 1st, so that cautionary sign was quite useful. The road also switched back and forth across the mountainside repeatedly with hairpin turns at each side, and I was extremely happy that there was no oncoming traffic. As it turned out, I had simply been lucky because the area was being logged and we later had to pass a logging truck as we drove back out of the mountains. We curled around to the reservoir and stopped near the head of it at a scenic viewpoint to get some rather dramatic pictures. Clouds were closing in from the West, and I was just hoping that we could get our walk in before it started to rain. |
Monika: After the bridges we went up and down the Devil's staircase. This was an extremely steep slope with hairpin curves first up to a pass and then back down again. It was scary in a fun way and would have been more fun in the Miata. Bob, of course, drove it competently so that I was never worried. Once across the heights we found a large water reservoir that had a really nice parking area and overlook, so we could take all the pictures we wanted without worrying about traffic, |
Bob: In that, however, I was doomed to disappointment. At first it seemed like our luck might hold. We stopped at the designated parking lot and walked along a long boardwalk that took us across a broad, swampy lowland over the side of a small mountain. Then we started circling the mountain counter-clockwise on the banks of a small but swiftly flowing river. As long as it remained somewhat dry, the steep, rocky ups and downs of the path were safely negotiable and we were rewarded with very nice views of cascades and small waterfalls. But then our luck ran out and the heavens simply opened up and poured buckets on us. We persevered for another 15-20 minutes, but the rain was cold and we were soaked to the skin except for my head, which was protected by my trusty "collapsible, packable" rain hat. The path turned into a minefield of slippery rocks with deep puddles of mud in between, and our pace slowed to a crawl. Figuring at that rate it would take us well over an hour to complete the walk, we gave it up and worked our way back to the car. I stripped off my sopping wet rain jacket and hat and then hopped into the car and turned the heat up full blast to try to eventually dry out. |
Monika: Soon afterwards we came to the parking area for a walk, the Dinas Nature Preserve. The walk first led along a boardwalk into a temperate rain forest. Moss was growing everywhere. The boardwalk was easy to transverse, since the wood was covered with metal ridges to prevent you from slipping, but still we walked gingerly since it had started to rain. After the forest we started to walk along a river. At first it was a very sedate looking river, but that changed soon when boulders and rocks appeared in the river and on the path. Since the rain also started to come down more heavily, walking became more treacherous. I enjoyed watching the cascades of the river, but not the careful walking I had to do, and even less getting thoroughly soaked. My HAL raincoat (Holland America Line cruise ship purchase) has by now decided not to shed water at all, but to incorporate it and let it soak to the next level. In other words, I was getting thoroughly drenched. Bob was also getting wet, and with the footing becoming more and more dangerous, we decided to turn around and head back to the car. What surprised me was that when we came back on the path that had been relatively dry on our way out, now there were puddles almost everywhere. And after two days of having dry feet, I now had the dubious pleasure of having wet feet again. |
Bob: The rain continued to pour as we drove back out of the mountains, and we were both just too wet and cold to enjoy eating a meal out. Instead we decided to return to the B&B to change into dry clothes and have lunch from our snack materials, and that worked out. The line of thunderstorms that had whacked us so thoroughly did finally drift over into England, however, so later that afternoon after we had dried out we drove the 3 miles into Builth Wells and parked at the "Park and Pay" lot there. We knew there was an official path alongside the riverbank leading off from the parking lot, so we decided just to follow that along and see where it led to. As it turned out we walked for a mile or two along the riverbank on a nice natural path and had good views of the river below as it twisted, turned, and burbled over the rocky ledges on its way down to the sea. |
Monika: Back at the car, we decided to finish the loop and hope for lunch at the next bigger town. But there did not seem to be much available in the towns we passed through, and I really wanted to get back to our B&B for some dry clothes. In the end, we stopped briefly in a little town and Bob went to the local Spar to quickly pick up some sandwiches and a pasta salad before we continued back to our B&B. There I literally stripped since I did not seem to have a dry piece of clothing on my body. But once back in nice dry clothes with a hot cup of coffee and a ham and cheese sandwich, I felt remarkably better. Life was starting to look up. We spent a couple of hours in our room, but when the sun peeked through again, we decided to try for some more walking. We knew that Builth Wells down the road had a nice walk along the river Wye and we could look at some stores after we walked. So we drove down and parked in the car park, paid our 2 pounds, and displayed the ticket. The river Wye in Builth Wells is a rather placid river. The bridge that brings all the traffic from North to South or East to West through the small town is a rather pretty stone bridge with graceful arches--very photogenic. Along the very nice river walk we got some nice reflection pictures, saw a Great Blue heron fishing, and found some sculptures and even some artistic benches. But the best was a rather fancy road sign for the bicycle route that went along the river path at this point; you could not easily READ it, but it sure looked nice. |
Bob: The path made a sharp left at the railroad bridge, however, and we followed it over for another kilometer or so until it dead-ended in a country lane. Not knowing how the path continued from there since we didn't have either the guide book nor the Ordnance Survey map for the area (it was back at the B&B--our bad!), we turned left on the lane and followed the GPS's guidance back into town. Once in town we stopped at a rather odd antique store that was situated in an old church. It was crammed top to bottom, front to back, and floor to ceiling with all kinds of junk. Among the junk Monika found a ceramic toast holder that we had been looking for and she bought that before we continued back to the parking lot to retrieve our car. By then we were really pretty tired, so we drove back to the B&B to put our feet up and relax with TV, computer, books, and puzzles for the rest of the evening. |
Monika: Once we came to the confluence with the river Ifor, we had to walk up the Ifor for a short while and cross over a pedestrian bridge the city fathers had provided. That was the end of the paved river path, but the walk along the river continued, first across a field and then through a private wood path belonging to the Rock family (Daddy Boulder, Mummy Rock, Baby Pebble?). They seem to be very concerned that no one unauthorized would fish in the river. Since we had no intention of doing that, we quietly continued on and enjoyed the river that now was a little more lively. But the path finally ended in a lane, and guided by the GPS, we turned and went back to town. At the edge of town was an old church that had been turned into an Antique store. It was crammed full with all kinds of stuff and Bob finally found a toast rack for me that I had been looking for. I did not haggle about the 5 pound price, as I should have, so probably paid too much, but at least I've got my toast rack! We kept walking through the town back to the car park and drove back for a quick evening meal, a check of our email, and bed. |
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