GW Day 3 – Abbeycwmhir to Llanidloes, Sunday 3rd June

That was a hard day… Second day legs coupled with more ups and downs than a typical Everton season…

After the lunch debacle yesterday I asked Meryl, the excellent host of the Laurel Bank B&B, to prepare me a packed lunch. She charged £7.50 – I thought, that’s steep Meryl, steep.

She didn’t charge me that much really but that wouldn’t be funny / mildly amusing, as it suits you. She actually made me double egg chips and beans on Saturday night and with the packed lunch it didn’t add a tenner on the bill. Highly recommended.

After leaving Abbeycwmhir at 9:20 it was a steady climb to 450 metres whereupon 8 text messages beeped their arrival. Abbeycwmhir is blessed with the Happy Union Inn and at least one great B&B but it is considerably short changed when it comes to mobile signal.

Anyway, after a climb through rough pasture and a descent to Bwlch y Sarnau it was a boggy forest path for a mile or so, followed by road for about the same distance. Road is usually dull and hard on the feet. The benefit is that you cover distance quickly. On the GW however the views from the roads have been pretty spectacular.

The heat was taking its toll but I had put sun cream on a couple of times and was wearing my trusty Tilley hat all day so it just added to the fatigue rather than being dangerous in any way.

Wildlife highlight of the day was catching sight of a stoat skittering up one of the (many) roads ahead of me, his black tipped tail giving him away.

On the bird front it was much the same as yesterday. Heard lots of cuckoos but couldn’t pick any out and heard a really clear curlew calling, but again, couldn’t spot it.

The last couple of hours were hard work, rather than being as enjoyable as the walking had been. Lots of ups and downs at the end of a decent walk (never the best time) and yet more road.

On the final few kilometres into Llanidloes there were a few interesting sights. The Newchapel baptist church has had an interesting history:

I had earlier put my packed lunch off for about an hour, hoping to come across a nice spot to eat it before finally settling for a boring bit of ground I could drop my rucksack on. I thought to myself – why are there no dedicated benches on the trail? You can barely move for them in the Shropshire Hills – ok, slight exaggeration. Then, about 1km outside of Llanidloes, I found this, dedicated to Aneurin and Marina. Even though I was metaphorically at the elbow, I couldn’t not sit down for five minutes, given A&Ms friends and relatives had done the decent thing.

I had three pubs on my list for Llanidloes. The Angel, The Mount and The Crown and Anchor. Only 15 miles tomorrow so I was thinking I’d allow myself 4 pints. After walking in the Crown and Anchor I immediately felt at home and immediately used up 3 pints of my quota…

I wonder if there’s a local church we could sing at? For about 20 minutes…