Llangurig to Breacon

The sun was in full force for the next few days of riding. We set off from Llangurig heading southwards following the course of the River Wye as it traversed many smaller valleys. This made for stunning cycling with the view changing completely every few miles. Although we were following the river, the roads rose and fell along the sides of the valleys which was a challenging start after the previous day's massive climbs. But with a crystal clear blue sky & an early start we were both relishing the rollercoaster roads.

At Rhayader we joined the traffic free old railway route that took us into the always beautiful Elan Valley. It's easy to understand why so many cyclists mention this area as their favourite part of Wales.
Due to the long distance of this day's riding, sadly we didn't follow the River Elan upstream to the reservoir, instead continuing along the Wye.

A Sustrans sign warned us of muddiness and treachery ahead as we reached Ty'n-y-fon Wood. It advised that we could follow the A-road instead, but the track leading up looked fine for anyone in the RSF, so we merrily continued up the rough stones enjoying the view from this elevated position where we could see the A-road below, surely it didn't have quite such resplendent views.

The track became more challenging as we continued. It seems that this route is being 'sanitised' and two workmen, a digger & a huge heap of stones had been laying the foundation of a more modern surface. As the work is in early stages, the small stones made for very slow progress - a bit like pedalling through treacle. Every stroke of the pedal being some real effort your pushing through the cranks. And with the heat of the mid-day sun, we were eagerly anticipating the lunch stop at Newbridge-on-wye. Back on tarmac, we flew knowing the little town wasn't far ahead.
However when we arrived, there wasn't much choice and all we could find was a small snack to tie us over. It did give our legs that boost to push on to Builth Wells. It felt like forever snaking around the hills without much sign of civilisation anywhere, but then all of a sudden we were heading into a town and a view which seemed identical to a homely view of Pendle Hill & the River Ribble!
A quick circuit of the town to decide where to eat and we settled on CC's, which was perfect! Lovely salad & quiche and a cake and the couple (I think they were a couple) who ran it were so struck with out cycle tour, we got free brews out of it. A sandwich bar I highly recommend if you're ever in the town!!

We continued the course of the Wye on the opposite side of the river from the A-road. This section was fast going - that wonderful feeling on a tour when you really feel you're actually making headway. We hit the main road, but there's a shared use footway, we carried on a bit further than the signed route for a garden centre brew & cake stop before the last pull of the day. We took a quiet lane where a very small elderly lady was sitting on her garden wall with her slippers on, smiling. We stopped to say 'hello' and she was so delightful- still full of wonder at the world and where she lived, clearly loving watching cyclists go past her house. She praised how well we'd climbed the lane, but warned us that there was much worse to come!

As we climbed, we saw a radio mast on a hilltop. Well that climb wasn't so bad after all. We turned a corner at Talgarth and it kept climbing, ok it was steeper, but we could make it. Two ladies in a car descending the hill gave us a big Thumbs Up as we reached a junction. A good feeling. Then we turned another corner and wow, yep, there was the hill. And it was a Good Un!! I slowly chugged up the hill that stretched out ahead. Stephen decided to be sensible and get off rather than strain his old-man-football-worn knee that had begun to bother him. I was happy to still be pedalling my fully loaded steed as a mamil passed me on his descent of he hill on some feather light make believe bike ;-) (and happily for Stephen, for that last stretch, he had decided to get back on).
It was one of the harder climbs of the tour, but probably my favourite. The lengthening shadows & warm evening breeze were lovely.

There was a good chunk of downhill from here as we approached the town of Breacon. Again it felt miles from civilisation, but then we started to pass houses and people out walking & running. But the cycle route seemed to take an excessive detour to reach the town. We popped into the supermarket for provisions for the night at the YHA. We still had a few miles left to cover as we followed the canal out of town in golden light.

The area was charming, but we had a good hour left on the road. I was very sorry that the setting sun meant we pressed on quickly here and took the main road as much as we could rather than follow all the little roads of the Taff Trail.
The route took us right up to the hostel and we arrived in semi-darkness, with clear starry skies. The hostel duty manager was very excited to hear about our trip and she had just got married a few weeks earlier. We grabbed some supper and chatted in the lounge for a while before turning in.
We did discover that YHA Danywellant does NOT have self-catering facilities. I didn't even know there were any hostels that don't provide a kitchen for guests to use! I will remember to make a note of that for the future; it would have been very useful to have known before carting tins of beans & a box of eggs all that way. And only discovering that fact after the reception had closed so we had not ordered breakfast for the next morning...