Running trip to Wales with the Recce crew! Caught the late Wednesday evening train to Cardiff, where is was (most surprisingly, for Wales) raining hard. Just time for a quick sleep at the Travelodge, and then up to catch the train to Swansea and a connection on to Llanwrtyd Wells to the start of our run. All went well until Swansea, where it transpired the next train was cancelled. But, behold! Unlike in England, in Wales on the small routes, they replace cancelled trains with buses! So, after an hour or so wait (put to good use in a coffee shop), we got on what turned out to be a pretty much private mini bus, which took us the whole 2 hours up to Llanwrytd Wells!
We arrived about 1.40pm and set off on the almost 14 miles to the Dolgoch Hostel. The weather was bad, but I've already mentioned that, so I won't harp on about how heavy the rain was or how we couldn't see anything at all through the clouds. I'm sure it was all very pretty.
We passed some of the time in the clouds by creating limericks...
"There was a young man who ran through the fog,
Until he fell into a bog.
The mud was deep,
And made him weep,
And then he turned into a frog."
The route was along lanes to begin with, then off through forest paths and bogs, and was very nice. Thank you Alan for arranging the route!
As we needed to carry in all our food for the evening to the hostel, we each had been entrusted by Alan to carry a certain item for dinner. Andrew had a leek, Tara some salted nuts, and me Dairy Milk (which, I think had been set by Alan as some sort of test of my resolution, and I am pleased to report made it to Dolgoch completely intact).
We reached the top of the Devil's Staircase, which is a very steep road...
....and then descended, ominously, into the bowels of hell. Not really. The Twyi Valley is most beautiful, especially so as we could see the Dolgoch Hostel, our destination, on the other side of it. The only problem with that, was it being "the other side of it", necessitating an extra loop down the valley to the closest bridge, and then doubling back to the hostel.
The Dolgoch Hostel is one of the two Elenydd Wilderness Hostels in the Tywi Valley. It is a 17th century farmhouse, and is a splendid place in a beautiful spot. You can just about get there in a car, but only down tiny tiny roads. We got special "green vouchers" for arriving on foot - which means you can go back for 50% off!
It doesn't have electricity, and has two solar powered showers, which with it being Wales and limited on the solar side of things, made for an invigorating wash. It sleeps 20 people, but on Thursday night, there was just the four of us, plus Colin the warden. It was fun cooking our food (noodles cooked in vegetable soup, with nuts and the leek, plus a donated carrot from Colin), and then relaxing around the log fire with the Dairy Milk, which I was finally allowed to eat, and partaking in Tara's "luxury item" strawberry and lime gin.
In the morning, after the worst night's sleep, which contained much snoring from my room mates (who will remain anonymous), trying to quietly get down off my top bunk in the middle of the night with no ladder (hard when you are short) when I needed a wee, and waking up in a panic several times as it was completely pitch black (which I am not used to ,so I thought I'd gone blind), I awoke, in time for Andrew's birthday! Happy birthday, Andrew!!
After breakfast and packing up, Colin kindly guided us up through the overgrown track up the hill behind the hostel, to reach the forest track.
From here, we followed forest tracks for several miles, spotting leprechauns in the mossy undergrowth and singing B'witched, whilst admiring the views, which were much better today.
Then there were some wilderness miles.....
....including a good amount of bog bashing, and providing some excellent materials for some good entries for my 2024 Bog Calendar, top contender being "bog in reflective mood".
After 11 miles or so we reached the small town of Tregaron and stopped for lunch of sour dough sandwiches.
Whilst we were in the cafe, we got chatting to a guy, and turns out he had taken one of the photos hanging in the Dolgoch Hostel!
It was then another 21 miles along mostly a cycle trail all the way to Aberystwyth on the coast.
There were just a few parts along field paths, including through the land of one particularly inventive Welsh farmer, who had added many obstacles for the unwelcome adventurer to navigate. Challenges included especially added cow poo bogs around each gate, broken gates locked with devilish knots, missing signs, an actual missing path, resulting in a climb over a barbed wire fence, descending a vertical bank, crossing then re-crossing a river, and navigating fallen trees. Just as the last of the fire in my soul was extinguished, and I was resigned to forever being lost in the land of the Satan the Farmer, we miraculously happened upon the path starting up again, and off we trotted, leaving Satan behind, smouldering in his bogs, the little devil.
After a quick checkpoint, where I ate some chocolate brownie I bought at lunch time, my soul was restored sufficiently to continue on to the coast. Arriving at Aberystwyth and seeing the sea was magical!
We stayed in the Purple Palace, right by the sea, and our rooms being right next to the stage of the opening night of the Rali Ceredigion car rally, which we watched over a Purple Palace Picnic.
The next morning, after a Purple Palace breakfast, and a morning relaxing in the sun by the sea side.....
....it was time to brave the trains back. Which to be fair, given the trains were on strike, was quite the miracle to get all the way back to London in (just) less than six hours.
Meaning I was back in time for the & Julie-t run at Saturn on Sunday, to celebrate Julie's 100th marathon - congratulations, Julie! It was a lovely day, running along the river in the sunshine, with lots of friends and smiles.
