Tre Taliesin to Machynlleth

On the plus side, we didn’t get too hot today. On the minus, most of the day we were damp and clammy, and there weren’t many good views as every time we went up a hill (and there were several) we were in the cloud.

We stopped early on our walk for breakfast at Cletwr, a community shop and cafe on the A487. The walk was a mixture of very minor roads, forest tracks and paths, and generally well-marked. It cleared sufficiently by mid-morning for us to enjoy a brief glimpse of the estuary.

Above the village of Furnace we met the only other walkers of the entire day, and that was one of the nicest bits of the walk with a cascading stream and then a lovely stretch contouring the hillside, where we stopped to eat our sandwiches. But it got wetter and mistier and the waterproof trousers went on.

Not a lot of obvious bird life but we saw a few kites, a peregrine in hot pursuit of something (we heard the whoosh before we saw it) and a heron. Harebells, rowan with red berries already and several types of heather.

After seven miles or so we turned east up the Llyfnant valley which felt peaceful and mysterious in the mist. Steeply down into a valley and then up again to test our aching legs, then at last we could see Machynlleth below us, with a final challenge of slippery steps cut into the rock. Now drying off in the White Lion in the middle of town – and the sun has just come out! 11.2 miles and it felt like enough.