Rhayader to Machynlleth

Saturday September 18, 2010

My campsite for the night by the river in Ryayader.

Another standard start, breakfast at about mid-day, and headed off early arvo. It was a day of hills, right from the get-go, with a long steep climb out of Rhayader, I was giving first gear a good work-out.

Countryside in Wales.

Countryside in Wales.

A sculpture I found along the way.

 I soon hit some steep descents and broke my speed record for the trip again, with 71.3 km/h, good fun!

Always excited to see a sign like this.

And like this.

Riding up past a reservoir.

I stopped at a reservoir to admire the view.

A reservoir.

Another view of the reservoir.

Also taking a break were half a dozen Irish motorcyclists.

So I had a chat to them, quite a friendly bunch, I loved their accents. I couldn't understand everything they were saying though. They mentioned a place in Ireland that I should visit, and went off on a tangent discussing who the first guys to fly a plane were, and where they did it.

They also suggested I head up to Scotland and catch a ferry to Ireland from there, because I had been considering catching a ferry to Ireland from Holyhead, Wales, then from Ireland to Scotland, and Scotland to Scandinavia. Upon their recommendation though, I decided to go the other way, and with the plan to catch a ferry from Ireland to France afterwards.
Today I wasn't really sure where I was heading, only that I was going up to Snowdonia National Park. I came to a fork in the road and had to make a decision, and I really could have gone either way. I've been in the situation quite a few times: "left or right?" It's hard to decide when you don't know what either of the roads are like, whether they are busy, hilly or scenic, and you don't know what the towns along roads take you to are like. Your route will depend on how tired you are, how late it's getting, which direction you want to head, whether you want a major town on the way to stop in for supplies, any number of factors really.
I've had quite a strong sense if freedom on the trip, having not done any planning, I can go wherever I want, whenever I want, and not have to be anywhere at a certain time (other than back in London at the end of the year to fly back home), or do anything (other than eat and sleep). So until the end of the year I'm free to do whatever I want, which is just the way I like it. Although I don't think this will be good preparation for when I start full time work next year with Melbourne Water, I'll be locked into 9-5 job, argh! Now that'll be a theft of freedom, that'll be a real challenge for me. Cycling around Europe with all the freedom in the world will be easier than full-time work. As Scott McClelland says, "full-time work sucks your soul."
Anyway, there I was at a fork in the road, with the day already getting on, and a few spots of rain starting to fall. Right seemed to be the more tame road, left there was a sign that said "...Via Narrow Mountain Road." this was enough to sway me, my sense of adventure got the better of me, so that's the road I took.
It turned out to be pretty hilly and pretty cold as the rain set in, but there were some good views along the way. I can't say if it was better than the other route, I may never know.

I got to a town called Machynlleth.

Machynlleth, Wales.

It was raining quite solidly by this stage.
I had to find a campsite though, which is always a bit of a hassle.

What makes a good campsite, you ask? Well, a number of factors:
- first and foremost, somewhere well hidden or out of the way so that you won't be disturbed by anyone, whether it be drunks, kids, thieves, rangers, etc
- dry ground (not that easy in the UK)
- flat ground, and preferably soft and free of sticks, roots, rocks, etc
- away from busy roads, factories and other sources of noise.
- not far from a shop so you don't have to go far to get milk in the morning

Where do you look to find such a place, you ask? There are a few options:
- best bet is near a river/creek, there are usually lots of trees on the bank for you to hide the tent in
- look for parks, they often have little areas with some tree cover. In the UK though, many of their parks seem to get locked up at night!
- sports grounds. Sometimes there are trees on the side you can camp amongst. Cover is often not great, but the grass is usually soft and flat.
- any patch of grass you find that you think you can get away with
- graveyard? Hmm, no thanks.
- meet someone in the street or the pub and ask/hint to camp in their back yard.

So, in Machynlleth, there seemed to be lots of tree cover between the main street and the sporting grounds, playground and skate park, although there were lots of paths going through, where people typically walk their dogs.
Eventually I set up in amongst some trees. My clothes were drenched. I hopped straight into the sleeping bag when the tent was set up, ate sandwiches for tea, and went to sleep to the sound of steady rain falling on the tent.

Eating sandwiches in the tent, with persistent rain outside.

Ride stats
Distance: 61 km
Average: 15.4 km/h
Maximum: 71.3 km/h
Time: 3:57:30