Wednesday, 16 August 1944

Log of a Cycle Tour to North Wales, by Roy Spurgeon, with Leslie Lee.   15 August   17 August

Another wonderful, hot day. Setting off at 0940 hours (4059.6), again without a chance of a wash, we rode down the very rough, steep approach to the Hostel from the Welshpool side. About halfway down, Les found that he had a flat tyre, just as we were passing over a swiftly flowing stream, where a water cart was being filled for the benefit of a nearby farm short of water, so we were able to have a good wash as well before getting under way again at 1040 hours. We rode down more of the rough track, whose surface was composed of loose flints, the whole thing being so steep that at times we were skidding down with both wheels locked, until we reached the Welshpool road at the bottom. Here Leslie had to stop to replace a brake block but it did not take us long to reach Welshpool.

We spent a little time in the town and were overtaken by an enormous convoy of American guns and half track vehicles. Then, shortly after leaving Welshpool, on the road to Newtown, a half track straggler in company with a jeep passed us, travelling at high speed on the wrong road, the rest of the convoy having forked left just before. I waved wildly what I hoped was a "washout" signal, the vehicles stopped and we played a very small part in the invasion by putting them back on the right road. This leg of the trip was very pretty, running along by the side of the Severn with beautiful views on both sides and many pretty half timbered farmhouses and cottages lying back from the road.

We crossed the Severn by an old iron bridge built in 1836, of the same design as the well known Waterloo Bridge at Bettws-y-Coed and arrived shortly afterwards in Newtown at 1245 hours (4077.2) in time for lunch. Newtown is by no means a large place but is well known as the centre of the Welsh flannel industry. We secured a good, though slow, meal and were on the road again at 1345 hours, following the valley of the Severn, with quite steep sides, until we reached the small village of Caersws at 1440 hours (4083.7). This is set to one side of the Severn valley and to reach it we turned off the Llanidloes and Aberystwyth road to the right.

Here we stopped for a glass of cider to quench our thirst and then got on the road again for Machynlleth. We were by then well into the Welsh hills and the country was extremely pretty, with magnificent rugged scenery. The road now followed the valley of the Afon Garno, a small tributary of the Severn and we kept crossing and recrossing a single track railway which also followed the valley; we found sheep straying on to the road now and again and the route was really interesting. We passed through the small village of Carno (see photo) at 1520 hours (4089.5) then stopped for tea in a small isolated cottage shortly afterwards. When we emerged to continue our run, we found that the weather had deteriorated sharply while we were inside and what had been a perfectly blue sky was now laden with heavy grey clouds so low that they wreathed the tops of the mountains in mist, giving them an almost awe-inspiring appearance. The clouds had apparently been borne in from the sea by a strong south westerly wind which had sprung up quite suddenly and was right in our faces as we carried on towards the sea. Nevertheless, despite several attempts, it did not rain and soon afterwards we began to run downhill towards Machynlleth.

We were agreeably surprised at the nature of the road we had taken; we had expected some stiff climbs, since the road ran right through the mountains but, in fact, we found that it provided very easy going, as it wound round the bottoms of all the hills and there seemed to be, curiously enough, more downhill than up. We turned into the Dovey valley, a particularly easy stretch, then ran on through Penegoes to Machynlleth, which was reached at 1800 hours (4106.1). We did not stay long in the town, however, as we were anxious to get to the hostel at Tre Taliesin as soon as we could, so we carried on in sight of the Dovey estuary on our right, a very flat ride, on the Aberystwyth road, crossing into Cardigan by the Pont Llyfnant, till we reached the hostel, with a certain amount of rain in the air at 1900 hours (4115.4).

The hostel at Taliesin is built on to the side of a grocer's shop owned by the warden and, being a self cooking hostel we set about buying and then preparing our evening meal. Having obtained our provisions from the warden, who greeted us with almost open arms for "wasn't I related to the great Spurgeon, man" and "didn't his wife's grandfather always have a picture of him hanging over his bed?", we made ourselves an excellent meal of soup, spam, mashed potatoes and baked beans, together with a double ration of milk, thanks to the co-operation of two female hostellers. Owing to the acute shortage of cooking facilities, we took until 2130 hours to finish this meal, so that apart from taking a short stroll to help our enormous supper down, we had no time for anything else before bed. Incidentally, although we had to all intents and purposes reached the coast, with the exception of the Dovey estuary, we had not so far seen the sea, as the coastline was so flat as to offer no vantage point anywhere along the route we had taken.

Total cycling distance for the day - 55.8 miles.

Next day: 17 August