Like many of those quiet little villages which straddle the border of England and Wales, Gladestry acts as a gateway to empty hills, with long walks in almost every direction.
When I first walked the Ceredigion Coast Path a few years ago – at least as much of it as was possible to walk at the time, since some sections had yet to be completed – there was one stretch of coastline, in particular, I thought would prove especially fine when the trail had been finished.
I remember the first time I saw Black Mixen. It was a raw day on Offa’s Dyke and, looking west, a dark brooding hill kept catching my eye. Even when the sun shone, it remained a jet black silhouette and comparisons with a huge beached whale weren’t too far off the mark.
If you like your mountains remote, untracked, wild and gently rolling then Mid Wales is the place for you and Drygarn Fawr – miles from the nearest village in the heart of the glorious Elan Valley – is the prime summit.
Discovering the Dysynni Valley for the first time properly a couple of years ago (I’d previously only set foot in it once, long before) I was duly entranced by the place – surely one of the most beautiful valleys in Wales, and arguably the finest area for walking in southern Snowdonia.
Mid-Wales has been described as “Britain’s forgotten wilderness”: a neat tourism promotion slogan, but one which, in this case, is well justified. Lying at its heart is Rhayader, midway between the far more walker-popular areas of Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons.
