Total ascent, 745m (2444ft).
Friday, 26th July.
The food & drink set up in Knighton last night was perfect. An alehouse that serves great beer but no food next to a chippy that serves great food but no beer. And you are allowed to eat the food in the alehouse. I was staying in the Red Lion and was a bit surprised when I was greeted with, "It looks like a pub but it's not." She was right, it had hand pumps on the bar with nothing in them, and empty optics. Nevertheless it was a good non-pub to stay in, and there was another good breakfast.
I've always been a sniggerer, as those who work with me will agree, and I had a moment at breakfast that caused an outbreak of serviette stifled sniggering. The landlord obviously prided himself on serving local produce, one item of which was Mr Pugh's bacon. He was trying to explain this to a Dutch couple at a nearby table, and evidently to promote his own cosmopolitan approach to bacon sampling said, "I love tasting pork of different nationalities." At this point my inner Viz reader mentality took over and I suffered the aforementioned outbreak. I need to grow up.
Today's walk wasn't far off a complete loop. There was very little accommodation to be found between Knighton and Llandrindod Wells, so I settled on a shorter day to Llangynllo with a longer day tomorrow to Llandrindod. I noticed that Llangynllo Station was a long way from anywhere (including Llangynllo!) and the detour involved to get there was unlikely to be taken up by many people walking the route. As I was staying reasonably close I decided to include it in my plan. Basically I left Knighton on Glyndwr's Way and finished on Glyndwr's Way but in the opposite direction, as the HoWLT had taken a huge looping route right round and beyond Llangynllo. It was a fab day's walking.
Part one was an 'up and over' to Knucklas, which had an impressive viaduct. I was starting to get into the station visiting thing (of course I was bound to!) so took a short detour to Knucklas Station, one of the many request stops (you just wave at the train!). There was a shelter, a few 'tired' pots of plants and very little else, though I'm not sure what I expected to find really.
What Knucklas also had up its sleeve though, was a castle. The signs for the castle showed a turreted tower, much like the chess piece. It was on my route so I climbed the hill with great anticipation. I think the picture below is the castle, but I'm still not sure.
However what the castle lacked in rocks, or indeed anything you might make a castle out of, it made up for in location. It was the most impressive viewpoint of the walk so far, and would have been a great spot for a drink and a biscuit had I not only just had a drink and a biscuit in the shelter at Knucklas Station.
I descended to Lloyney and took another detour, not even slightly optimistic that the pub would be open when I got there. Not only was it not open, but it appeared not to exist at all anymore. I did a U-turn and rejoined the trail, which climbed steadily and for a long time up to what looked like a bench perched on the top of the hill. When I arrived it was not only a bench, but a fenced enclosure with a sign stating that it was private land but I was welcome to 'rest awhile'. The perfect lunch stop.
The remainder of the day was a fantastic ridge walk, at least 4 miles worth, followed by the backwards part of Glyndwr's Way down to Llangynllo Station and the moment I realised that I'd completely underestimated the importance of the stations to this trail. At the exact point where the station was supposed to be there were two houses. One looked modern and lived in, the other older and empty. I'd been standing outside the gate for some time looking utterly bewildered when there was a knock on the window of the modern house and an old lady gesturing to me. She wanted me to go into the garden. I walked over to the window and was informed that the station was through her back garden, and indeed it was! It was an amazing moment and made me even more incredulous that Mold station, in a town of 9000 people, is long gone, but a village of less than 100 still has one.
Having said that, it was still a mile to Llangynllo itself and most of another to my B&B for the night, Little Hencefn. I was met with coffee and biscuits and as I'm half board here will soon be eating. Then I'll drop down to the village to revisit the Greyhound Inn, where I had an interesting experience in 2010.
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