Total ascent, 607m (1991ft).
Wednesday, 31st July.
I've always really liked Llandovery and have no Llanwrtyd Wells type bad memories of it. I'd booked into the strangely named 'The Bear With Rooms' in the very centre of town, and it turned out to be another fascinating place to stay. The owner (of Polish origin) had been there for 20 years and for most of that time it was a pub, just called 'The Bear'. He'd got fed up with locals fighting so had reinvented it as a coffee shop / wine bar / restaurant, and it was lovely (though the story has a downbeat ending as he is selling up). There were tiny rooms and alcoves with comfy chairs all over the place, and most importantly I was able to drink quality coffee with cake, then later beer with a meal, without the slightest inclination to go anywhere else on a wet Llandovery evening.
I need to belatedly mention that this is my first long distance walk without paper maps. I am paper free! Late last year I purchased a Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2, a tablet designed for use in industry (judging from the promo pictures). It's waterproof and shock proof up to 1.2 metres, which might be dependent upon what it lands on if I do drop it! It lives in a pouch attached to my rucksack belt and was an absolute godsend in the rain yesterday, as I needed to check the route regularly and therefore keep the tablet handy. I have a subscription with the Ordnance Survey (the best £25 I spend each year) which allows me to download maps of the UK at 1:25,000 scale and plot my route on it. The tablet GPS then shows me as a little red arrow and I just follow the route; a little red line. Navigation has never been so easy!
I had another long day, today. I may have to rethink my day lengths in future as each year I seem to plan more and more long days. I suspect that my increasing age and copious coffee requirements will need to be prioritised in future. I might attempt to put a cap of 15 or 16 miles per day on long distance walks from now on, unless more can't be avoided.
I've had a few niggles during the course of the walk, my back on day one being the worst, but my right ankle was quite swollen when I went to bed last night. It was annoying me a bit on day two, so since then I've had my boot a bit looser and it's been fine, until now. It had felt like a bruise on my ankle bone but now it was obvious that I'd aggravated it into a small sprain. I decided to put a compression tube bandage thingy on it and slightly alter the first part of today's walk to Llangadog. I stuck to lanes as close to the main route as I could so I could monitor it. All seemed fine when I got there so I moved onto the main route from then on. I suspect though it's not the sort of thing that'll get better by walking 15+ miles every day, so I'll probably need the bandage for the remaining two days.
There was no breakfast at 'The Bear With Rooms' so I was out by 8 looking for food. I came across a bakery first so got lunch sorted, a mighty fine cheese and tomato seeded baguette. I then had two odd conversations in the space of five minutes; the first with the girl behind the bakery counter...
Me: Is there a cafe around here where I can get some breakfast?
Girl: Yes, there's a lovely one in the craft centre but it's closed on Wednesdays.
Me: Hmmm, it is Wednesday. Are there any others?
Girl: Yes, there's one called the printing house across the square that opens at 9.
Me: Hmmm, it's only 10 past 8. Are there any others?
Girl: Yes, there's one just round the corner on the left. It'll be open now.
Me: Thank you.
I walked round the corner and ordered a 'Little Breakfast' from the man behind the counter, with one small alteration...
Me: Can I have the Little Breakfast please, but with no beans?
Man: No beans? How about tomatoes then?
Me: No thanks, just leave off the beans.
Man: I'll do you an extra egg then.
Me: No really, two eggs are enough thanks.
Man (whilst writing in capital letters): NO BEANS, EXTRA EGG.
It was a great, no nonsense 'Little Breakfast' though. I've had quite a few nonsense breakfasts on this trip and this wasn't one of them. Normal bacon, normal sausages, three normal non-free range eggs and normal mighty white toast. The coffee was sadly too normal for it's own good but never mind. And I can't even begin to imagine how big the normal breakfast was.
Two blogs on one post.
The weather was back to its superb self after yesterday's aberration, with sunny intervals throughout the day. After the lane walk to Llangadog I joined the end of the Beacons Way, which I did in 2012, for a few miles but in the opposite direction. It now appears to finish at Llangadog Station, whereas when I did it it finished in the God forsaken village of Bethlehem (!), as ugly as its namesake in Israel but a lot smaller. This was my third walking visit to 'God Forsaken Bethlehem', and unless I repeat one of my previous walks I should be able to avoid coming here again.
Bethlehem. Jesus got lucky with the other one.
After GFB the path climbed up to the impressive Iron Age hill fort of Carn Goch. To be honest it's the setting that's most impressive as the fort is now a jumble of rocks, and the views were the best of the last two days (though yesterday's lack of views was weather related). It was an excellent spot for a mighty fine cheese and tomato seeded baguette.
View from a mighty fine cheese and tomato seeded baguette.
The path continued to climb. To my left were the outlying lumps of the Black Mountain and to my right was the Tywi river (and rail) valley with much lower hills beyond. I had a sense of the landscape starting to shrink as it neared the sea. And now it was a long descent into Llandeilo, a town that can only be described as underwhelming, especially when compared to Llandovery. But at least it was sunny.
I'm staying at the White Hart, which I have stayed in before. In fact it's the only place I've stayed in twice over the course of many years of long distance walks in Wales (apart from the Ship in Aberdaron obvs). It's ok. My favourite line from the landlord was, "Breakfast is between 7 and 9 and the wifi is what it is." So far what it is is 'struggling'!
This is what a path between hedgerows should look like.
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