Sun, Snow and Stunning Scenery - a Mid Wales Holiday

Our lodge - Vista

We're just back from a week's holiday with some of the wider family - 11 of us initially, 12 by the end of the week at Luxury Lodges Wales near Llanidloes in Powys, mid-Wales. This was a trip initially booked for late autumn 2020, pushed back to March 2021 due to Covid and then pushed back a year until March 2022 as Covid and its associated restrictions went on far longer than any of us would have liked. But we got there in the end. Going away with this group of the family is at least an annual occurrence - regular readers will have seen previous posts of our trips to North Devon and we've been to the Peak District a few times too. We normally get accommodation that fits the group size which can be as big as 16 or so, but these lodges were booked when Covid restrictions meant no more than 6 could be in the same place at a time - so we booked two lodges.

Although booked for the end of March, the weather forecast promised a sunny and warm start to the week, although getting colder later, but crucially rain free! Indeed I managed just shorts and a T shirt in the first couple of days.

The drive up north, once free of the wastelands of Cardiff, and the industrial A470 through Pontypridd and past Merthyr, was beautiful and spectacular as we first dissected the Brecon Beacons passing Pen y Fan, then from Brecon to Builth Wells following the river Wye upstream, passing Rhayader before a lunch stop and meeting up with some of the party at the Elan Valley Visitor Centre. The red kites were out in abundance, as were daffodils and sheep with their lambs on a sunny and warm day. The scenery in the Elan valley is spectacular, as the photos below show.

Garreg Ddu reservoir, Elan Valley

Garreg Ddu dam (underwater), Elan Valley

After a picnic lunch we drove on to Llanidloes, where we supped a pint at the Whistling Badger until we got the call that our lodges were ready.

The "interesting" roundabout in the middle of Llanidloes

Luxury Lodges Wales lies about three miles north of Llanidloes near the small village of Trefeglwys. It's off the beaten track (unless you're going to Caersws) deep in rural Powys. There are seven lodges currently, although they're clearly working and clearing the site to add more. The lodges sleep 6 with one sleeping 4 and are set a small distance apart. They're well furnished and equipped, each with a hot tub and all but one with an upstairs balcony room. Also on site is a small pond with free fishing, and a hen house with free eggs (if you collect them yourself)! It would have been great to be altogether, but we managed admirably shuttling to and fro for meals and drinks.

It's possible to do some local walks, and the village (about 15 minutes walk) has a pub, the Red Lion, although we bought enough alcohol that we didn't need to visit the pub! Primarily though we used the lodges as a base for heading out and about.

On Saturday in warm sun with blue skies we travelled the short distance to the Hafren Forest, with walks suitable for all abilities including a boardwalk suitable for wheelchairs alongside the fledgling river Severn. There is a walk from here to the source of the river, and not far away, another walk to the source of the river Wye, both rising within a remarkable short distance of each other.

Hafren Forest 1

Hafren Forest 2

The following day we went about three miles to the stunning Llyn Clywedog, a reservoir built to help control the surges further down the river Severn. A more strenuous, but not hard (although the last bit was steep) circular walk of about 2.5 miles circumnavigated the peninsula in the middle of this reservoir. The early mist lifted and gave us some cracking views.

Lyn Clywedog - from the viewpoint on the B4518. We walked the peninsula in the middle one day

On Monday with the sun still shining we drove further north about 25 miles to Powis Castle near Welshpool which is a National Trust site. Again it was misty (foggy) at the lodges, but by the time we arrived the sun was out and it was bordering on quite warm! There are deer roaming about and the castle is imposing and the grounds fabulous, even at this early stage of the year. 

A local resident near Powis Castle

Powis Castle

With clear skies, and little light pollution, the opportunity for stargazing was taken and we saw the International Space Station pass over on a couple of nights, plus many satellites. I even managed to take a longer exposure shot that illustrated that there are far more stars than are even visible to the naked eye - tap the photo to open full view for the best effect.

Our lodge and stars  - Orion (centre) and the Pleides (right)  amongst them

At night, bats and owls were in evidence, whilst every morning we awoke to the sound of a woodpecker doing his thing in a tree next to the lodge. There was also a resident male pheasant, resplendent in his spring plumage, and once, whilst fishing I saw a hare run down the hill and disappear behind one of the lodges.

The next day we decided to drive to Aberystwyth, around an hour away. Leaving the foggy locale, we drove up though the imposing Plynlimon range en route to Aber in glorious sunshine. However, as we arrived at the seaside town, it was evident that a sea mist had descended and the place was cool and very misty. A short walk up and down the prom, and a cup of coffee later, we called it a day and headed home. Two minutes out of town, the mist was gone and we were back in glorious sunshine! Oh well.....

A foggy Aberystwyth marina

The next day started much cooler, and still quite misty, and with rain forecast later in the day we set off for the quaint border town of Montgomery. Lying just on the Welsh side of Offa's Dyke, it's very much an anglicised town by all accounts. It's got some lovely old buildings, an imposing town hall, and a castle perched on the hill above the town dating from the early 1200's to ward off Welsh princes. after the steep climb to the castle, and a coffee and scone stop in the community owned Dragon Hotel, we set off for a couple of miles circular walk taking in a bit of Offa's Dyke (although if I hadn't seen the signs, I wouldn't have known it was there). Initially this proved a challenge, as although our maps clearly indicated the footpaths, we found gates roped shut, some with padlocks, and stiles left overgrown so that we were unable to access them. Locals clearly didn't want you walking over the land! However, we found a way around which included taking in the picturesque Montgomery Cricket Club ground.

The Dragon Hotel, Montgomery

Montgomery Castle

Offa's Dyke footpath

For our final day we drove a dozen miles or so back towards Rhayader to the Gilfach Nature Reserve, nestled amongst the rolling hills outside the mid Wales town. A selection of well marked walks are on offer from the very gentle few hundred yards level, to a strenuous climb up (and down) one of the adjacent hills. we opted for a (mostly) level circular walk to start with, and after grabbing a coffee at the halfway mark courtesy of a handy burger van on the A470, some of the part opted to continue their gentle stroll back along the river, whilst a few of us hardier souls decided to go with the strenuous climb over the top. Strenuous it was too, climbing to just under 500m in a very short distance. The views at the top were worth it as well, although soon to be lost as heavy flurries of snow came down as we descended. Despite being a nature reserve, there was a disappointing lack of wildlife in evidence, although I'm sure on another day it might have been different. The walk and views made it all worthwhile though (at least once I'd recovered!)

Gilfach Nature Reserve

Coming down in the snow

Views from the top

Cold and snowy

Waterfall on the river Marteg

Back at the lodges, I managed to get some fishing in too. I used to fish avidly as a youngster spending much of my school holidays and any other spare time on the bank, but sadly other priorities over the last 30 years or so have limited the times I've been able to fish. Nonetheless, time spend sitting on a review or pond bank is peaceful, and I love it. As a bonus I even caught a few. A couple of (very small) golden tench and a couple of bigger common carp probably in the 5-6lb mark. The initial warm weather had cooled off significantly making fishing for these hard, but I enjoyed the opportunity, and my old gear held up well 

too.

Gotcha!

Safely landed

Small (fish) carp

Others found a more relaxing time on the hot tubs, doing jig-saws or playing games, but whatever we did we all had fun.

All in all, we had a fabulous week. The early sunny and warm weather undoubtedly helped, and the snow made things pretty without being a hindrance. I'd certainly recommend these lodges, and would certainly recommend a visit to this beautiful part of Wales.

Handy Tips

• Evans Fish Bar in Llanidloes is great and very friendly
• The Whistling Badger in Llanidloes was relatively quiet, served decent beer - other pubs are available.
• Take a torch

Twitter: @Statto1927 

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/simon_hiscocks/ 

Instagram: simon_hiscocks

Ineptitude on a national scale - that's the UK for you

Credit: @Coldwar_Steve
https://coldwarsteve.com

Not many people are likely to read this - I only have a couple of followers, but it's cathartic writing this down, and maybe someday, someone will look at it and think, "Blimey, the country was in the shit back then...."

The country (the UK that is) is currently in the midst of a petrol crisis. Not a shortage, though that may still come at some future point, but a problem caused by a lack of HGV drivers to deliver the stuff to petrol stations. It started with BP indicating that they'd had to close 6 of their 1,200 or so stations due to lack of deliveries, not in itself an issue at all, but in true British style, within 24 hours we have a crisis and people are panic buying, queuing for hours to put half a gallon in their car and stations are naturally therefore, running out. A vicious circle, and one not helped by how this stuff is reported in the mainstream media (MSM). Come on, a headline saying BP has to close petrol stations - even if it's maybe 1% of their total is inevitably going to get people panicking.

The one sure fire way to get people to panic, is to say "Don't panic".

This is just the latest in a long line of utter fiasco's to emerge under the current Tory government's term in office. The underlying problem appears to be Brexit (yes, that old chestnut) which caused many European drivers to either voluntarily or, due to the immigration implications go back to their own countries instead of being employed here. Apparently there may be some other issues - lack of infrastructure to support drivers in their job causing many to leave the industry, so it's probably a miss-mash of issues ultimately but Brexit is surely in there near the top.

All in all, this government's legacy is beginning to look more and more like an A-Z of how to bring a country to it's knees, and mostly on the policy strategy of saving money. It's like we've brought the Administrators as happens when a company goes bust.

The list feels endless, but some examples include:

• Brexit (overall but some if the key promises of:
• "reclaiming" £350m a week given the to EU to spend on our NHS (nope that didn't happen)
• Enabling our fishing industry to recover and thrive (nope that didn't happen either)
• Getting back control (nope - if this is control, I'd hate to think what out of control looks like)
• Immigration policy tied to with Brexit (above) and Covid (below) has resulted in massive staffing shortages in the NHS/care homes, hospitality sector, HGV  drivers (and probably many other sectors), let alone the general principle of supporting genuine immigrants fleeing oppressive governments elsewhere - for them those vulnerable people perhaps a right case of out of the frying pan.....
• Shortages of food on shelves in some areas (again placed at the door of lack of HGV drivers)
• It's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic (OK, the pandemic wasn't the Governments's fault, but it's handling most certainly is/was)with
• Unnecessary deaths
• Immeasurable strain on the NHS 
• Disjointed strategies amongst the English, Welsh, UK and NI devolved governments
• Alleged (I use that term loosley) corruption in the awarding and handling of major contracts to supply PPE and other goods/services
• More shortage crises - toilet rolls or flour anyone?
• Failure to adequately support and fund the NHS (although this probably deserves a blog post all of its own)
• An apparent desire to privatise and defund the NHS, perhaps the shining light of the UK and the envy of many (most) other countries, resulting in increased waiting times, frustrated and burnt out staff who increasingly seem to be a target for abuse
• Having to get the army in to drive ambulances
• Chopping Universal Credit and raising National Insurance - together with a general history of hitting the poorest whilst lining the pockets of the richest
• Inability to speak and/or give answers without lying (just Google Boris Johnson lying) or evasion (constantly)
• Climate change response (or lack of it)
• Support for the travel industry

I could go on, but it's too depressing.

And the problem is that despite all the above, and the sense that the country is spiralling towards implosion, there is still a significant number of people who think the Government is doing a good job. 

To be fair, the one area that they have largely succeeded in, is the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, although they appear to be incapable to reaching the (relative minority of anti-vaxers/anti-maskers) who still think that everything that's being done to protect them and the woodier population is either a conspiracy, or an infringement of their human rights or both. They're probably the same people currently queuing at petrol stations.

The end result of all this, is a country that's fast becoming the laughing stock of the world. Our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson (BJ) is being seen as the bumbling oaf that he undoubtedly is, more worried about ruffling his hair before an interview than doing something about the mess him and his party have created and overseen, supported by a cast of minions loyal to him too scared to sway from the party line or speak the truth when asked a simple, straightforward question. And in all honesty, most of them (at least in the cabinet) are probably so rich that they'd never have to queue at a petrol station, or worry about bare shelves, or how they're going to pay the bills. Meanwhile we've got Foreign Secretaries brokering trade deals with Mongolia, whilst trade with our closest and mainly prosperous European cousins is increasingly becoming harder and more bureaucratic because of Brexit. I was talking with a friend yesterday who is a senior manager for a large multi-national construction company who said that materials were costing on average 40% more than pre-Brexit - and that's if you can get them.

BJ's recent trip to the USA to broker improved trade deals hasn't gone well either, with US President Joe Biden hinting that there was a bit "to work through". It suggests that the US particularly sees us as much less of a world player than we once were.

Far from the promises of bringing back control, the Tory government is rapidly stumbling from crisis to crisis, unable to plan, or foresee solutions, making policy on the hoof. They're a disaster from start to finish, but the bigger problem seems to be that both enough people realise this, and an unnerving sense that there might not be anyone else out there that could do any better.

My musing's are borne from frustration as we seem to lurch from one crisis to the next, with poor reporting and clickbait headlines stoking the fires. 

The photo at the top of this post from the brilliant Christopher Spencer (aka Coldwar Steve) who's Twitter account @Coldwar_Steve posts brutal, funny (in a tragic-comedic way) pictures of current key topics and "leading" characters sets out some of the issues at hand far better than I ever could. Go give him a follow.

I'll leave you with this (not mine).