In Builth Wells

June 15, 2024

This is another day where we’re happy that we’re laying over. It’s grey and wet when we wake up, it’s due to be grey and wet again by midafternoon, but in between it looks like if we’re lucky we’ll get four to five dry hours for our walk and ride we’re hoping to get in. Oh, and it’s unseasonably chilly so we really wouldn’t want to get started early anyway. “This weather is ridiculous, summer’s never going to come”, a woman complained to us yesterday.

So we’ve both got flexible routes planned: Rachael’s is an out and back to a bluff south of town where she hopes for some views, and mine is a 30 mile loop west along some creeks and rivers that I can always cut short if need be.

I get out the door about a half hour before Rachael, but I don’t get far before I’ve got misgivings. For one thing, there is this series of three 13-15% climbs coming at me in just the first four miles. For another, showers break out a couple times and come down hard enough that I’m racing for the nearest overhanging tree. There’s more than one time I wonder if Weather.com hasn’t missed the boat completely and I should just turn back and spend the day in our warm, dry room.

The bridge over the River Wye in Builth Wells. I’m not sure what the building is, but I think the fire hall.

The River Wye. We more or less followed it all day yesterday getting here and will do so leaving here tomorrow also. It should be getting more stream-like by the time we finally part ways.

A characteristic shot of the day’s conditions. To point out the obvious: its grey bone, green below, with scattered clumps of white.

And blue here and there, but the grey predominates and gives more cause for concern.

One other thing to note: there’s nothing special to see here. It’s not like we’re in a national park or anything. Its just Wales.

It’s nice when a bit of sun breaks through. Might as well grab some.

The sky does look threatening though. An occasional shower is one thing, but worse things could happen out here.

I keep going though, and after those first few showers the sky calms down and I don’t get wet again for the rest of the ride. I cut it short from the thirty I had in mind though because of the hills. It’s a little gumption-sapping to keep coming to these slopes that make me wonder if it isn’t just smarter to walk since it’s not much slower anyway. And speaking of slower, I’m not making particularly good time and I’m mindful of the fact that rains are due to roll in at three. So after about thirteen miles I come to a crossroad that lets me shorten my loop and take it. I could keep going forward and hope I’m lucky, but what else am I expecting to see out here - more green hills and sheep?

On my way back I consider how fast I’ve been biking - not very fast - and how much I’m looking forward to recrossing that series of ridges - not very much - and decide to check out the highway, the A483, to see if it feels safe enough to bike. It’s not ideal cycling by any means and there’s not much cause to stop; but the traffic is manageable enough fortunately and it’s definitely faster and not as lumpy. I probably make it back to town in half the time it took me on the way out.

The Irfon River, one of the larger tributaries of the Wye that it merges into at Builth Wells. I forgot to mention that my ride is more or less a Riverside loop, out along one bank and back on the other. Makes it sound like it should be an easy ride, right?

Rachael’s Hike

In spite of the weather for the day looking potentially wet, I had a wonderful hike and stayed dry! I ended up on a trail, the Wye Valley walk, that had a lot of sheep and a great walking path. The path went through opens fields with sheep right on the trail and got up to a high point with great views in all directions. Just my kind of hike!

Great views in every direction at the top!

Heading back.

As I’m biking into town I see on the Garmin that Rachael’s only a few blocks from me - a good thing, because she’s got the only keys to the hotel and our room. I wait on the bridge for her to catch up, grab the keys from her and start to bike the last few yards to our hotel when a man walks by and gives us a shout - it’s our host. Like us, he’s hustling back to shelter before the rains arrive - which they do, just as he’s opening the shed for me to wheel the bike in. Perfect.

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Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 2,153 miles (3,465 km)

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