June 21, 2024
In Llanidloes: Clywedog Reservoir
Yesterday’s ride up to the crest of the Cambrian Mountains was exceptional, but today’s may have been even better. And best of all it was outstanding for Rachael as well, putting the day well up in the Best of Tour rankings for both of us. Let’s start with her view of the day:
Video sound track: Hillside View by Ancient Future
Our routes start out the same: after crossing the Long Bridge we climb up the narrow, somewhat busy and uncomfortable B road north of town for a few hundred yards and then branch off to a wonderfully quiet lane through a long stand of oaks, their branches overarching the lane like a cathedral. Rachael got out the door about twenty minutes before me so she’s well into this section by the time I catch up with her. When I do, I see her down at the end of a straight stretch, her camera out shooting video of the sheep surrounding her.
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We travel more or less together for another quarter mile when our lane ends and merges back into that same B road we’ve been paralleling, and we start steeply climbing. Partway up Rachael comes to her turn and branches off onto another quiet lane while I keep climbing. Its a decent challenge, maybe 10-12% much of the way until it finally levels off.
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It was a steep climb going up but I’m feeling good about the direction I’m going when I drop at 15+% off the other side, abruptly leveling off when I come to the reservoir and Bwlch y Gle dam. I stop there to look out across this branch of the large sprawling lake and the impressive blanket of foxgloves on the slope of the hill ahead, waiting for several minutes until a patch of sun finally moves in to illuminate them.
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Across the other side of the dam though the ride climbs up again, to what looks like an even higher summit than the one I’ve just dropped down from. When I come to its base and see it’s another 15 percenter (a lie - it’s actually 16 for half of its length), I stop to enjoy the view one last time and consider my options. It’s about as bad to go back as to continue on though, so I brace myself for a bit of a hike.
I’m about to start up when a biker races past, building up momentum for the climb ahead. It buys him a couple of hundred yards but he’s soon in his lowest gears, pedaling very slowly and wobbling a bit. I keep expecting him to stop, but he keeps with it and finally disappears around the bend and presumably makes it to the summit without stopping.
And, to my satisfaction so do I. I surprise myself by continuing around one bend and then the next I finally seeing the pitch leveling off just ahead. When I arrive at the top, a stunning spot labeled on the map as the Lynn Clywedog Viewpoint, I stop to bask in the spectacular setting and give thanks once gain to my cardiologist and his team for making this possible.
There’s a couple perched on camp chairs at the top admiring the views also, and they congratulate me when I pull up - the man says he’s been taking a video of me, and now I wish I’d given him my email address so he could share it. They’re a couple up from Bath, here to pay homage to the woman’s father who passed away a year ago at the age of 93. He was Welsh, always wanted to return, and this was his favorite spot.
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So that’s astonishing, but it’s not actually the high point. There’s about another mile of gradual climbing before I finally top off and stat dropping again, back to the reseservoir level once more but at its upper end now, near the can’t-miss village of Staylittle. I remember it as being slightly off route but vow to stop in. How can I be this close to Staylittle and not stay a little?
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So unfortunately I missed the heart of Staylittle, but it just gives us an excuse to return to this area some year. The rest of the ride though continued exceptional, if not quite as stunningly dramatic as that viewpoint of the reservoir from above. Until I returned to the B road a few miles from town it was invariably quiet. I see a few cars along the lake, but the last hour is passed on an exceptionally quiet road as I climbed away from the lake on a succession of excruciating hills - 19%, 17%, 17%, 13% - through an open livestock range protected at both ends by gates and lifestock grids. Some pushing seemed appropriate.
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Toward the top of the climb away from the lake I come to a vantage point where I stop for a shot across to what I think must have been the high point I climbed to earlier in the ride. Almost immediately though a small herd of cows crowds into the frame and frustrates my attempt.
So I bike/walk up another hundred yards or so to what looks like an even better viewpoint, as it might have been if the cows hadn’t followed along with me. A third attempt meets the same annoying fate until finally I thwarted them by passing a fence at the end of their pasture.
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So I figured that must be the end of the drama for the ride. I’m just one last 17% climb from the summit and then it’s downhill the rest of the way back to town. I’m not expecting to take any more photos, and in my mind I’m contemplating how many photos I can all9w in today’s post. I hardly need any more, but views I can’t help stopping for just keep coming.
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I’m halfway down the climb, controlling my speed on a 21% precipice when the phone rings. It’s Rachael of course, coincidentally calling again when I’m at almost exactly the same spot on the road where she called me yesterday. This time it’s because she set off the incident alarm on her Garmin somehow and wants to reassure me she’s fine in case I got notified. Also to express her frustration that she can’t figure out how to disable it so it quits beeping at her and how to get her map back which has gone black. Finally she announces with relief that she’s fine again and can see how to get home now.
I’m glad to know she’s fine, and haven’t minded either interruption. She’s brought me luck- yesterday it was the swifts nesting in the eves of the building I’m staring at, and today it’s a red swift flying across the gap between the trees ahead, the only one I’ll see today.
I’m happy to see the bar is open when I get back to the Unicorn. I order a Butty Bach to celebrate the day and then head up to the room to grab the iPad and adaptor so I can unload the shots I’ve come back with. I’ve not been back five minutes when Rachael steps in the door, excited to share with me stories of a day that sounded as exceptional as mine. A day as good as it gets, even if it ends with a disappointing meal at the Bangladeshi restaurant down the street.
Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 2,291 miles (3,687 km)
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