Glyndwr's Way is a 135 mile National Trail that goes from Knighton, on the Welsh border, to Machynlleth, then back to Welshpool - the route map looks like a huge V lying on its side. My partner and a friend try to do a multi-day walk two or three times a year, but can't take a lot of time off in one block, so usually split walks into multiple parts. Glydwr's Way splits logically into a 5 day and a 4 day section, breaking at Machynlleth. We decided we'd rather walk west both times, so walked from Welshpool to Machynlleth over 4 days. As quite a lot of people pointed out to us, this meant doing that section 'backwards' Logistics at the end... Day 1 - Welshpool to Pontrobert - 14 miles The marker for the End (our Start) of the walk in Welshpool. Welshpool had some attractive old buildings. The way was well signposted, although we did need our maps now and then when a signpost or other mark seemed to be missing. For this walk, we were following the standard acorn sign, but also a white disc with a red dragon on it (that thing at the top of the gate is a dragon, honest!) We didn't take many photos on this first day, as the weather was quite gloomy. That hill in the distance was visible for most of the day, and a fair bit of day 2. It was rather discouraging at times, looking east and seeing the thing still there! Our B&B for the night was in a tiny village called Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa a few miles off the route, but they do pick-ups and drop-offs from the walk, and also do meals. We reached the pub in Ponrobert just as the drizzle turned to proper rain, so we'd got our timing right!
Day 2 - Pontrobert to Llanwddyn 12 miles We were staying in the same B&B at the end of day 2, so when our host dropped us off at Pontrobert again in the morning, we had lighter rucksacs than the day before. Pontrobert is one of three villages along the route with monuments in the form of metal books, commemorating Ann Griffiths, a local woman who wrote hymns in Welsh. The metal leaves resting on the books were very realistic. The first part of today's walk was near the River Vyrnwy, This Ann Griffiths book was in Dolagnog. That slug is metal, and part of the sculpture! The sun came out for part of the day. Llanwyddyn is the village at the foot of the Lake Vyrnwy dam. It is a tourist attraction, so there was a choice of tea shops. We had a look around the dam as well before our host collected us again. Lake Vyrnwy
Day 3 - Llanwyddyn to Llanbrynmair, 17 miles Our last view of Lake Vyrnwy. Today was a mix of woodland and moorland, much of it quite boggy. That village in the middle of the valley below is our stopping point for the night. The B&B was right in the village, and the pub was only about 20 yards from the B&B.
Day 4 - Llanbrynmair to Machynlleth - 16 miles Last view of Llanbrynmair, on a day that was mostly drizzly, so not many photos. Like Welshpool, Machynlleth has some attractive old buildings. The clock tower in Machynlleth that was the end of this part of the wlk for us.
Logistics: We met up in Welshpool, staying overnight in a hotel in the centre of town. There is a large car park next to the tourist information office where you can leave cars for mulitple days. You have to pay the charges (just over £3 a day when we did it - make sure you take enough pound coins!). You can also leave a note with the people in the Info Office with your car reg, just so they (or the people who check the car park) know it has not been abandoned. There weren't many B&Bs on the route, but the Cartref B&B we found did pick-ups and drop offs (£5 per person per day - a bargain we thought, as it saved us 2 or 3 extra miles at each end of the day). In Llanbrynmair, there was a pub and B&B in the village, plenty of accommodation in Machynlleth. We got the train back from Machynlleth to Welshpool. In spite of the sometimes drizzly weather, this view from the train window told us we'd actually been quite lucky... We're planning on going back in the spring to do the other five days.
Harveys do a map, Cicerone do a guidebook. Google should find a website, don't have it to hand at the moment.
