Bike Route: Newcastle-Emlyn to Pontrhydfendigaid 44mi 3000ft of climb
Accommodation: Forest Glade Hotel, formerly the Black Lion Inn (Airbnb); hosts Angela and Kevin. Twin-bed room with ensuite shower and continental breakfast. We upgraded to a Welsh porridge breakfast.
Dinner: We added dinner in the dining room of the hotel, prepared by Angela. Spaghetti with meatballs, salmon, sweet potato mash, salad, and steamed vegetables, with brownies for dessert. Excellent.
We got an early start because we had a longish distance to cover. The sun was shining, Ishtar came out to say good-bye, and we were sorry to leave. Newcastle-Emlyn was a cute little town and our annex was so comfortable. But on we went.
Although we covered a lot of miles, the riding was relaxing and fun. We were on small roads winding through the countryside, the hills were mostly ridable, the weather was cloudy but not rainy.
The last several miles were on a gravel trail on an old railroad bed. As we went through the gate onto the trail, we met a woman about our age and her mother on their afternoon walk. They asked about our travels, and the mother was pleased to hear that we were staying in Pontrhydfendigaid, where she lives on the road to the abbey. She was also eager to tell us a story about the abbey. Several years ago, a young man asked permission to explore the abbey grounds. He scanned the midden (garbage pile) with a metal detector and found a valuable gold coin. He was honest enough to turn the coin over to the university that regularly excavates the site, and our storyteller was so pleased that he did so.
We arrived in Pontrhydfendigaid tired and hungry but not completely worn out. Angela and Kevin were very welcoming, and we enjoyed hearing about their efforts to establish the hotel after buying it during Covid; their dreams of spending part of the year in Portugal, which were interrupted by Brexit and by the efforts to care for Angela's parents, who were struggling with Alzheimer's (her father) and vascular dementia (her mother); and their plans for Angela's daughter's wedding later this summer. Angela's mother, Christina, came out to chat for a while, too. After storing the bikes in an outbuilding, we made our way to hot showers and a cup of tea in our room.
A little while later, Kevin knocked on our door to say dinner was ready, and we walked over to the dining room in the hotel, where we had our choice of tables as we were the only guests that night. We thought we would stroll up the abbey road after dinner. Angela and Kevin told us the abbey was quite a hike, probably about half an hour uphill, but the trail was beautiful and worth the effort. By the time we finished eating, though, we just wanted our beds.
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| The bluebells have been in full bloom the entire time we have been in the UK--because we have slowly made our way north as they are coming into flower. The hedgerows are so pretty. |
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| This one is for Tim Schmidt. Tim and Ken have been trading knit and crochet street art photos for several years, from many places on our travels. We found this bit of crochetwork outside a donut shop. |
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| Our lunch stop in the Welsh hills. |
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| Ken on the road. |
