07/09/21 - Heart of Wales Line - Stage 4 - LLandrindod Wells to Llanbister Road

Distance - 15 Miles
Geocaches - 0

Pubs - 2
Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3

This leg of the Heart of Wales Line ramble promised to be a proper beery adventure.  A big blue cup of joy marked on the OS map at Penybont, which I should hit at lunch time.  The bible promising not one but two Good Beer Guide Pubs in  post walk Llandrindod Wells.

You can guess what happened.

The 08:45 is waiting at the Llandrindod Station to whisk me to Llanbister Road.  The conductor has been located and the request stop has been, er, requested.

Its a gorgeous day in Mid Wales.  The walking is going to be hilly and completed in solitude with just the beasts of the field for company.  The views, stunning.

Today's walking, mainly like this

And sometimes like this

A special shout out to the Wild Camp at Coco's farm.  What some people get up to on their holidays?

 

Entertainment?  The Holy Stone of Clonrichert

I hit Penybont at 12:10pm.   There's a football pitch - in the middle of race course and a pub.

Who do I call about false advertising?

Clearly says 11am opening.  Every Day.

I know that water supplies are dwindling, so I don't give up.  I sit on the bus stop bench opposite and phone up and ask if they are open at lunch time.  The lady says she will check with Ken, who is in the cellar "cleaning his pipes".  Never sure about local dialect but this does sound promising.  She offers to phone me back but I say just open the front door and shout me.

Laughingly, she does.  Ken is pipe cleaning until 3pm.

I head off.  Two GBG pubs at the end of the walk and I can conserve water like a Bedouin nomad.

The walking maintains it's morning promise, although if I was being picky, I could do with less hills.  I could bring you more photos of mid wales landscapes but the church at the lost village of Cefnllys provides a little variety.

Near Shaky Bridge

The water runs out on the final climb before Llandrindod Wells.

I had low expectations for the micro pub, the Avron Arms.  It being Tuesday afternoon and all.  True enough, its normally closed Mon/Tue but unfortunately, it's not re-opened since the plague.

A Micro for another day, perhaps?

Undeterred, I try the Middleton Arms - slightly out of town to the North.

The For Sale Sign did not stop a fruitless rattle of the door

What a shame.

Not for the first time on the Heart of Wales Line, England provided the must needed refreshment.

Leintwardine again - this time trying the Lion, as opposed to the much visited Sun Inn.

I have to say, the Ludlow Gold - taken in an exceptional beer garden - was possibly better than the Bathams I had at the Great Western in Wolverhampton the day before.

But then again, I had just spent 15 miles of walking trying to make a warm water bottle last the distance.

The only sides it touched were in the glass