Explore Mid-Wales
Of the four spa towns, LLANWRTYD WELLS, twenty miles northwest of Brecon, is the most appealing. This was where the Welsh – Dyfed farmers along with Nonconformist middle classes from Glamorgan – flocked to the great eisteddfodau (festivals of Welsh music, dance and poetry) in the valley of the River Irfon; today, it’s the Welsh capital of wacky events.
In town, Dolecoed Road winds for half a mile along the river to the Dolecoed Hotel, built near the spa’s original sulphurous spring. Although the distinctive aroma had been noted in the area for centuries, it was truly “discovered” in 1732 by the local priest, Theophilus Evans, who drank from an evil-smelling spring after seeing a rudely healthy frog pop out of it. The spring, named Ffynnon Drewllyd (Stinking Well), bubbles up amongst the dilapidated spa buildings a hundred yards behind the hotel.
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Wacky Wales: Llanwrtyd Wells
Wacky Wales: Llanwrtyd Wells
Of Llanwrtyd Wells’ various quirky events, three stand out: in mid-June, the Man Versus Horse marathon, a punishing 22-mile endurance test between man and beast over various types of terrain; at the end of August, the world bog-snorkelling championships, in which competitors must complete two lengths of a water-filled trench cut through a peat bog; and in November, the Real Ale Wobble, an event for the somewhat less serious-minded cyclist, that involves two days of combined mountain biking and beer drinking.
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The Abergwesyn Pass
The Abergwesyn Pass
From the riverside hamlet of ABERGWESYN, you can drive the quite magnificent winding thread of an ancient cattle-drovers’ road – the Abergwesyn Pass – up the perilous Devil’s Staircase and through dense conifer forests to miles of wide, desolate valleys where sheep graze unhurriedly. At the little bridge over the tiny Tywi River, a track heads south past an isolated, gas-lit hostel at DOLGOCH. Remote paths lead from the hostel through the forests and hillsides to the exquisitely isolated chapel at Soar-y-Mynydd and over the mountains to the next hostel at TYNCORNEL, five miles from Dolgoch.
