I’m going to keep this brief (!) with just a few photos, and cover three days in the one post.

After driving to Llandrindod Wells on Thursday 29th August (2024) I found the Metropole Hotel (easy) and its car park (less easy) and went in to meet our Tour Guide for this 4-night visit to the ‘Valleys and little trains of Mid Wales’. My room was … disappointing, but I won’t go on about it.

Day 1, August 30th.

Our bus driver, Brian, drove us expertly (as he did throughout) through fine weather and pleasant scenery, passing below Cader Idris (not on the photo) to the head station of the Talyllyn Railway, where we met our first little ‘chuffer’, …

… which took us down to Towyn, near the coast, where Brian picked us up and drove us to Aberdyfi (Aberdovey – a single f is a ‘v’, y is ‘ɘ’ as in ‘the’ and i is as in ‘hit’). There I joined two companions for a glass of vin in a pub before rejoining the bus. The return to the hotel began with a very scenic drive alongside the Dyfi estuary.

Day 2. Friday 31st August.

I knew nothing about the Elan Valley before. An ambitious series of dams across this glaciated valley stores water to send to Birmingham by gravity only (no pumps), as in Thirlmere to Manchester. I wondered which came first and whether the architects and builders worked together. The Park Ranger who joined us on the bus at the Visitor Centre didn’t know, but research online soon discovered that Thirlmere was completed (1st phase) in 1894, and Elan 10 years later, though I still haven’t found anything about cooperation between them – or lack of it.

This was the first dam:

The drive up the valley was really challenging, and although he hadn’t done it before, Brian achieved it with his customary expertise.

At this dam we got out and walked along it – some (not me) as far as the other side:

Now, look at the green domed turret in the middle …… what would you call this:

A weather fish?!

This is the ravine below the dam – the water is being held back for essential repairs and maintenance:

We took the Ranger back to base at the Visitor Centre, following the slightly easier road on the other side of the valley, then made our way to Devil’s Bridge station at the top of the Vale of Rheidol Railway. Unfortunately, time was short and very few of us were able to use the time to walk to the famous 3 bridges, and I don’t think those who did saw the waterfalls. Most were interested in buying something to eat, or eating what they had. Then it was time to meet our second chuffer

and get on the train to go down to Aberystwyth.

After a brief bit of free time, we were back on the bus to go to the University – for a lesson on the Welsh Language. Before it started, there was an incident which should not have happened. Four of us, reluctant to use the stairs, got stuck in a lift which we should never have got into. It just moved so far, making a dreadful noise, and stopped between floors. There was a diagram showing maximum 2 persons, but no-one noticed that, or pointed it out to us, before we got in (tight squeeze) and got it moving. It didn’t last too long before help arrived, and the security man moved it from outside.

The Welsh lesson was fun and very well conducted by the tutor, focusing mainly on the alphabet, but we did get to sing ‘My hat has three corners’ in Welsh, with actions! (I always said you have to be childlike – not childish – to learn a language. Children are the experts – they do it better than anyone!)

Day 3. Sunday 1st September.

If I – or anyone else – had had any interest in what might have been on television that morning, or using the TV set in the room to listen to the radio because the FM signal to the bedside radio (one’s own) was hopeless, then we were disappointed – no TV reception anywhere in the hotel. In fact there hadn’t been on Saturday evening. Work was in hand, they said.

We had a later start that day than previously and didn’t have to be on the bus till 9.45. The weather had changed and there was a risk of drizzle, but the day was mainly better than forecast. Brian drove us to Powys Castle. The coach park was at the foot of a fairly steep approach to the entrance. A shuttle bus was on hand, so some of us took advantage of it. After a quick look at the state coach and associated items in the coach house (viewed through glass, not approached), it was through the archway into a lawned area to be met (confronted?) by this:

Many people, not only from our party, were taking photos of her, but no-one knew who she was! There was no information or inscription on the plinth. I ordered a pork, apple and stuffing ‘sausage’ roll at the nearby café and came out to sit at one of the tables surrounding the lawn. A man at the next table was quicker than I to find information about the statue. It’s the goddess Fame ‘borne aloft on the winged horse, Pegasus’. I’d never heard of Fame (aka Pheme, Fama or Ossa), so further research was called for. I’m not going to tell you all about her, but you can follow up if you want. She’s not a nice deity, but those who know my petname on one side of the family, and my granddaughter’s name on the other, might be amused to discover who her mother might have been!

I thought I’d pick up the shuttle again an see the lower gardens, where there might have been level walking and good views. It didn’t work! The bus didn’t arrive (on time) and I thought waiting for the next one risked making me late for ‘all aboard’. So I walked down the slope and spent an hour on the bus doing – guess what – a puzzle from the paper! (The i was delivered to me promptly at 6 am each morning, pushed under the door, so it didn’t disturb me.)

Once out of the estate (very narrow gate), Brian drove us to Llanfair Caereinion, at the head of the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway, and there we met our third and final chuffer:

Erm, …. Actually, sorry, I tell a lie – that’s not our chuffer, it’s one we met on the way down; our train was diesel hauled. To me, this ride was the best of the three. There were fewer stretches where the track was bordered by high hedges and trees (in full leaf), so more of the scenery was visible:

Of course, if we’d crossed a river that wide on a bridge like that on one of the other trains, it would have been just as visible, so that photo doesn’t really make the point!

After dinner that evening we were treated to a concert from a Welsh male voice choir, so, by chance, the ongoing lack of TV all round the hotel was compensated for! (I might have watched Episode 3 of ‘Sherwood’, but I’ve caught up on it since coming home. I find it very difficult to follow.) The concert made a very pleasant end to our weekend.

Maybe it’s not necessary, just slightly funny, to mention that I locked myself out of my room next morning while taking by stuff down to the car in relays! They were very good and quick to provide a second key card. The self-service breakfast was good each day, too.

Goodbye, then.

Who does he think he is? – The Fat Controller?