A very wet start, so it was hard to leave Angela and Paul for the bleak back road to Builth Wells in the pouring rain. We dived into the tea rooms for an early lunch, during which the rain stopped, but it started again soon after we’d finished. The weather gradually improved as we enjoyed a lovely run up to Rhayader on minor roads parallel to the A470 and along the muddy rocky Hodrid track, thankfully nothing like as muddy as on our 1998 ride.
At Rhayader we tried phoning the Neuadd bunkhouse but got an answer machine so rather than returning to Greenfields we opted to continue to Llanidloes. Here we found a new bunkhouse a mile out of town on Glyndwr’s Way, expensive at £20 each but very well appointed and an unusually well equipped kitchen. The one strange omission was curtains… including the bedrooms, so we hung our tent groundsheet from the window of our room to shut out the bulk of the early light. Nobody else was staying there. The bed was a little soft for my liking and the duvet was winter strength so I was too hot, not a good night’s sleep.