August 3, 1962
Ludlow - Nant-y-dernol
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Today we would cross the border into Wales. First, though, our route took us into another county, Herefordshire. For me, still of an “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man” disposition, this was a geographical bonus, a new county. The rain, from which Herefordshire had no protection, lasted all day. We ate our lunch in a bus shelter in the Welsh border town of Knighton . At Pen-y-Bont, at a T-junction with the A44, Mid-Wales’ main road, my wet brake blocks desperately squeezed onto steel rims, failed to stop me and I cruised across the white-line and through a gap in the traffic. Our accommodation this night was to be a facilities-free former farmhouse in the Wye valley up a dirt track, a long 5 miles from the main road between Rhayader and Llangurig. Booking in was to be done at a house a half mile or so before. We knocked on the door. A day in the rain under cheap, plastic, cycle capes had obviously taken its toll, “Why you look so sad?” asked the lady at the door.
At the hostel, in the semi-dark provided by paraffin lamps, a plump middle-aged man, dressed in Scout leaders' khaki shorts, tried to engage us in a campfire sing-song. We would have been more than happy to show him “The Way to Go Home.”
Today's ride: 80 km (50 miles)
Total: 457 km (284 miles)
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