Leaving Aberbran, we headed north and up to the town of Llanidloes. We’d chosen to stay at a Caravan and Motorhome Club (CMC) Certified Location (CL) and Upper Glandulas Caravan Park did not disappoint! Located about a 20 minute walk from the town centre, on a working farm, you wake to the sight of sheep around you. https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/certificated-locations/wales/powys/llanidloes/upper-glandulas/In addition there are Red Kites which liked to land in the trees nearby (and at times, it felt, follow us into the town)!
Walking into town we found it was steeped in history, and dates back to the 7th Century, when the Celtic Saint Idloes, founded a church by the RIver Severn. The Normans invaded in the 11th Century and established a motte and bailey castle, now the site of a Pub! Edward I granted the town a Market Charter in 1280 (there is still a market on Saturdays). In the centre of the town, at the junction of the four main roads is the old Market Hall, on stilts and dating back to 1612, and is the only surviving timber framed market hall in Wales, in its original location. The source of the River Severn is located about 10 miles away in the Cambrian mountains; Llanidloes, is the first town on the river. You can walk the length of the River on the Severn Way, from source to sea.
Leaving Llanidloes, we took a detour up to the Clywedog Reservoir and Dam, there are walks and viewpoints around it. We continued our journey up to Newtown and Welshpool, before finding our next stop outside the village of Berriew. Glandir CL, is located, a short walk from the Montgomery Canal, along which you can walk to the village centre, about 30 minutes, or Welshpool about 3 miles – there is a bus back! Berriew has a selection of pubs, a village store, butcher’s shop, cafe and Sculpture Museum. https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/certificated-locations/wales/powys/llanidloes/upper-glandulas/
Our next stop this week, was the Camping and Caravanning Club Site at Bala. We had assumed that the Bala CCC Site, was in Bala, but it was actually 3 miles away. Next time we visit, we will find the campsite on the Lake! That said, we upgraded our pitch to electric and chilled over the weekend, with the British Grand Prix and Laundry (Ric the former and me the latter, but I do love clean clothes and am a little partial to ironing)!
We’re heading of again on Monday, continuing Our Tour of Wales. As always, thank you for reading. We hope you and your families are safe and well and have some inspiration from our little tales of our travels. We’ll be back soon, (as WiFi and 4G permit in these mountainous parts!)…