Dry.

Another change in the weather today. While mainly overcast it was at least dry with just enough wind to make it worth hanging two loads of washing on the line and at times it felt almost warm. The Met Office forecast warned that storms would return this evening and already I can hear the wind beginning to gust.

My day began early, having woken at 4.30 after an hour I gave up trying to get back to sleep and got up. That gave me plenty of time to prepare breakfast, do extra Duo Lingo and then our homework (listening to a fast spoken conversation and answering questions), sort out stuff for the walk, put my work clothes in the machine, do today's Wordle and once Peter was awake run the hoover over the utility room floor which was sandy after my building efforts when I kept walking through the sand scattered across the paving. That was all before we had our Sunday breakfast.

The meeting point for today's walk was on the other side of Machynlleth which meant leaving even earlier than usual. I'd checked out the exact spot with street view which makes it so much easier. (I wouldn't trust a sat-nav to find isolated parking spots in the countryside after meeting so many lost people around Dingles.)

Today's walk was a gentle walk around and across the River Dyfi, 

with a short diversion to go and stand under the new road bridge that is being built. The original bridge was built of timber in 1533, then replaced by a stone bridge in 1681 and then rebuilt in 1805. Apart from being vulnerable to flooding the existing narrow bridge which carries the only main road in the area has no footpath and is frequently damaged by vehicles. The new road and bridge will stand above the flood plain and cross the river north of the town.

Not being a great fan of building works I was relieved when we headed across the water meadows by the river. Here (below) the Afon (River) Dulas joins the Dyfi. There is a second river with the same name joining the Dyfi a bit further up which is a bit strange but I've since found out that locally this one is the North Dulas and the other one the South Dulas. Also looking at the map it is possible that the course of the River Dyfi may have changed as it meandered through the flat valley (remember back to O-level geography?) making the two Afon Dulas appear to be the same river. Or perhaps it was just an inept cartographer?

We crossed the railway a couple of times. It's the one and only train line which goes as far as Aberystwyth and then stops. If you want to travel to South Wales you have to travel north and then east on this line out to England, south through England and back along the bottom of Wales.

We climbed the side of a small hill under twisted oak trees crunching over a carpet of acorns.

Where we were able to look across the flood plain to the foothills of Snowdonia,

before making our way back down to the river. We had  our lunch sitting on the river bank and two of our group found a deeper pool to swim in. 

From there we crossed the river and walked though a cluster of holiday cabins set in the grounds of a hotel. This must once have been a grand estate as there were enormous ornamental trees all over the place including one conifer that on a previous walk had been estimated to be at least 120ft. tall. (photos tomorrow). From there it was a gentle walk along lanes and fields back to the parking spot. A pleasant walk through the muted autumn colours but I really prefer getting out into the hills.

Not much time to do anything much once I got home as watching Strictly and the results show takes up the whole evening.