The hotel turned out to be excellent. The rooms were
adequate, the plumbing worked and the beds were comfortable. Some of the
bathrooms had apparently been installed by NASA engineers but otherwise
everything was great.Various small groups set off for the Hafod Hotel with Michelle & I, Martyn, Wayne, John and Zoë meeting up for lunch at the Castel Inn in LLandovery.
We then had an excellent TomTom led run behind John and Zoë to Devil's Bridge where we eventually met up with Stan, Kath, Sue, Gary and Angela.
The hotel turned out to be excellent. The rooms were
adequate, the plumbing worked and the beds were comfortable. Some of the
bathrooms had apparently been installed by NASA engineers but otherwise
everything was great.
All of our party had rooms at the front of the hotel with excellent views over the valley and some even of the falls. Click here for the hotel's website.
Some
members of the party were made to feel especially welcome.
If
it weren't for the MX-5's awesome reliability record, we might have needed to
call out the AA. That wouldn't have been a problem; as you can see there was a
box right next to the hotel, but nobody seemed to have a key.
Some of us had dinner at the hotel on Saturday evening rather than drive into Aberystwyth and an excellent dinner it turned out to be!
The chef, David, set up an excellent choice of meals with some very good vegetarian options.
Then it was into the lounge for a nightcap before tucking into the rooms for a good night's sleep ready for the Sunday run.
After a hearty breakfast (for those of us who felt up to it anyway) we drove down into Aberystwyth for a meet at the start point in the Vale of Rheidol Railway station car park.
Even though the convoy seemed to split into at least three pieces, we all eventually met up at the start point.
Oddly, even though the station shares its location with the National Rail station, there were no loos open at all, so we had to think of a quick stop at the start of the run to make sure everything was drained before setting off on the run.
David and Carol Gibbins joined us at the station for the run and stayed with us until lunch time.
Our first (and very early) stop was at the seafront in Borth to stock up on water and newspapers and also to drain the waterworks for the long journey ahead.
After a great run with MOSTLY top down weather, we arrived at the Vulcan arms near Rhyadar to be met by Glenis, Phil, Maureen and Bram for lunch.
After lunch, most of the party split up with only John, Zoë, Michelle and I following the whole route right past Tal-Y-Bont and Pontsticill before parting at Merthyr Tydfil.
The trip was a great success and a bit of a new venture for us which we might repeat in future if there's a demand for another short break.
It was excellent to see David and Carol on the run because their location at the very edge of our area prevents them attending most of our events, though we hope that won't always be the case now that we've all met.
Thanks to Martyn, Gary and Angela for the pictures (oh and me too).
Hi Ho Silver