Brechfa - Abergorlech side this time

Well first thing this morning it was nice and sunny, then it clouded up, and we had a few spots of rain. Thought I would be here for the day again really. Wasn't feeling too good either. My eyes were fine yesterday, and I thought maybe the rain meant the pollen count had gone down, and it was hayfever after all, but this morning, woke up with them streaming again. Went up the aviary to do my birds and could hardly bloody see. I was so fed up. Keep feeling weak and shivery too. Anyway, Irene phoned to see what I was up to, and by then some blue sky had appeared amongst the grey, so made the effort and went over for lunch. She thought that her sheep may have been able to be shorn this afternoon, so we were planning on just running the dogs round her fields, but something had delayed the shearer, so she had the afternoon free after all. We decided to head for Abergorlech, still part of Brechfa forest, but the far side of the Mountain bike track that we went to the other day. The wind was strong and cold, but the sun shone on us, and we were thrilled with our decision. It was fantastic! There's a picnic site, a childrens playground (well nowhere's perfect I suppose....) a lovely carved erm thing for want of a better word, it had birds, and otters and other things carved into a tree trunk basically. A smashing walk, loads of people and mountain bikes whizzing around, but at times not a sound to be heard except the rushing of the water. We saw and heard lots of birds, robin, thrush, buzzard, great tit, and a squirrel, which was quite cheeky, they are obviously used to people there. The whole trail is 19km I guess some fit and healthy people can do the whole circuit, they say on the board 1 and a half to three hours on bikes, so walking I should think would take all day, and some of it is very steep. The river was beautiful, lots of small waterfalls along the route.

We came back the long way home, across the mountains and back to Llanybydder, and the scenery was every bit as breathtaking as our trip into Mid Wales to see the kites the other week. Right on our doorstep - I guess you don't ever appreciate things so close to home.