Their story, in their words…
Day 1
We arrived at the train station in Machynlleth on time, and pretty quickly found our way to our campsite. The walk was short, only about one hour with relatively little change in altitude, although there was a very nice sunset. We arrived at the first campsite and purchased a spot next to a small stream, we had dinner of rice and chicken. We went to sleep quite quickly.
Day 2
Second day started well, the weather was good and we had chocolate cereal for breakfast. We headed off and quickly began to climb up the side of a mountain, of which the climb continued for quite a long time. We stopped for lunch by the side of the road, eating rice and lentils, and continued onwards, although the path soon became less and less obvious. The field we were intending to cross was closed off by a fence, so we climbed upwards and went around it, although the way down on the other side was quite tricky. The path had been covered by trees the foresters had cut down and not cleared, and so we struggled to see it and had to avoid falling through the unstable path downwards, but we managed to get down. After this, it was an easy walk next to roads to the next campsite, which we were very relieved to find. We set up our tent and had dinner of mash potato, chicken and yellow split peas.
Day 3
For breakfast we had porridge and hot chocolate, which was a nice morale booster. We set off for the big climb up the mountain range around Cadair Idris. The climb upwards initially was quite tough, especially thanks to our big backpacks, although with regular breaks it was easily achievable. We took a detour to admire the lake and fill up on water (and take photos), and continued upwards, with many other hikers practicing for the three peaks challenge. We went off the main path at the peak, and began our descent towards our next campsite, making our way through many fields filled with livestock. The next campsite was also nice, being next to a stream, although we were surrounded by tonnes of midges. We had dinner of pasta, lentils and hot dogs inside our tent as it had started to rain, and went to sleep after a tiring climb.
Day 4
After being woken up at 2 am by a group playing music, we got as much sleep as we could before once again waking up at 5:30 to make the final trip. There was porridge again for breakfast, and once again we set off as quickly as possible to not miss our train. The path was quite straightforward, although a significant portion was surrounded by foliage and there were many bugs after the showers of the previous night. We arrived at the train station earlier than expected, and began to head home, although the first train would be cancelled at shrewsbury and so we took other ones to birmingham international and then to london.
Overall, the trip was a great experience, but it obviously did not come without challenges. It was quite tough to navigate through paths that were no longer really visible, so next time we’ll probably stick to more major paths. Although there were some times where we were unsure whether we had the willpower to continue, it was still worth it, and I’m sure the memory of trying to not fall through the many rotting trees that covered the paths will stick with us for a while.
