ELAN VALLEY, WALES

After an uninspiring British summer, we’ve lucked out on our visit to central Wales, with a mini heatwave in September. The area surrounding the historic market town of Rhayader in Powys is sometimes known as the ‘Welsh Lake District’, thanks to its beautiful scenery and series of reservoirs. We’re going to be visiting several of these today, on a route that takes in most of the valley’s six dams, offering stunning views from below, above and alongside them. The Elan Valley is very cyclist-friendly and there are a number of specially-designed routes here, as well as cycle paths, a pump track in Rhayader, and now a couple of short downhill skills trails, too. But more about those later.

Mistbusters

Having spent a very comfortable night in the Penbont House tearooms and B&B, located at the northern edge of the ride by the Pen