Rhayader: Gwyn Llyn Gallop

Distance: 5 miles
Duration: 3 hours
 
Suitable for pets.
Not suitable for wheelchairs or prams.
  
The whole of this walk is along public roads or rights-of-way. This is a five mile walk along mostly quiet lanes, generally tarmac but includes some tracks and paths which will require the wearing of stout footwear. 
Commence at the Clock tower and proceed down West Street. Continue over the bridge into Cwmdauddwr and as you leave the town take the right turn onto the Mountain Road (once the coach road to Aberystwyth before the present route was turnpiked in the 1820’s via Llangurig). 
Carry on along the coach road for about 1/4 mile and just after crossing a small bridge turn left and immediately cross the same stream again. Gwyn Llyn brook which once powered the Old Mill nearby, and the Rhayader New Mill: the history of these and other local water-power sites is a subject in itself. 
Follow the lane as it snakes around the house and continues on a gentle uphill climb for about one mile. You will pass a rough track tat leads off to the right, stay on the tarmaced lane as it curves to the left until you reach the old cottages of Upper and Middle Ochr Cefn. Pass through the gates into the garden of Middle Ochr Cefn, and follow the track as it passes in front of the house and down to the right to a gate into a field. Head down hill following the grassed over remains of a wall down to another metal gate which gives onto a track hedged on both sides. The going here requires caution - certainly after a wet spell. At the bottom of this go through a wooden gate and continue past the houses until you reach a surfaced lane. Bear left and follow the lane until, after 1/2 miles or so, you reach a white house called ‘Penlone’. 
Opposite Penlone is a right turn, go down this old lane for a few yards until a waymark and stile is reached on your left. Cross the stile and continue across two fields, following the way-marks. Carefully cross the next stile as it gives directly onto the fairly busy Elan Valley road (B4518). Cross the road and turn left, walking up the road for a few hundred meters until you reach a turn off on the right sign posted for Noyadd Farm. Follow the track past the farm to a beautiful old house called Y Neyadd. The track veers away to the left slightly and passes a wooden bungalow on the left. Here you will go through a gate and cross through a field keeping the hedge on your left. The track continues through another gate onto a hedged right-of-way. At the end of the track you will pass through another gate onto an open area with lots of gates leading from it. You should turn left and head uphill along the roughly surfaced lane for a gentle ½ mile uphill. Near here are the abandoned formations of the old railway line closed in December 1962, and also tracks to the southbound Wye Valley Walk. Follow the lane enjoying the views until another surfaced lane is reached (New House Lane) which continues straight ahead. Follow the lane and, after a bend in the lane, Rhayader comes into view with a nice downhill walk into Cwmdauddwr with St. Brides Church on your left.
If you can resist the temptation of the Triangle Inn, take the lane passing the Inn of your left and you will shortly reach the main road (B4518). Turn right here, cross the Cwmdauddwr Bridge, and continue up the small hill into Rhayader, where you can check your time as the Clock comes into view.