Day 4 Dragon’s Back Race recce – Ceredigion to Llandovery over two days

Date: Tuesday 4th July 2023

Strava says: 20.55 miles

Elevation: 3,907 ft /  1,191 m

Weather: mostly sunshine

Start: Ceredigion

Finish: Elan Valley Hotel

Route type: recce, point to point

Conditions: very wet underfoot in places

Describe the route in three words: lovely easy miles

Ceredigion to Elan Valley Hotel  – Day 4 Dragon’s Back Race Recce

I had a fab few days training in Wales planned, the first two days were to be a recce of Day 4 Dragon’s Back Race and the third day a recce for the Beacon’s Way 100 mile.

I set off from Hampshire super early, had a good drive up and parked near to the Elan Valley Hotel, there is a layby there that did not appear to have any parking restrictions. The taxi driver picked me up as planned and dropped me off at the Day 4 start point. We passed the Elvis Stone on the way, I’d spotted it on the map and wondered what it was. It is a big rock with ELVIS in white capital letters written on it. Apparently one of the most famous pieces of graffiti in Wales!

Once dropped off, I had a long wait for my Fenix 6 to pick up satellite signal, I set off at a walk whist waiting for it. It was finally ready I broke into a jog and my official route on Strava commenced at 11:47am. However it wasn’t that long until I needed to walk again as once through the farm the climb starts. The climb is not long, or particularly challenging and I reached the small lake around 12:10pm, it’s so easy to follow the path round, this is wrong! Luckily I realised the moment after I had taken the selfie. I had to follow the Afon Myhern then take a turn through a forest.

There is a HUGE uprooted tree here, 12:24pm. Much confusion followed. On the map there is a path indicated but the highlighted route cuts the corner and is briefly pathless. I did start following the very obvious path to the left and got views of an amazing waterfall, I ended up retracing my steps, following the gpx line as this part if the route is mandatory rather than recommended, it’s very steep and the soft forest floor is quite slippery, I fell on my bottom numerous times and can imagine on race day it’ll be a slip-slide mayhem through here!

All good fun as it is very soft terrain and there are plenty of trees to hang on to! I rejoined the track, came onto a wider path 12:44pm and then over a bridge and upwards towards a windmill, 1:04pm. There then follows a pathless section, essentially you are aiming to pass through a gate and head for the windmill line which is a tarmac path (legal fence climbing required). Just before the windmill line, there wasn’t much running taking place due to either high grasses or waterlogged grass. I feel that waterproof socks would be a good move on this day.

From the windmills down to the road the route is simple to follow, there’s a pathless section just before the road through some ferns but it’s easy enough as it’s just a case of point and shoot.

Not for the first time that day I felt I was following behind in someone else’s footsteps. I ended up trotting behind some sheep on the road and wondered why sheep often just run in a straight line in front, why don’t they just dart off to the side? My pondering meant that I sailed past the point that I was supposed to turn, opps! I went back and this tiny little hill is perhaps the steepest of the whole route, I actually had to put my hands on my knees for the ‘climb’!

I reached Checkpoint 1 Fence Corner at 2:56pm which was well within the cut off time.

The route from Checkpoint 1 to 2 is mostly off path and I reached Checkpoint 2 Summit Post at 3:14pm, again, within cut offs as on the day I’ll have 45 minutes between these two checkpoints.

Back down to the road where I sent a selfie to Kev, 3:52pm at the Elan Valley welcome sign.

I tapped the Checkpoint 3 Summit Trig Esgair Penygarreg – 533 m 3 hours 40 minutes after starting – within the cut off by 2 hours.

Half an hour later I saw someone up ahead and wondered if she was a fellow Dragon as well as the one I felt like I had been following all day, she started heading up a different path to the way I was going so perhaps she was a hiker after all. I continued on my way and then spotted her cutting back down the hill, I asked her is she was a Dragon and she was! Lindsey. We ran together until the end and we swapped our training stories. Lyndsey had made the tough decision the previous night to postpone her race until next year, she is an experienced mountaineer but fairly new to ultra and she felt that she would benefit from more training.

I got to my car just under five and a half hours since starting, I’d really had a fantastic day out and was surprised at just how ‘easy’ the route is compared to what I know of the rest of the DBR route. For sure I’ll be super tired by the time I reach Day 4 but it will be good to know it’s not a technically challenging day at all. That is of course, if I reach this point in DBR!

Results

Elapsed time: 5 hr 28 m 31 s

Strava route: https://www.strava.com/activities/9387966508

Elan Valley Hotel to Llandovery  – Day 4 Dragon’s Back Race Recce

Date: Wednesday 5th July 2023

Strava says: 22.49 miles

Elevation: 3,684 ft / 1,123 m

Weather: mostly sunshine

Start: Elan Valley Hotel

Finish: Llandovery

Route type: recce, point to point

Conditions: mostly dry and good underfoot

Describe the route in three words: joyful easy scenery

I had a bit of a head-fry meeting the taxi driver this morning – 100% my fault and not at all his! I had a relatively long drive to the meeting point and had inadvertently mis-typed the post code, this delivered me a couple of miles shy of the meet location. The day before, I had shown him the parking area that I wanted him to meet me in, it was so convenient that I had the same taxi driver for both day’s journeys. I headed to where I thought the car park was but he wasn’t there, plus it did look more like a lay by rather than a car park. I drove to the end location of the run, then back to the lay-by then back to the end. There was no phone signal and I wasn’t sure how best to meet him. It hadn’t helped that I had given him a post code for the end, a post code for near the car park as well as shown him on the map where the parking was, too many options! As I was heading back to the ‘car park’, I saw him driving towards me, he’d found the car park straight away, waiting until a few minutes after our agreed meeting time before heading to the end location to see if I was there. I followed him in my car to the car park, which was in fact much further along the road than where I had thought it was. For others doing this recce, there is parking at RSPB Gwenffrwd-dinas, SA20 0PG which is alongside St Pauline’s church, this would be the ideal place to park.

The taxi driver drove a very different way to the one I had come, it was let’s just say, the scenic route. It was incredibly beautiful with views of the Llyn Brianne Reservoir and I realised that a chunk of this road section I would in fact be running later on in the day.

I was deposited back near the Elan Valley Hotel and commenced my recce at 11:41am. There’s a bit of a wiggle to get down on to the green, I pictured myself here in September and wondered what sort of state I would be in. It’s then straight onto and up a lane. Already this seemed faster terrain than the day before. I headed through a gate and carefully passed some mother cows and their calf’s. The heavens opened temporarily.

The route goes alongside the Cabban-coch Reservoir which has a huge dam and it’s miles of easy running along either tracks or forest roads.

The runnable route continued all the way to Checkpoint 6 Summit Trig of Drygarn Fawr 641 m, I’d reached this at 1:43pm, around 2 hours from starting, this is an hour within the cut off time. The weather was ideal and the views were just so stunning, I decided to sit at the trig and have a proper picnic lunch, it was lovely.

After lunch at the trig there was a mini Christmas tree forest 2:15pm, there was a path on the ground but it was very overgrown so I had to fight my way through a bit, I’m always so grateful that I insist on wearing leggings all the time for this very reason! I came out on a track and it really reminded me of a section I’d done on Beast of the Blacks.

This delivered me to a road section which passes through Abergwesyn. I was quite happily trotting along the road when I caught up with a ewe and her lamb. They did the classic thing of running ahead of me rather than darting off to the side.

After some time, a hen came around the corner towards me, very similar to the girls we keep at home. Behind the hen was a slow moving car. The road was too narrow to pass her and they clearly did not want to risk running her over. Runner, sheep, hen and car all ground to a halt. The sheep made the first move by darting into the field on my right (finally) I stooped to pick up the hen and made pleasantries with the car driver and passenger, apparently they had been following her for around 100 feet. I took the opportunity to have a lovely cuddle with the hen (she was very friendly) 2:48pm and jogged down the road with her, sure enough, after around 100 feet I came across a driveway to a house. I deposited her on the drive where she immediately went about her chickeny business and I carried on. Next along the lane was a farmer and his dog riding a quad bike, he wanted to know if there were sheep on the road as he’d spotted the car driving very slowly. I explained it was just the two sheep and one hen, he confirmed that I had returned her to the rightful abode. Happy days.

I still had a section of footpath and pathless to do before hitting the long road section to the end, photos at 3:11pm and 3:19pm. Oh my that pathless section was a pain in the backside! It was very high ferns booby trapped with plenty of cow pats and steep banks to one side. I’d say it took around 30 minutes to do that one flat mile!

Normally I’d be gutted about a long road section, in this case though I was delighted to see it and to be able to move again, sure enough, this was the way the taxi had brought me and the views were simply outstanding, what a joy! I decided to push it a bit along here as I felt it might be good training to put in a bit of effort at the end of a run plus I knew if I did I could be back at the car in less than five hours since starting out. I know I pushed it as the following day I could most definitely feel ‘fast road work’ in my legs, a feeling I rarely get as it’s not something I ever do but I know it when I have it!

On race day I feel I need to employ some tactics here. I was looking for grass verges to run on to save my legs from a tarmac pounding. I also considered that it is probably better to take this section easy and get into camp a few minutes later. I think 10 – 30 minutes less time in camp will be better than the after effects of hard road running.

Results

Elapsed time:  4 hr 55 m 23 s

Strava route: https://www.strava.com/activities/9393994203

Useful Planning Information

Spriggs Taxi’s 01597 811857

Stuck to the quote they gave me even though he drove further, I of course paid him what the metre said and tipped, he was brilliant! Spriggs Taxi quoted £42 from Elan Valley to run start point at Ceredigion, Simon Price Cars quoted £130! Spriggs Taxi quoted £72 from Llandovery to Elan Valley Hotel, Simon Price Cars quoted £220!

Day 3 overnight camp / Day 4 start: Ceredigion SY23 3LF

Elan Valley Hotel (mid point): LD6 5HN (about 30 minute drive from here to Ceredigion at the start of run)

Lots of accommodation options in Rhayader (mid point, just over 2 miles from Elan Valley Hotel). I stayed in The Bear Rhayader which was excellent.

Rhayader has a Co-Op and an assortment of places to eat and if I had time I would have very much enjoyed spending an hour or two looking around the shops.

Day 4 camp / end point Towy Bridge Inn, Llandovery SA20 0PE.

Good place to park: RSPB Gwenffrwd-dinas, SA20 0PG which is just over an hour’s drive from Elan Valley Hotel.