Mid Wales: The Beacons to Cadair Idris

Editor's note

Two nights in Bannau Brycheiniog. Climb Pen y Fan, at 886m the highest peak in south Wales, by the graded path from the Storey Arms, a 460m ascent. On the summit is a reconstructed Bronze Age cairn with a stone burial chamber, and its twin stands on Corn Du; carry on round the horseshoe to Cribyn and look back at the north face. The Brecon Beacons became an International Dark Sky Reserve in 2013, the first in Wales. On a clear, moonless night, find the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye from the Dark Sky Discovery Site on Mynydd Illtud Common. October to March gives the darkest skies.

Editor's note

One night at Hay-on-Wye, the National Book Town of Wales, with more than twenty bookshops and the Hay Festival every spring. Spend an afternoon in the shops and find the honesty bookshop in the castle grounds. South of the town, a single-track road climbs between Hay Bluff and Twmpa to the Gospel Pass, at 549m the highest road pass in Wales. Drive or cycle it, walk up Hay Bluff from the pass, then drop down the Vale of Ewyas past Llanthony Priory.

Editor's note

Two nights between Llandrindod Wells and the Elan Valley. In the spa town, walk Rock Park to the old pump room and chalybeate spring, go round the ornamental lake of the 1870s and learn the spa's story at the Radnorshire Museum. At Gigrin Farm by Rhayader, sit in a hide for the afternoon feed, when hundreds of red kites come in, and look for a pale leucistic one. Drive or cycle the Elan Valley Trail past the dams, watch the kites gather at dusk, and after dark photograph the Milky Way over Claerwen, the largest and most remote reservoir in the chain. October to March gives the darkest skies.

Editor's note

One night at Aberystwyth. Ride the Cliff Railway, opened in 1896, up Constitution Hill to the camera obscura at the top, then walk the promenade from the castle ruins and kick the bar at the north end. The National Library of Wales, on the hill above the town, shows its manuscripts. The Vale of Rheidol Railway, narrow gauge and steam-hauled, climbs twelve miles to Devil's Bridge, where three bridges built hundreds of years apart stand one above another over the Mynach gorge. Walk down the Jacob's Ladder steps into the gorge and follow the nature trail to the Devil's Punchbowl.

Editor's note

Two final nights for Cadair Idris and Machynlleth. Climb Penygadair, 893m, by the Minffordd Path past Llyn Cau, the glacial lake below the summit crags; the top looks over Cardigan Bay and the Mawddach estuary, and legend says a night there leaves you a poet or a madman. Coed y Brenin, a 9,000-acre forest north of Dolgellau, has eight waymarked mountain bike trails of 12 to 38km: ride a red route or walk to the waterfalls on the Afon Mawddach. At Machynlleth, ride the water-balanced funicular into the Centre for Alternative Technology and visit the Owain Glyndŵr Centre in the town where he held his parliament in 1404.