idea for next trip – run a #2 clipper over all hair so that need to carry heavy wet towels is reduced.

Radical idea but may have merit as an improvement for serious tours….

I am now in a cafe in Rhyader having elevenses. When i left you i was off to go thru the Elan valley. I did so, clocking up 100 miles in the process, of beautiful moorland, lumpen mountains, burbling whitewater streams & falls, dams & wildlife.

Best bird was a Red Kite, a huge raptor wheeling & diving to my right as I ascended the valley road. I’ve seen two now, and have had some of the best scenery to be had in the UK. The trailbike lineage of my bike is a blessing – some of the tracks i’ve been up, you’ld be insane to attempt in anything other than a 4×4.

Ah! That was a good brunch.

I am theoretically en-route home now, panoramic pictures in the camera which I am gonna have to talk to raphael about. I intend to pootle along, may stop off to visit family, and get home after teatime.

Then, tomorrow, i am assaulting Wembley Ikea with a friend.

How middle-class. The contrast with where i am now could hardly be greater.