20 walks/40 pages

The busy, friendly market town of Rhayader offers an eastern gateway to the Cambrian Mountains. Well served by a range of shops, pubs, hotels and cafes, the town lies within a sublime landscape which unfolds into hills and moorland from the basin of the Wye Valley. The high land to the west, the Elenydd, and is one of the loneliest and wildest spaces south of the Scottish border. The region's open landscape may appear to be in its wild state, but man's impact upon it has been long term. Large areas would have once been covered with dwarf oak woodlands, the delightful remnants of which are encountered on some of the walks in this book, and the monuments of early settlers still adorn the plateau, adding a powerful historical resonance to our modern wanderings.