We don’t get a huge amount of snow in the valley, some years none at all, but, of course, in line with all other parts of the UK we have had more these last few years.
Powys County Council have been very good at keeping roads in good condition. It is quite noticeable as we cross from one county to another that this county does road maintenance well. It is the same with snow, despite having vast tracks of pretty empty countryside, they keep the more used roads well gritted. We always found it rather ironic that one of the indicators of bad weather for us was seeing the gritter on the other side of the valley. It was always the case that the gritter would turn around where the road to the village joins the road through the valley, having gritted the road from Rhayader. The village was, however, left to its own devices, and even in slight snow we had some difficulties. Our car is front wheel drive, which certainly helps, but it isn’t four wheel drive. Problem areas used to be our drive, the bridge and the hill opposite. Our drive had a gravel surface, which I thought would help traction. What we found was that the gravel, once iced became as though fluid. Even though it is only a very gentle rise, I could not get our old Laguna up it in snow! We have now tarmac-ed the drive and it is no longer a problem. The bridge can get very icy, and with 90 degree turns on and off, has to be treated with respect, then the hill up from the Visitor Centre could be very difficult.
This year the management of the Visitor Centre decided to keep it open through the winter, and, possibly as a result, the gritter is now coming down the hill to the entrance of the Centre! This has been a huge improvement, keeping the hill more accessible, and, because salt gets carried onto the bridge, making that much safer too.
As the weather forecasts were getting ever more dire, a couple of weeks ago, we had planned to visit our son in Ipswich. We decided that that dreadful journey, which we have often done by car, would be even worse than usual. Llandrindod station has what could be the most helpful ticket office connected to our railways! They are excellent, very well informed, and getting the best route and the best price is a matter of honour! Sure enough we were set up with a three change journey that got us to Ipswich in pretty much the same time that we would have taken by car, and at pretty much the same cost. We still had to get to Llandrindod and it did turn out to be a very snowy morning, but, with the improvements we were able to do it without problem. Incidentally all the trains left and arrived on time and we enjoyed the journey admiring the winter wonderland that we were traveling through.
