Ardal · Y Canolbarth

Mid Wales

Nobody passes through Mid Wales by accident, and that is its whole appeal. This is the emptiest, calmest stretch of the country: the Elan Valley's dams and red kites, the Cambrian Mountains' genuinely dark skies, Machynlleth's market-town independence, and a Ceredigion coastline that saves Aberystwyth, Devil's Bridge and Borth's drowned forest for people willing to drive a little further.

Getting there: the A470 threads the middle of the country north to south, and the Cambrian railway line runs from Shrewsbury through Machynlleth to Aberystwyth. Go slowly — that is rather the point.

Wales-wide reads that visit this area