If you are driving up from Pembrokeshire to the north of England, or the Midlands, there is only the one main road through the mountains of mid Wales: the A44.

The road takes you from Aberystwyth on the coast, across to Llangurig, where it joins the A483 which continues north-eastwards up towards Newtown and beyond. Many people suggest that there ought to be a dual carriageway or even a motorway along this route. I think that would be madness and it would definitely ruin an area of real beauty forever.

There are plenty of places to stop and take in the beautiful scenery, and I would thoroughly recommend taking a trip along this road, with your camera or smartphone at the ready. Mrs R has actually taken some great shots of the snow-covered scenery from out of the window as we were driving along.

The A44 through the mountains and hills of mid-Wales is very scenic

What is wrong with those people who always seem to need to get to their destination in as short a time as possible? It’s like they have no interest in the countryside or the landscape through which they travel. Granted, the A44 is often extremely busy, especially in the summer months when caravans and motorhomes join the many large trucks, works vans and commuters travelling the road, but a ‘bigger’ road would be awful. It would ruin the landscape and come at an enormous financial cost… to say nothing of the travel delays that roadworks would cause.

I expect that the few people living alongside the A44 must be used to the traffic noise, which continues day and night. I had to wait for around twenty minutes at the side of the road to get this photograph… the last thing I wanted in the picture was a car or truck!

Slowing down our pace of life works wonders… and our enjoyment of life’s special moments increases as we do so!

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