WORDS AND PICTURES PAOLO COPPO
As the long, hot summer of 2018 broke, and rain finally lashed Wales, Paolo Coppo donned his chef’s apron to dish up the grub for riders in the 2018 Mille Cymru at the Llanwrtyd Wells night control point. It was hard work – but preferable to actually taking part!
Cooking up a storm LLANWRTYD WELL’S CLAIM to fame is that it’s the smallest town in Britain and host to the World Alterative Games, where you can compete in disciplines such as “worm charming” against the best of the best. It was a glamorous place back in Victorian times: an information display at the main crossroads tells of fashionable crowds coming from London to bathe in
It was a ❝ glamorous place back in Victorian times
Arrivéesummer/autumn2019
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Alternative town… Llanwrtyd Wells under a threatening sky
the spa waters, which goes a long way to explain the abundance of tastefully decorated three storey guest houses. Llanwrtyd was also the night control of the Mille Cymru, where I spent 48 hours during a hot, then wet and then blustery late July. MC1K was an event I wanted to get involved with, but I figured I had seen enough of Wales over the previous 12
THE LLANWRTYD NIGHT CONTROL MENU Day one Pea and mint soup (vegetarian, gluten-free) Vegetable chilli with rice (v, gf) Pasta with chicken, bacon and leek Fruit crumble (v) Day two Lentil soup (v, gf) Vegetable tagine with cous (v) Beef cawl (gf) Trifle (gf)
months, courtesy of the Bryan Chapman Memorial and a good number of calendar events. The reality might be somewhat different and more along the lines of being too scared to even consider riding a selection of a thousand of the hilliest kilometres in Wales over 75 hours. Either way, volunteering at the event is a viable option – a slice of the action at a fraction of the sweat. And the centre of the action
