This week we’re heading back to early spring in the Welsh hills. But for the second Plodcast in a row, we’re not on foot. Following last week’s paddleboarding on the river Wye, plodcast host Fergus takes to two wheels to explore the hills of his beloved Bannau Brecheiniog.

Borrowing an electric bike, he follows an old railway line into the wild to see how far he can get on a single battery charge – and get home again.

This is episode 13 of season 16: Get Active in Nature

Thank you to Merida for supplying the Merida eBigNine model for this podcast.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com.

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com

Write to us: Plodcast,
Countryfile Magazine
Eagle House
Bristol BS1 4ST
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204: Adventure into the Welsh hills on an electric bike

BBC Countryfile Magazine brings you The Plodcast - a weekly escape to the British countryside with fascinating guests and the wonders of the great outdoors.
Enjoy a new escape into the countryside every Tuesday and wind down with our Sound Escapes on a Friday.
Find out more about us at www.countryfile.com/podcast
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Hidden under the canopy of a Cumbrian forest, you sit, listening to the creaking of branches and snapping of twigs. Tiny closed-cup mushrooms are scattered across the brown-ish ground, shimmering in a gentle wash of rain. The dense evening fog descends and life beyond the wood is shrouded in mist.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Lewis Dobbs, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@countryfile.com
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Sound Escape 168. A misty evening in a Lake District forest

It's dusk in the Forest of Dean and Plodcast host Fergus is on the trail of wild boar with author Chantal Lyons. Chantal has been studying these extraordinary mammals for 10 years. How did the boar get here, what impact do they have and will Fergus and Chantal ever set eyes on them?

Chantal's new book is Groundbreakers: The Return of Britain's Wild Boar, published by Bloomsbury. The Plodcast is produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. The theme tune was written and performed by Blair Dunlop.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com.

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

245. A quest to find wild boar in the Forest of Dean with author Chantal Lyons

You're sitting on a tree stump in a vast clearing, deep in the Forest of Dean. It's dusk and the rapidly failing light takes the last humans with it, leaving the stage free for the dusk chorus of song thrushes, blackbirds and robins.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Recorded by Fergus Collins, introduced by Hannah Tribe.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@countryfile.com
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Sound Escape 167. Relax to the dusk chorus of birdsong deep in the Forest of Dean

Enter the mysterious Golden Triangle on the borders of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to discover one of Britain's glorious spring wildlife spectacle – the blooming of millions of wild daffodils through the woods and fields. Join Plodcast host Fergus for a special ramble to witness this rare wonder.

Later, join the Plodcast team in the studio for nature news, listener emails and a rare countryside joke.

Produced by Jack Bateman and Lewis Dobbs. Reading by Hannah Tribe. Music written and performed by Blair Dunlop.

If you've enjoyed the plodcast, don't forget to leave likes and positive reviews.

Contact the Plodcast team and send your sound recordings of the countryside to: editor@countryfile.com.

If your letter, email or message is read out on the show, you could WIN a Plodcast Postbag prize of a wildlife- or countryside-themed book chosen by the team.

Visit the Countryfile Magazine website: countryfile.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

244. Enter the Golden Triangle in search of magical wild daffodils

This week we're relaxing to a delightful piece of writing about nightingales by Dominic Couzens accompanied by the birds themselves – and read by Fergus Collins. Nightingales is from a collection of BBC Countryfile Magazine articles published new book Countryfile: A Year in the Countryside introduced by John Craven and edited by podcast host Fergus Collins.

BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautiful, wherever you happen to be.

Read by Fergus Collins.

Email the Plodcast team – and send your sound recordings of the countryside – to: editor@countryfile.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

204: Adventure into the Welsh hills on an electric bike

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