Rhayader is a known stopping point for travelers. It is near the River Wye, as Shelley notes, which is a river that flows along the border of Wales and England. It is the fourth-longest river in the UK. At 32, Lodore returns to England with the wish to find a wife. It is near here that Lodore meets Cornelia for the first time. This scenic meeting further cements this idea he has of Cornelia as a mountain-child, untouched by civilization — though, of course, we learn is not true of her.
“He had wandered into Wales. /he was charmed with the scenery and solitude about Rhyaider Gowy in Radnorshire, which lies amidst romantic mountains, and in immediate vicinity to a cataract of the Wye. He fixed himself for some months in a convenient mansion, which he found to let, at a few miles from that place.” (92)