Walking the Offa's Dyke Path
Day Three: Trial by Mud
The long and winding road, that
leads to your door
Delayed by a late breakfast the
intrepid hikers were late getting onto
the trail. This turned out to be an
extremely costly delay. They headed off
down the track from Redbrook to
Llantilio Crossenny another 13 miles of
walking. The good news was they had only
to carry their day packs on the walk.
Their bags transported each day to the
next stop for them.
They passed through some wonderful
green countryside and farms. Eventually
they came to a small town where they
stopped for coffee and bought some lunch
supplies. They continued through the
town and out into more beautiful farm
lands. It was here they encountered the
real mud!
"Mud, mud, glorious mud"
In the last installment their trial
was by flood, but this day it was trial
by mud. In some places the paddocks and
fields they crossed were four inches
deep in very wet, sticky, and slippery
mud; and this went on for mile after
mile. Walking in mud is quite taxing as
you exert much energy just trying to
stay upright. However, the fab-four
plodded on through the brown ooze,
although they were never completely free
of it all day. Eventually it became less
of a drag on their progress. The song
"Mud, mud, glorious mud" became the song
of the day. It was amazing luck that it
had not rained a drop on them even
though it threatened to rain all day.
Welsh farmers
A welcome stop along the way
Because of the unplanned mud delays
and late start they did not make it to
their farm house accommodation until
5:30pm, which meant they walked the last
few miles in darkness, and yes,
wallowing through mud. Without a road to
follow, and armed with only some
rudimentary directions, the four hikers
wandered about in the dark paddocks for
an hour before finding their way. They
were sure glad to arrive at the farm
house. An elderly Welsh couple greeted
the tired hikers. The farmer's wife is a
poet and had written many poems about
the mud in Wales. More stories about mud
did not inspire the hikers; especially
after spending the day walking in the
fresh brown and oozy Welsh mud.
So far it has not rained, but will
their luck hold out? Will they be able
to get around other flooded sections of
the path? And what about the mud, will
it let up? Was rain and snow waiting for
them on the next section of the walk?
Join me on my next installment of
Walking the Offa's Dyke Path.