Walking the Offa's Dyke Path
Day Six & Seven: Trial by Exhaustion
One of the thousands of stiles
The hikers left Hay-on-Wye early in
the morning to walk the 15 miles to
Kington. None of them had slept very
well that night and so they were all
feeling sluggish. They had to face wind,
mud, and all of the normal things they
had seen before, but their added trial
today was exhaustion.
They passed through two little
villages on their way and Mary kept her
hopes up that they would be able to buy
a cappuccino in one of them, but this
never happened. They did pass through
magnificent farm paddocks, green rolling
hills, and many little back roads. They
saw some of the most spectacular sites
on the trip so far on this section of
the walk; it was worth pushing through
their exhaustion. Unfortunately, Ernest
developed a very achy ankle near the end
of the day; it was most likely due to
all of the repetitive motion over the
five days of hiking. He was able to
hobble off the hike to the hotel in
Kington, but he was unsure if he would
continue with the others on the last day
of the trip. However, Ernest woke up the
next morning, and due to Julia's superb
nursing, his ankle was useable.
Gorgeous Wales
This was the last day of the hike and
the most beautiful of the entire trip.
The fab-four pushed on from Kington to
Knighton another 14 miles. Ernest's
ankle did remind him all day of its
presence, but he was able to hobble on.
Ibuprofen kept him walking nine hours
this day. The trial today was by injury.
They were all so happy to arrive at
the hotel in Knighton their final
destination.
On arrival they had a cup
of tea and a piece of cheesecake waiting
for them. Mary was so happy the trip was
over and of her greeting she kissed the
waitress in her moment of joy. The
highlight of every day had been taking a
hot bath or shower.
Looking back on the long walk
This night was
especially wonderful as they discarded
their stinking and muddy hiking clothes,
which they had been wearing for the last
six days.
They celebrated the end of the trip
with an awards ceremony at dinner. David
won: "Leader and Navigator Award",
Ernest won:
"Endurance through Extreme
Pain Award", Mary won: "Cleanest
Trousers Award" and Julia won: "Sign
Spotter in the Distance Award". They
drank lots of wine to their success of
walking the first half of the Offa's
Dyke Path. They had walked 81 miles in
six days from:
Chepstow to Monmouth. 17 miles
(27km).
Monmouth to Pandy. 17 miles (27km).
Pandy to Hay-on-Wye. 18 miles (29km).
Hay-on-Wye to Kington. 15 miles (24km).
Kington to Knighton. 14 miles (24km).
The end of the road
Pricing:
If you use Contours Walking Holidays it
will cost £425 ($664.89) per person for
the 7 nights, 6 days walking package.
This includes accommodation and luggage
transportation at each nights stopover.
It will cost between $564 to $4,015 to
fly from San Francisco to London
Heathrow airport.
It will cost £22.00 ($34.42) by bus from
London to Chepstow and £30.10 ($47.09)
Prestatyn to London.