Wales, Offa's Dyke South
Hiking
Monday, January 21, 2008: Trial by Rain
Chepstow Castle.
Mary, Julia, David S., and I departed on our drive to Chepstow, Wales,
where we would start our walking tour of Offa's Dyke southern path on
Tuesday.
We walked from the hotel to the start/finish of the Offa's
Dyke path. It was raining, the wind was blowing, and the sky was menacing,
but we walked on through it all. I, of course, fell over in the mud twice,
which seemed to make everyone laugh; not me though.
The intrepid hikers at the start/finish of the Offa's Dyke walk.
From Julia: We had a small taste of what's to come walking
in torrential rain. David was the first to fall over into the mud and got a
good covering of it on his clothes, ready for tomorrow. We will be eating a
traditional breakfast to power us up in the morning with things like
sausages, eggs, mushrooms, and fried bread. We will need it as locals in the
pub told us it would be raining and we'd likely encounter landslides
tomorrow, perhaps even snow.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008: Trial by Flood
The morning sun. This photo proves that the sun does
actually shine in England at least once a year.
We saw the English sun for the first time! In the morning,
we left the B&B to begin the Offa's Dyke walk from Chepstow to Redbrook, about 13
miles. The trail was very beautiful in places and in the morning, at least, it
was highlighted by bright sunshine.
We walked through woods that reminded me of all the
Robin Hood movies I had watched as a kid and even Hansel and
Gretel. These woods were filled with trees and plants unfamiliar to me
from my experiences in California and Australia. During this part of the
walk, we stopped at the Devil's Pulpit, which gave us a fantastic view of
Tintern Abbey.
Tintern Abbey.
Eventually, we came to the Wye River, which was running very
high. We had a choice to take the river route or the dyke route; we chose
the river route. It was an extremely beautiful walk but a bit muddy in
spots. It was nothing to worry about until we came to a stretch of the river
path that was completely submerged under the swollen Wye River. Our options
were to backtrack a mile or so and try to get to the road above the track
or bush-bash our own path on the high ground above the now-submerged trail. We chose to bush-bash through holly, blackberry bushes,
and thick bracken. We accessed the hill by climbing the steep and slippery
cliff face to the high ground above. It was amazing, but we made it past the
flooded sections of the path, allowing us to rejoin the trail. We were very tired after this, with several more miles to go
before reaching our accommodation in Redbrook. We made our way slowly
through pine tree forests and arrived at 4:30. The good
news was it did not rain a drop all day!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008: Trial by Mud
My boots covered in muddy ooze.
We were delayed in leaving this morning due to a late
breakfast by the innkeeper; this turned out to be an extremely costly
delay. We headed off down the track from Redbrook to Llantilio Crossenny,
another 13-mile day ahead of us. We passed through some wonderful
countryside and eventually came to a small town where we had coffee and
bought some lunch supplies. We continued through the town and into the farmlands of Wales,
where we encountered the mud! Yesterday our trial was by flood, but today
it was trial by mud. The paddocks and fields we crossed were, in some places,
4 inches deep in very wet, sticky, and slippery mud, and this went on
for many miles.
An example of how beautiful the countryside was.
Walking in mud is quite taxing as you exert much energy
just trying to stay upright. But we plodded on through the brown ooze and,
although we were never completely free of it all day, eventually it got less of
a drag on our progress. The song "Mud, mud, glorious mud" became our theme of
the day.
Two very relaxed hikers after dinner.
Due to the unplanned delays caused by the mud, we did
not make it to our farmhouse accommodation until 5:30 that evening,
meaning we did the last few miles in the dark, yes, wallowing through mud.
We were sure glad to arrive at the farmhouse, have a shower, eat dinner,
talk, and then go to bed—to dream about mud.
Thursday, January 24, 2008: Trial by Hill
The hikers at a church.
We overslept this morning at our farmhouse accommodation. Our hosts, Mr. and Mrs.
Beaven, made us a scrumptious breakfast, but we
did not hit the path until 9:00. The path this day led from Llantilio
Crossenny to Longtown/Llanthony, a 13½ mile hike. The path was made up of
country roads and fields at first. We did have 10 minutes of showers but,
nothing serious. This day we got the most sunshine so far, even
with a bit of rain. After our eleven o'clock break, we headed up, and
up, and up, the hills of Wales. We came to a thirteenth-century church along
the way.
A ruined abbey seen from the hilltop path.
Before we climbed the mountain, we stopped for lunch in a
lovely pasture filled with sheep. After lunch, we continued our climb to the
ridge line, which gave us views of England to the east and Wales to the west.
This was not an easy walk as the climb was quite steep, up to 2,000 feet.
On the ridge line, we experienced the full power of the wind in Wales
(or so we thought).
Even though the sun was shining on us, the wind must have gusted over 30 or 40 miles per hour, nearly blowing us over at
times. This was our trial by hill and wind. We made it to our farmhouse
accommodation at Longtown/Llanthony, a very nice B&B. I was happy
to have put another day of hiking behind us.
Friday, January 25, 2008: Trial by Gale
The cold and windblown hikers on a heather-covered
mountain top of Brecon Beacons National Park.
We left the farmhouse after breakfast and headed back up
the mountain to the ridge line walk from Longtown/Llanthony to Hay-on-Wye, a
13-mile walk. Getting up to the ridge was an hour and a half climb. A herd
of ponies met us halfway up and seemed to guide us back to the Offa's
Dyke path on the ridge line, which we had lost track of. Yesterday we were
tested by the steep hills and sharp wind, but today our trial was by gale
force winds on the ridge line path. We walked the path for three hours, and
at no time did the wind speed drop below 40 miles per hour, often gusting to 60 miles per
hour, nearly blowing us over. In fact, Mary was blown over by it.
Very relieved hikers out of the wind, finally
and eating a well-deserved lunch.
The air temperature was 40 degrees Fahrenheit, but the wind
chill was way below freezing, so we were very cold on this part of the hike.
This was the hardest walk I have ever done. The wind kept me from
getting into any walking rhythm, and the path was very rough, full of rocks,
streams, holes, ruts, and, of course, mud. We were all extremely glad when the
path turned east and down the side of the mountain,
giving us a break from the gale force winds. A local later told us these winds were the
worst he had ever seen in Wales.
Julia with the mountain we had just descended in the background.
From Julia: We were all amazed that we made it off the
ridge alive, no exaggeration! Many times we all felt almost at
the end of our endurance and just had to think positively to be able
to continue. The wind was constant, and at one point, I was getting really
cold. Both David and my mum had to help me put on my fleece while we
sheltered behind a small pile of rocks. The wind was so strong, it took three
people to do the job. My mum was completely amazing, and her bravery and
positive attitude helped us all to push on. Just when we felt we could go no further, we came to a junction in the path. One path
continued on the ridge to a way marker in the distance; the other led down
the mountain. We were all so pleased when we realized Offa's Dyke was
the downhill way. Hallelujah!
We walked through lovely green fields and were soon in Hay-on-Wye, sipping cappuccino and eating
cakes. The trial by gale seemed so far away, but I shall never
forget it as it tested us all to our breaking point.
The sleepy town of Hay-on-Wye was a welcomed overnight
stop. The town, very quaint, has over 30 bookstores, many little shops, an
old cinema, and a ramshackle stone castle.
Saturday, January 26, 2008: Trial by Exhaustion
The typical rolling hills we saw.
We left Hay-on-Wye to walk to Kington early this morning,
a 15-mile hike. None of us had slept very well that night, so we were all
very sluggish all day. This was our trial by exhaustion; there was wind, mud, and all of the usual trials we had faced before, but exhaustion was our real test today.
We passed through two little villages along the way, and Mary held out hope
that we would be able to buy a cappuccino, but it never happened.
The exhausted group plodding up another hillside.
We passed through farm paddocks, green rolling hills, and
many little back roads.
The rain once again stayed away all day. We have been so lucky with this for the whole trip, especially considering the time of year we did this hike.
We were all so weary. But, we saw some of the most
spectacular sights, so it was worth the effort. Alas, I developed a very achy
ankle near the end of the day; I guess all of the repetitive motion over the
five days of hiking so far had caught up with me. I was able to hobble off
the hike to the hotel in Kington, but as I write this, I am unsure if I will
be able to continue with the others on the last day of the trip tomorrow. I
am really unhappy about this, but I also need to be careful not to make the
injury worse.
Sunday, January 27, 2008: Trial by Injury
The type of scenery we saw.
This was the last day of the hike and the most beautiful
of the entire journey. Yes, I woke up, and due to Julia's superb nursing, my achy ankle
was usable, so I joined everyone on the last day. We pushed on from Kington
to Knighton, another 14 miles.
Mary climbing a steep hill.
My ankle reminded me all day of its presence, but it was
able to carry me through the whole magnificent day. Thank Darwin for
Ibuprofen, or as Mary kept calling it: aardvark, because this somehow
sounded like Advil to her! Keep in mind we had all been walking 8 to 9 hours a
day for 6 days now, so we were all getting a bit silly.
From Julia: We were all so happy to arrive at the hotel in
Knighton and find we could have a cup of tea and a piece of cheesecake
that my mum kissed the waitress in her moment of joy. The highlight of every
day has been having a hot bath or shower, and tonight was especially
wonderful as we were able to discard our stinking hiking clothes, knowing
that next time we wear them, they will have been laundered.
Tonight we are going to have the trip awards ceremony at our last
dinner. I suspect David S. will get 'Leader and Navigator Award,' David M.
will get 'Endurance through Extreme Pain Award,' Mary will get 'Cleanest
Trousers Award,' and I will get 'Sign Spotter in the Distance Award.' And we
will drink to our success.
Monday, January 28, 2008
The happy hikers celebrating their 6-day, 82-mile walk.
We did indeed celebrate last night and drank copious
amounts of wine at our dinner, which was more of a feast than a regular
dinner. That night we all slept very well.
We ate our last full English breakfast and departed from
Knighton, leaving Wales and our hiking adventure behind us. We all agreed we
must return in spring or autumn to walk the northern part of the path. I
hope we will do this sometime.
Eleven o'clock Video