Caldicot to mold, part two.

Blimey i must be rambling. I ran out of space in my last post so I'll have to finish it on this one. So... 9. North to south or south to north? There was no point during this walk when i wished i'd done it the 'normal' way round. In fact day ten, over the black mountain, is definitely scenically better and easier from north to south. I generally prefer to walk up steep slopes and down shallow ones, and north to south seems to serve this preference best. For me though it was simple, there was no way i was going to finish offa's dyke on an august bank holiday sunday in prestatyn! 10. The offa's dyke trail is a welsh walk. King offa may not have been too keen on the welsh, and one third of the path is in england, but the best bits are most definitely in wales. And i live there so i'm biased. So what next? I'm convinced that I could do offa's dyke from south to north and it would seem like a completely different walk. Whenever i got round to looking behind me i was amazed at what the place i'd just walked from looked like. So that's a possibility, but i prefer a bit of variation, and Glyndwr's Way, a mid-wales 130 mile walk, has to be favourite at the moment. I'd have done all the welsh national trails then (pembrokeshire coast path is the other), and i could start looking at others such as the lleyn peninsula coast path, and... etc, etc. Once you start It's hard to stop. Maybe it'd be best if i did! So finally, surely for my own indulgence, a few best and worst ofs. Best b&b - drewin farm, Cwm. Best pub stopover - horse and jockey, knighton. Best landlady - Elinor, hand house, llandegla. Best attitude to walkers - cock (not rock) hotel, Forden. Best pint - wye valley hpa, closely followed by monty's desert rat. Best meal - lamb shank at pub i've forgotten the name of in Porth y waen. Best day - day 3. Best place to be - either the llangollen escarpment, the black mountain or hergest ridge. I'd better not risk libel action so I'll stick to worst day - day 5 (but only in a relative way). Worst place to be on the path - either prestatyn, monmouth or any of the many housing estates. Worst moment - the dog incident. Worst meal - well it involved lamb! By the way, the photo shows two useful gates near llanymynech. Bye!

Caldicot to mold, part one.

I'm sitting in newport station with an hour or so to spare before my train to wrexham. Caldicot is already a distant bad memory, which i can now erase because it had nothing to do with offa's dyke. I thought, for the benefit of anyone i know who might be thinking of doing a long distance walk, or anyone who might (God forbid) stumble upon this site while googling, i'd provide some further information, recommendations and tips, some useful, some useless and some simply self-indulgent. Please note that they are personal opinions not necessarily held by everyone (or anyone) else. 1. Long distance walking is fantastic. The only times i haven't got any keys on me are when i'm long distance walking or if i've lost them. It's the best way i know of getting away from it all because there is absolutely nothing to worry about (except the next call from carphone warehouse). The days seem to go on forever, in a nice way, and you spend ridiculously long amounts of time studying trivial things like gate latches, which suddenly become fascinating. 2. There are more types of gate latch than you can possibly imagine. The one in the picture was my favourite. An incredibly complicated way of opening a gate. The significant point here (yes, there is one!) is that the one criticism often levelled at the offa's dyke path is that there are too many stiles, which are a pain, especially with a pack. Well that is gradually being remedied. There are now very few stiles south of Kington, gates having been put in instead, and i suspect this will continue north in the future, hopefully with even more as yet uninvented gate latches. 3. When is a dyke not a dyke? The dyke, as i mentioned in an earlier post, 'got me'. I became obsessed with it, "ooh there it is again! The lump with the hole next to it." I suppose you had to be there really. However i have some issues with its authenticity at times. I have been assured by the historical texts i have read that king offa had it built from chirk south to Kington. I was happy with that until i came to a section of the walk yesterday owned by english heritage. They claimed it was a two mile stretch of offa's dyke. Yes there was a lump. Yes there was a hole. Then the dyke suddenly reappeared again in the last 50 yards of the walk. Surely king offa can't be given credit for every ditch in the uk. This last bit could be anybody's dyke. It could be kevin's dyke for all i know. 4. Ignore weather forecasts. Watch them first though, so you know what you're ignoring. I had hardly any rain at all, compared to what i was told i was going to get. 5. Cloud is good. A contentious issue with non-walkers this one, but when you're carrying a pack (and i suspect mine was no more than 15 kilos) sunny weather is hard work. Consequently walking in britain is usually great, unless it rains all the time. 6. Be prepared. I'm sure someone said this before me. If it does rain then you need to stay dry, which simply means a good waterproof jacket, waterproof trousers, a waterproof rucksack cover and the best boots you can afford. I can't stress the last one enough. On a long distance walk huge amounts of you will hurt early on (but in a nice way!). This will soon pass. However if your feet hurt at the start it will not pass at all. I am yet to have a walking blister, and i'm convinced that the reason for this is spending time putting socks (two pairs for me) and boots on, then doing everything possible to keep them dry. I always wear leather boots for long walks. Heavy, yes. Waterproof, yes. 7. Water, beer and coffee are all essential. The first for obvious reasons. I carried two and a half litres on the days of this walk with no refreshments on the path. I tended to jettison some towards the end if I didn't think I'd need it (after all a litre weighs a kilo). Coffee gives you just the kick you need at the start of the day, and at any other point you can get it on the way. I've drunk masses of the stuff, all caffeinated. I'm even more addicted now than i was before. I'll be hanging round the back alleys of mold next week, trying to score some full flavour colombian blend. Beer, on the other hand, i was determined to avoid at all costs, honest guv! As it turns out this is simply not possible. Offa's dyke is a 50 pint walk. I challenge any beer drinker to do it on less (4 a day for 12 days, plus 2 bonus pints when you've been really good). The stop off pint is the best, though it changes your mindset from 'where's the next viewpoint?' to 'where's the next pub?'. I must admit though it does go against the grain when it comes to getting healthy. 8. Long distance walking makes you healthy. I can now safely describe myself as fit but... I can't say i've lost much weight, though jennie said i had. I have put this down mainly to the following factors: beer, bacon, sausages, fried eggs, crisps and chocolate. In other words if you want to go for the total health experience, camp. 9. To be continued...

Day 12, part 2. Sedbury to sedbury cliffs. 1 mile (+2 to station).

I DID IT! This photo is me at the inauspicious finish of the walk, marked by a rock with a plaque on it. The photo was taken by paul. More of that later. For the first time on the walk i was packed and ready to go straight from breakfast, because i couldn't get out soon enough. Breakfast was served in last night's indian restaurant. The floor was still covered with rice and bits of poppadom. I was the only b&b guest so as soon as the girl there had served up she locked the kitchen and left. I sat there on my own waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. I considered making myself a packed lunch but thought better of it, mainly because i didn't trust their food. So i was away by 8.30. I had to make myself stop thinking that i'd almost finished, because there were still a good few hills to climb and it was the longest day of the walk. I started by crossing the bridge over the river wye (wasn't that a film?), then had a seemingly endless climb up the first hill. The day was a series of ups and downs, with a spell along the river and hardly anyone in sight, amazing for a bank holiday sunday. I'd done the wye valley walk years ago, albeit on different paths and over two days, so i knew not to expect much in the way of views. It was woodland all the way, with just a few viewpoints. The weather was uniformly grey all day, no sun and no rain. I stopped at brockweir for a pint of my new favourite beer, wye valley hpa (not sure I'll get it in mold), which threw me right out of my stride for the climb up the hill overlooking tintern abbey. After regaining my composure i hit the road into chepstow with just 4 miles left. It had been a beautiful walk so far, despite the constant hum or roar of the A466 (depending on how close it was) which runs the length of the wye valley. I didn't meet anyone going in the other direction today. Yesterday i had met a swiss girl on day 2 of her walk. She was asking me all about it and it reminded me that i'd first met other 'dykers' (sorry) on my 2nd day. Now i was the seasoned walker, but it was nearly over, and I'll be in my second week back at work before she finishes. I think people i've met going the other way towards the end of the walk have seemed disappointed that i look quite sprightly. Maybe i should have torn my clothes and crawled along the ground like michael palin at the start of the monty python programmes. So as i was saying it had been a beautiful walk, then with 4 miles left it all got a bit silly. The path hits the road into chepstow then spends 3 miles trying to keep off it by heading through back alleys and housing estates. It was during this spell that i met the bloke with the camping gear again. He was sitting in a bus stop having a rest. We had a chat then i said i'd see him at the end for photo taking (this was indeed paul). This was when i found an offa's dyke sign which was an old out of use one. I followed it but was actually following the old route back up north. Anyway to cut to the chase i soon came upon the bus stop where paul had been, but wasn't any more. After walking 15 miles this was not amusing, so i was even less amused when i was stung by a wasp almost immediately (hey i've got the set this summer, a bee and a wasp). I was now charging about all over the place and not really sure where to go. At this point a nice old lady pointed me in the right direction and within a few minutes i was out of the housing estates and on the final short stretch to the finish. I've done enough long distance walks now to know that the end is always a huge anti-climax. You do a bit of punching the air, then wonder what to do next. In this instance i tried to take a photo of myself by the plaque but the camera kept falling over. Thankfully paul arrived to do the job (listening to wagner. Why didn't i think of that?). I thought he'd already have gone because of my wrong turn, but he'd done exactly the same thing. Now there was no option but to head for the railway station, on foot. When planning the walk i couldn't find anywhere to stay in chepstow so i decided to head for caldicot because it had a castle so must be nice. It's possibly the ugliest town i have ever seen. I couldn't find anywhere serving food, so i bought a kebab and sat in the town centre watching the locals fighting and the police filling up their vans. The walk relaxation vibe has already gone! Not much point doing a meal rating really. Fight rating: 7/10. Locals docked marks for going all pathetic when the police arrived, or running away. My b&b is a vast improvement on the previous two at least. So as the sirens continue to wail outside, i am left with a few decisions to make. Best ofs, worst ofs, that sort of thing. My final post tomorrow will address these burning issues. Stay tuned! Aside: happy birthday harry mac. We must have a game of chess soon, and tell your dad we must go for a beer soon.

Day 12, part 1. Monmouth to sedbury. 17 miles (+ 1 for cock-up).

This post is dedicated to my boots, socks and feet, all of which have got me to this stage. As for my brain, well, It's just spent 20 minutes guiding me in a loop, at the end of which i found myself at the same junction i'd been at before. This spooked me out in a blair witch sort of way till i realised what i'd done! I'm now in sedbury, walking along wyebank road, off which lead wyebank place and wyebank avenue. It's a suburban bungalow nightmare! One mile to go.

Day 11. Pandy to monmouth. 16.2 miles.

This is my tourist photo, because it was that sort of day. Not in an "oh no, not another tourist" way, but in an "ooh, that's an interesting scenic landmark" way. The scenic landmark in the photo is monnow bridge in monmouth. It's famous for something, but i'm not sure what. Nice though. Left my pokey hole this morning at 9. It was sunny and already warm, but thankfully clouds soon appeared which made for easier walking (sorry sun worshippers, but i have different priorities!). Basically i spent the day walking through an undulating landscape of fields and more fields. Not the most exciting day but more tiring than i expected and, as i said, full of scenic landmarks. The first was st cadoc's church in Llangattock, a lovely white village church with a very old painting of st george and the dragon inside. A nice lady who was flower arranging inside showed me round. The next was white castle, a ruin which was most notable for being able to download an audio guide via bluetooth on the way in. The third was a herd of rare white park cattle which looked like those texas longhorn things (ok, not strictly a scenic landmark but very impressive. I would have used them for the photo but i was too sacred to go anywhere near them! I was in the same field though), and the last was the bridge in the piccy. The approach to monmouth was gruelling. The other towns i've walked through or into have had pretty introductions, but this was a mile of tarmac bashing through some nice, then not so nice, houses. I've been a bit taken aback at the scale of housing development in some of the places i've been. Forden for example, near welshpool, or trefonen wherever that was (the village with the offa's dyke brewery), were dominated by estates, to the extent that it was hard to find the village centre if there was one. So monmouth is a lovely town but It's enormous compared to the last time i was here, not that long ago. The shops were still open when i arrived and the town was packed. I was having trouble coping and considered running for the hills, but i wanted to watch united v arsenal on sky so after a shower i joined the throngs in a decent town pub and watched a 2-1 victory. After that i wandered into town. There was a mini-festival going on outside a pub so i watched that for a while, along with at least 8 other people. The first band were quite good and made an effort for a tiny audience. When they finished i headed back for some food. Now for the b&b. Well, It's dreadful. It's a pub called the queen's head. The owner sounds and looks like a man who's given up on it. The room reminds me of college days, no wonder he took the money in advance. The only reason i decided to eat here was because the restaurant was an indian franchise which looked good. I should have known better! Meal rating: 2/10. Lamb korai. Too tough to eat. Nice poppadoms though. Went back to my room to watch match of the day. Last day tomorrow. I won't miss monmouth.

Day 10. Hay-on-wye to pandy. 17.8 miles.

This is the fab view from the Hatterrall ridge towards bath (probably). More of that later. Firstly, when i stayed in Cwm at the end of day 6 i had texts from people complaining that they couldn't find it on a map. That's probably because it isn't on any. So where is pandy? Well It's somewhere along the A465 between hereford and abergavenny. I just wish it wasn't, but more of that later. I had to say goodbye to jennie this morning (again!), which wasn't easy, but i think she might have the trekking bug! It's been great having her as company for a couple of days, and gave me the chance to go a bit more upmarket on the accommodation for a few nights. The main factor today was the weather because it was a high level walk. The forecast was for showers and strong winds. As it turned out things worked very much in my favour. To start with the showers turned out to be a shower, but it was a biggie, and right at the start of the walk, so i was fearing the worst. It took ages to get to the foot of my main target, hay bluff, partly because i had to get togged up, but also because i had a spate of calls from, for example, the man who's fitting some gates at home, and of course carphone warehouse, who call me every day of my life anyway (please note: there is not necessarily any connection between carphone warehouse and the unnamed mobile phone company mentioned on day one. And two). But i got there, and stood looking up at the highest point on offa's dyke path. I noticed then on the map that the route traversed behind the peak and joined the ridge about half a mile beyond. That looked a bit dull so i went for the no nonsense straight up the front of the bugger approach. 20 scrambly minutes later i was on top looking back on the past three days walking (and trying to stand upright). In fact i could see most of the world from up there. I suddenly felt that i'd left mid wales behind and entered the south. The other thing that i suddenly realised was that the wind had turned to the west, and as the ridge i was to follow headed south east the wind would be behind me. Bonus! Basically the ridge runs for about 10 miles in a straight line with little drop in height, and with stunning views throughout. The path on top was great, well maintained and level, so i made quick progress. After about an hour i passed the bloke i think i mentioned on day 6. He was looking in good shape, and seemed very positive. I'm certain he will have gone on ahead again tonight, and i might or might not pass him again. A couple of hours later, and in glorious weather, i was already dropping down to the old pandy inn for a cracking pint of wye valley hpa. Went to find my b&b, then headed back to the pub for a rack of ribs followed by fruit pie and custard. Meal rating: 6/10. Docked a point for soggy veg and another for not providing a finger bowl (is that asking a bit much?). More importantly docked a point because i booked a table and then had to wait ages for one when i arrived, and 2 points because the pudding didn't turn up. Now i have some concerns which need airing. Firstly the b&b, brynhonddu country house, is fine but my room is rubbish. It's a box room, which would be fine if they hadn't tried to fit an en-suite bathroom into it as well. Actually if you stand in the field next door you can see straight through the window into the shower cubicle. But there are more serIous issues afoot. Namely bank holiday weekend. After 10 days of peace and quiet, chaos reigns. The pub is split roughly 80/19/1% between tourists from the caravan site next door, lads on a stag night and me. This would all be fine if i hadn't developed such an enormous holier than thou attitude. I suppose I'll just have to spend the weekend tutting and shaking my head at everyone. Time for bed.

Day 9. Kington to hay-on-wye. 14.5 miles.

We saw lots of horses today. These were on top of hergest ridge, one of the most beautiful places on the whole trail so far. They were able to go where they pleased, and helped to bring my stunning hilltop rendition of 'on horseback' by mike oldfield (see yesterday) to life. I've been thinking about the role played by music on the walk, which is immense seeing as i've hardly heard any. I constantly find myself humming things because something i've seen or heard has triggered it. For example i keep humming 'sweet leaf' by black sabbath, 'top of the world' by the carpenters and 'green, green grass of home' by tom jones. So It's not necessarily a good thing! More strangely i find myself humming songs related to my physical condition, such as 'feeling good' by muse, 'pressure point' by the zutons and, er, 'Vaseline' by elastica. A great pastime for spells of dull scenery is singing favourite albums in their entirety, including all instrumental breaks. Must be an interesting walk because so far i've only done two: the first stone roses album and 'are we not men?' by devo. No idea why i chose them or indeed why i bother! I also like those moments when you pass a house window, for example, and you can hear a song on the radio. When i was with jon i had to stop to listen to a song i could hear coming from inside a barn until i recognised it. It was 'islands in the stream' if you're interested. The only depressing moment was having breakfast at the pub in welshpool. 'like a rolling stone' by bob dylan came on the radio. "Wow, that's me", i thought. Then i listened to the words ("...to be a complete unknown...")! So, what happened today? Well, hergest ridge was a great start, so we dawdled over that. Then we dropped down into gladestry and the pub had just opened so we felt obliged to support the local economy. The bitters didn't grab me so we both had a pint of alcoholic ginger beer. As i always think that non-alcoholic ginger beer tastes like it's got alcohol in it, i wasn't surprised to find that this tasted the same as the non-alcoholic variety. Lovely though. Next we walked over disgwylfa hill which is apparently a gift from God and had a poem nailed on a nearby fence to prove it. We then dropped into newchurch to eat our packed lunches, which left a pleasant 7 mile afternoon walk to hay-on-wye, with tomorrow's task, the black mountain ridge, looming ahead. It was one of those days where we were never sure which country we were in! We certainly started in england and finished in wales, but who knows where we were in between? The dyke seems to have disappeared, which is a shame because i've done a complete u-turn on that one. Over the previous two days it had been awesome. I suppose i've finally understood the sheer scale of the thing, and failed to understand how the hell they managed to build it on some of the ridiculously steep slopes i've walked up or down. There are parts where the 1970s Pontypool front row couldn't have scaled it, and i bet you can't say that about the great wall of china. Possibly. In fact i'm certain it would have been longer than the great wall if king offa had fallen out with more people than just the welsh. Only one concern about the dyke, and that is the english flags i've seen flying from a few houses next to the dyke on the english side. Pretty puerile if you ask me. So, we are staying at 'rest for the tired', a bed and breakfast above, of course, a book shop (there is 1 book shop for every 30 people who live in hay!). It's very cosy, but do i really need to listen to the drunk hippies murdering 'who knows where the time goes?' by fairport convention outside the pub opposite? Maybe i should go out and serenade them with my mike oldfield repertoire. We went to the town's most respected food pub tonight. Meal rating: 9/10. Beef wellington and liqueur coffee. Docked a point because the woman on the next table was loud and irritating. High level walk tomorrow, up to 2200ft, then i stay up there for a 10 mile ridge walk. Can't wait! Aside: happy birthday Al. Don't forget your card is in the shed.

Day 8. Knighton to kington. 13.5 miles.

Jennie said that this was the most beautiful bull she'd ever seen, so that surely merits inclusion. Coupled with the fact that once again It's the only photo i took today. This photo was taken an hour from the end of today's walk. At the time the weather was sunny, so we were in high spirits. Within 10 minutes it was pouring down and blowing a gale, and we were stuck on top of a hill. I'm lucky that jennie likes this sort of weather, so i didn't feel i had to apologise for it. It was raining when we set off this morning, and it stayed wet for a couple of hours, after which it was dull but dry, until the grand finale downpour. On the whole it was much better than the forecast, but then it almost always is. It's simple really, if the forecast is good and the weather turns out not to be, the met office get loads of complaints (the hurricane in 1988 springs to mind!). However if the forecast is rubbish and it turns out nice we see it as a bonus. So surprise, surprise today was nowhere near as bad as predicted. A bonus! I didn't find today's walk any easier than yesterday's really. Three big hills with lots of little ones in between. The scenery, once we could see it, was similar but slightly more dramatic than yesterday, with the black mountain beginning to loom large to the south. We had an indian meal tonight. Meal rating 8/10. Great value (£20 for a three course meal for two!), but the spices needed a bit of variation. Had a couple of good pints beforehand in quite strange pubs (wye valley and arrow breweries). Our bed and breakfast, southbourne, is once again lovely but a bit out of town, so we did a few extra miles this evening finding food. Up onto hergest ridge tomorrow so i can sing that old mike oldfield song: 'hey and away we go.......'

Day 7. Cwm to knighton. 14 miles.

Yes i know It's a rubbish photo. It was a brilliant walk today but i completely forgot to take any pics till i'd nearly finished, so i took this one of knighton, mainly because i liked the viewing seat. It looks a bit gloomy in the photo because a shower came over right at the end of the day, but other than that it was a fantastic day's walking in superb walking weather - cloudy half of the time, sunny half of the time, fresh south westerlies. The walk was a bit easier than i'd been led to believe, but then i have been walking for 7 days now so i should be able to cope with lots of ups and downs. Basically i got to the top of a steep hill and there was a steep drop down the other side, followed by a steep climb, followed by a steep drop down.....etc, etc. This went on all day but the views were great, and as opposed to the last two days the challenge was there. Beautiful countryside, i could live here. But It's a long way from work. Early yesterday when i was with jon, tom and hannah we passed a bloke carrying full camping gear, the first person I'd seen going north to south. He seemed to be struggling, but when we were in the pub at lunch time he appeared again. I was convinced at the time he wouldn't make it, but after 15 minutes walking this morning i passed him again. He'd already been on the go for a while, and seemed a bit happier. Maybe I shouldn't jump to conclusions. The problem with overtaking him this morning was that i was now the first person to have walked the path today. So what's the problem? Cobwebs. If you're the first person on the path and it passes through woods you can guarantee your face will be covered. I collected enough silk to make myself an offa's dyke tie. Jennie is here now. It's great to have her with me for a couple of days. Hope tomorrow's weather doesn't make her want to go straight back home. Our room at the horse and jockey is fantastic. More of a pub penthouse really. We had a wander around town but decided to eat here. Meal rating: 8/10. Very tasty chicken and bacon enchilada. Just needed some guacamole and a few tortilla chips. Back to good old hobson's for the beer, which was just as good here as it was wherever it was i had it last. I must admit though It's quite hard to eat when the people on the next table are discussing how to skin a fox without removing the eyelashes. And finally.....i've had a few texts today from people beginning to worry about my mental condition. I suspect this has something to do with my sheep comment yesterday. I must therefore point out that this was A JOKE, or at the very least a piece of gross artistic hyperbole. My statement did not by any means apply to all sheep, but just one which looked at me in a particular way in a moment of weakness. Oh and jon phoned to say that yesterday't 'good pub' was in fact called the cock, not the rock. Good night.

Day 6. Buttington bridge to cwm. 13.7 miles.

As the photo shows we got some rain today. This morning was the poorest spell of weather so far, raining on and off till lunch time. It was good to have some company though, even if it was jon. Still, tom and hannah were very entertaining. The reason i used this photo is because jon insisted on featuring in this blog. I'd have preferred to have used a great shot i took of another unusual gate latch, but i'm a man of my word. I've also been informed by my brother barry, an occasionally reliable source of information, that the blog sequencing has gone wrong, so i hope it still makes sense. We set off at 10 for the long pull up to beacon ring hill fort. Part way up the aforementioned rain began, though we did get some good views between showers. A gradual descent brought us to the village of forden, where we found a pub with the door locked. A sign said 'offa's dyke walkers ring bell', so we did. And we were let in. I considered having the other three thrown out as frauds, but relented. Jon also insisted that he contribute a quote, so his quote is: "the rock hotel is a good pub". And he's right. Not only was the beer excellent (monty's desert rat, a local brew), but they also let us eat our packed lunches in the bar! Jon has always been a terrible influence on me, and he made me drink far more than i should with 8 miles still to go. Actually on this occasion i felt spurred on rather than ready for a sleep. This was possibly helped by the massive improvement in the weather by the time we came out, and it stayed nice for the rest of the day. With 5 miles to go we parted company as they headed for montgomery and i continued south. It was another afternoon of level walking but without the A483 hanging around it was much more peaceful than yesterday and the surroundings seemed prettier. The dyke was very prominent during the later stages, and more imposing. It looked like it might actually keep out a welshman of greater stature than previously. Someone like, say, Rob Brydon. As i get to know the dyke better i am recognising its versatility. Obviously you can walk on it and throw things at welsh people from it (though this is not recommended for english people nowadays because the national border does not always by any means follow offa's dyke, so you could well hit a fellow english person. This also applies to welsh people throwing in the opposite direction, but then you're not supposed to be standing on it in the first place). You can also plant trees in it, run up one side of it and down the other, sit on it, roll down it or, if you are a four legged mammal, live in it. Shortly before finishing today i reached a pub which was on my map but didn't exist. This was disappointing because i was staying in tonight, meaning that i was having a meal at the B&B instead of going to the pub, so no more booze. Drewin farm is a beauty though. The best room i've had so far. Ceinwen, my landlady, welcomed me with coffee and cakes, then made a great meal which i ate with another couple. Meal rating: 9/10. Homemade lasagne followed by bread and butter pudding. Docked a point because there's no such thing as perfection. Well i'm half way now, in time if not in distance. 6 days done, 6 days to go. 83 miles done, 94 miles to go, so some longer days ahead. I've been thinking today about a couple of the stranger aspects of long distance walking. One is that I often find myself thinking "if i finish early i could eat then go for a walk". Can i really not think of anything to do except what i've been doing all day? Another is that if you are walking alone the sheep seem more attractive as the days go by. Maybe i'd better leave it there! Thank goodness jennie's joining me tomorrow night. Actually the posts will need to be shorter from now on, as i can't imagine jennie is going to want to sit watching me spend ages doing this, is she? (Fliss, you'll know, is she?) Time for an early night, as i've got what is often claimed to be the toughest day tomorrow (and no booze now).

Day 5. Porth y waen to buttington bridge. 12.8 miles (+1.5 to hotel).

This picture looks really tidgy now i've rotated it. Hope it looks ok on screen. It's a man made landscape. A limestone quarry that's become a nature reserve. After a breakfast of cereal and susan's delicious homemade scotch pancakes i set off at 9, my earliest start yet. I'd seen the forecast last night and knew that i was on the border between the dry south east and the wet north west today. It was cloudy but dry as i made my way up llanymynech hill, the only climb of the day. On the other side of the hill was the nature reserve, and at the bottom a fascinating heritage area where the lime kiln was. Well worth a visit for any 19th century industry fanatics out there. I pottered about for an hour or so, then headed off south. I'd been told by some of the walkers i'd met so far that this was the least interesting day of the path. It was pleasant enough though, following a canal bank, then the dyke, then the river and finally the canal again. All on the flat. I tried walking slowly but couldn't seem to, so i made myself stop at regular intervals so i didn't finish too early. The stretch along the dyke was rubbish. It was only about 3 feet high. It couldn't have kept jimmy crankie out, never mind owain glyndwr. At 1.30 i reached the river severn so i stopped to eat my packed lunch. I realised then that i was sitting next to the same river i would be looking at right at the end of the walk. Except i was walking south and the river at this point was flowing north. I was also surprised that it was only 200ft above sea level with so far still to travel to the sea. Across the river i was looking at the imposing breidden hills, where caradoc held out against the romans for 9 years. I tried to imagine how it must have looked then, before the huge, ugly quarry existed. Then the hills disappeared. I spent ages before the walk trying to decide whether to head south to north, as most people do, or north to south. I chose north to south because firstly prestatyn is a better place to leave than it is to arrive at, and i wanted to walk from more familiar territory to less familiar territory. The main reason for doing it the other way round is so that the wind and rain are behind you as you walk. Heading south though you can see what weather is coming your way, and that was my BIG MISTAKE. As i sat eating my lunch facing north east, the rain was creeping up behind me, and before i could say "oh bugger the map's getting soaked. Where's that waterproof coat gone? Why's that zip stuck again?" the landscape was a sea of grey. I got togged up and set off again, head down. The fields by the river were full of cows and sometimes bulls. They looked at my bright red jacket with interest but couldn't muster up the energy to run after me. I followed a cow with 771 branded on its bum for almost a mile before it ran out of field. I wondered whether there was a number 666 and if so did it know its true identity? The rain stopped after about 40 minutes, the sun came out, and that was all the rain i had. Then a bonus. A pub that my guide book said was closed was open. Had another good pint (hobson's). A mid-walk pint is fine as long as it's not actually mid-walk at all but near the end, because things really slow down afterwards. During the last few miles i was pondering how exciting long distance walking is. Then i decided the reality is that mundane things just seem far more exciting ("wow! I've never seen a gate latch like that before!"). After yesterday's episode i keep wincing every time i pass a dog now. I form a closed body shape and make a sort of "Eew" noise. Like john inman used to (though i suppose that was more mincing than wincing). At one point a dog appeared on the opposite side of the canal. It stared at me. I heard a whistle. It's owner was calling it. It didn't move. It didn't want to go back to its owner. It wanted to bite me. I walked away and didn't look round for at least 2 minutes. It had gone. Maybe it couldn't swim. After reaching buttington i had another mile and a half detour into welshpool to the westbrook park hotel, my first night in a pub. The room is a pokey little hole. Thankfully jon, tom and hannah arrived ready to walk with me tomorrow so we went off to find food. They are camping at a pub a couple of miles away so we ate there. Meal rating: 8/10. A much better steak and ale pie today. Just needed a good shortcrust pastry, not puff. Fine beer yet again (tanner's). Only problem, It's been chucking it down all evening.

Day 4. Chirk mill to porth y waen. 11.5 miles.

The significance of this photo is immense, and far outweighs its quality. I'm sure you're as excited about it as i was when i came upon this scene a mere 10 minutes into today's walk. But first, breakfast. The place i was staying was lovely and used to be a school. The bell pull was in my room and i couldn't resist a quick ring. It was quite loud but i only got a brief withering look from sheila, my landlady. She cooked me a lovely bacon and eggs and we talked about teaching. She used to be a pe teacher, as did her husband. My landlord the night before was a music teacher. They're everywhere! The first ascent today was really steep but short. Then after a few minutes level walking the view in the photo appeared. Now i know the intelligence levels of the people (or person - hi mum) reading this blog, so you'll have got it by now. Why it's offa's dyke of course! Not offa's dyke path but THE offa's dyke. Note the ridge on the left and the ditch on the right, built by the mercian king offa to keep out the welsh (they were probably thinking the same thing. He saved them a job) in the 8th century. That's the whole point of the walk you see, it follows offa's dyke, even if they did divert the path well into wales at the northern end to keep it attractive, when the real dyke probably passed through wrexham and finished in saltney or somewhere. Anyway it was my first meeting with the dyke herself and i spent a good chunk of the day in her company. The walking today was much more interesting than i'd expected, the route staying up in the hills for most of the day. I had a great view from the top of selattyn hill, and an even better one from moelydd at the end of the day, even though it's quite tiddly. I could see the route for the next few days, as well as the long mynd, wenlock edge and the sandstone trail to the north. But it was quite exciting to recognise very little of what i was looking at. Midway through the day, about an hour before i found the offa's dyke brewery and had a spot on pint of something dark and strong, i stopped at a riding school because the sign said 'refreshments'. There was nobody about so i had a coffee from the machine then went to the loo. When i came out a large, brown dog was standing in the doorway. When it saw me it started snarling in a not nice way. After 5 minutes of nice doggie and good boy i decided it wasn't going to go away. Then i remembered that i'd asked sheila for ham butties for lunch. I edged over to my bag, reached for a piece of ham and hey presto, doggie is my best friend! Not the first dog related problem i've ever had on a walk. And not the first time i've had to surrender my lunch to one. No other surprises today except for my new landlord and landlady finding me on top of a hill. They were out for a walk themselves and asked where i was heading for. They moved from liverpool 2 years ago (she was a duke of ed instructor, which is a sort of teacher). We sat on their patio in the sun, oh yes i haven't mentioned that it was glorious all day (not due to last though), and drank coffee and ate biscuits. It was lovely. The room is nice too, but now to business. The evening meal. Rating: 9/10. Hooray! A gorgeous whitebait followed by lamb shank affair. Only docked a point for lumpy mash. I know, i'm harsh! Great beer too (wychwood beewyched). Only one problem - i'm sitting at one end of a long table. A bloke is sitting on the table at the other end, talking to the barman. Every time he moves, his fat arse wobbles the table and i miss my food with the fork. It's like eating on a boat! Oh well, back to the ranch to ask susan, my landlady, if i can watch match of the day. I haven't heard any scores, but then after wednesday maybe i'd better just go to bed.

Day 3. Llandegla to chirk mill. 16 miles.

I took some lovely photos today, or at least i think i did. The llangollen escarpment, castell dinas bran, pontysyllte aqueduct. But i chose this one. I'll explain why shortly, but first....breakfast. Absolutely awesome! Probably the best i've ever had. A slice of melon piled high with fruit of the forest, followed by smoked haddock with poached eggs, followed by homemade croissants with butter and jam. The table was laden, it looked fantastic. Well apart from the rubber grapes. I left my accommodation stuffed to the gills and ready for anything. Then it rained so i hid in a bus stop for 20 minutes till it stopped. There was no escaping the showers this morning, though they were very light. It was pretty murky as i trudged through llandegla forest, up, up, up, all alone apart from 87 cyclists. Why do they always cycle around forests? There's nothing to see except the same tree over and over again. Anyway after about 45 minutes of the same tree i suddenly emerged blinking into the scene in the photo. It was the best moment of the walk so far. Nothing as far as i could see except heather and my path snaking off into it, which possibly contradicts my forest comments. The drizzle made it a real heathcliffe moment. If anyone reading this has taken the tiny road from minera to world's end you'll know what i'm talking about. If you haven't you must, in drizzle. By the time i got down to world's end, at the head of one of wales' most beautiful valleys, the sun had come out, and it stayed out for the rest of the day. Offa's dyke path runs mid way between the valley floor and the cliff tops, along the screes of the escarpment, so you get great views all the way. Then it joins a lane which runs past castell dinas bran and above the vale of llangollen to the aqueduct. I'd done lots of bits of today's walk but it was great to join them all up. It was strange to think that only yesterday i was looking down on the vale of clwyd. This seemed so far away. I stopped for a butty and a pint of telford tipple, which was very good, before crossing the aqueduct to complete the last 4 miles. I was in strolling mode because it was so sunny. After passing close to chirk castle i dropped down into the narrow Ceiriog valley where i am staying. The last time i was here was years ago. Ci du played a gig at a pub in glyn Ceiriog. i had too much to drink beforehand and played every song twice as fast as usual. Drummers, eh? You just can't trust them. There were a few spooky moments at the end of the walk. Within a few minutes i saw a dead pheasant stuck in a fence, then straight after a dead rabbit, then within a minute another rabbit with mixymatosis (no i know i can't spell it!) Staggering around aimlessly. It was all reminding of the 'antichrist' film i saw last week so i made a quick exit. The bed and breakfast is fine but no match for last night's curiosity shop. For a start i have no idea what time breakfast is and i waited ages for her to tell me to have a bath. The set up on the path is that you are driven to a pub to eat and picked up again when you've finished. Great! Except i was driven past 3 lovely looking country pubs and dumped in chirk at a chain pub. I ordered steak and ale pie with new potatoes. It arrived THREE minutes later. A big fat NO to reheated pastry. Meal rating 2/10. And that's for the peas. Beer ok though (pedigree). Also i've realised it's friday night so it's full of groups on the razz. I look like the billy no mates in the corner. I am the billy no mates in the corner. Time to phone my taxi i think. Aside: well done lizzie for learning to ride your bike today!

Day 2. Bodfari to llandegla. 16 miles.

I can't get a signal from llandegla so this won't be published till tomorrow. Could be the story of the walk. It's also quite hard to see if the photos are any good on this small screen. Hope they're ok. If not blame the unnamed mobile phone company. Anyway if yesterday's plant was gorse, today's was heather, hence the choice of photo. Heather with Moel arthur behind. It's always at its best in august and was everywhere today. I'd done 11 miles of today's walk on a couple of occasions before, so it was great to go the extra mile, or six, this time. I mentally split the walk into 5 sections. The first was a gradual climb, traversing Moel y parc with its massive tv mast, then over the top of Penycloddiau hill fort. The second was a steep up and over Moel arthur, another hill fort. The third section was the longest, a very steep ascent then a long plod up Moel famau and down. I had set off late because it had been raining when i woke up, and i knew the forecast was for better weather later. In the event i managed to avoid rain again today, with showers ahead and behind me but not above me. However the sun didn't really make an effort till the end of the day and the wind was wicked. As usual the summit of Moel famau was the windiest place on earth, but the views were fantastic. I love that summit, especially when nobody else is there like today. I wish someone would have a go at completing the tower. It would be an even better north wales landmark than it already is, till the wind knocked it over anyway. The fourth section was another slog over foel fenlli and down to the clwyd gate. I watched the beluga pass overhead on its way to broughton. How the hell does it stay in the air? I fancied a pint at the clwyd gate, even though i can't stand the place, but it had closed down. In fact it looked derelict. That meant i had to tackle the final 6 mile section beerless. Thankfully it was quite straightforward and the weather was lovely. The bed and breakfast i'm in, hand house, is bizarre. It's packed full of ornaments and my room is full of old peoples' clothes (no not mine). You wouldn't mess with the owner. She asked me what time i'd like breakfast. I said 8.30. She said that's too late and she'll make it for 8 o'clock. An early start then! For me anyway. She did greet me with fresh coffee and five homemade cakes though! Then she told me to have a long bath, which i did, even though i like short baths. Now in the crown inn at llandegla. It's curry night so i had a lamb rogan josh. Meal rating 4/10, firstly because there was hardly any lamb in it, and secondly because it wasn't a rogan josh. Beer is great though (lees).

Day One - Prestatyn to Bodfari. 12.3 miles.

Three pluses to start the walk. 1. Sophie had decided that she'd like to walk the first day with me, so I had some company from the off. 2. The tide was in, so far in that we had to stand on the promenade steps for the 'before' photos. Had the tide been out we'd have been walking an extra mile just to get to the sea and back (the purist / stupid approach, delete as appropriate - as far as I'm concerned the walk starts from the sea, not the Offa's Dyke Path sign). 3. The weather forecast was for light rain, then heavy rain, then light rain again. It didn't rain at all.

Today was pretty straightforward to be honest (but then I knew that because I'd done it before with Fatman a few years back). I was more pleased that Soph' enjoyed it and found it straightforward too. The route was basically through Prestatyn town centre (we stopped for a coffee after 10 minutes!) accompanied by Jennie, Becks and Lizzie. Then they sensibly turned back to go to the cinema and we carried on. An immediate uphill climb gave us fantastic views of the North Wales coast (looks great from a distance), and apart from a drop down to ground level and back up again at Rhuallt, where I'm delighted to report the Smithy Arms was open if not welcoming, we stayed on the hills all day.

Here is Sophie at about half way. The hill in the background to the right was our first climb of the day. The sea is visible beyond. Today's encounters included an excitable foal, a jay (Sophie had never seen one) and a dead slow worm (in four pieces!!!). Well it's a start! Since finishing today I've realised that any photos I upload from now might be quite dull because I'll be on my own for the next six days (unless Jon and the kids can join me on Monday), so I'll have to challenge myself to find interesting subject matter. Future posts may also be shorter because I must confess that I'm typing this at home in front of the PC (well there was no point paying to stay just a few miles up the road!), and from tomorrow I'll be using my mobile. I would have been able to speed things up with a shiny new iphone if an unnamed mobile phone company's payment system hadn't mucked things up, so I'm stuck with texting speed for this trip. Finally, the camping versus B&B dilemma. After weighing up the pros and cons which amounted to good health and a heavy load versus full breakfasts and a lighter load, I opted for the latter. No apologies there! One of the toughest days tomorrow so time for bed.

Asides:

Jon - How was the interview with Michael Portillo today? Hope you didn't get more than you bargained for!

Lisa - If I followed Llwybr Clawdd Offa through Prestatyn today and your school is called Clawdd Offa, why didn't I see it?!

Amazon

Here is my friend Jon's female iguana, Amazon, taken last week. I've used this as a test post to check the mobile blog is working ok. It seems to be, which is a good start!