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.
