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?!
