Some Final Thoughts

Coast to Coast Observations (in no particular order)

Book your weather

·         The Coast to Coast is one of the great walks. Like the Parson’s egg, it is bad in parts, but aren’t most trails. It is not a formally marked trail, so it can be what you make of it.
·         Book your weather ahead of time. Alternatively arrange your schedule so that bad weather days can be spent tucked away somewhere dry.
·         Bad weather days are most likely to affect the best parts of the walk especially in the Lakes District e.g. Haystacks, Helvelyn, Striding Edge, and in the Yorkshire Moors e.g. Five Standards. Apart from not being able to see anything, as was our case, some parts would be positively dangerous.
·         The best weather was supposed to be in September, for us it was about as bad as it could be.
·         Try and do all the “best” bits, like those mentioned, however some are not for the faint hearted. Some like Striding Edge and Helvelyn are probably better done on a “rest day” and in that order. From what I have heard and read Striding Edge is better climbed up, rather than down.
·         Take the non-road options particularly through the Vale of Mowbray. There are many permissive footpaths that can be used and are shown on the various maps.
·         Harvey Maps are excellent and detailed. Use in conjunction with a guide book. We didn’t like Cicerone, others do.
·         Don’t buy any maps or guide books-we have them all.
·         Some places deserve a rest day like Richmond for browsing, others maybe for more walking on other walks or doing parts missed the previous days. Some of the highlights as mentioned above can be done as loop walks.
·         Try and stay on or as close to the trail as possible. Packhorse, the company that does baggage transfers and arrange accommodation, try and book all their clients on the trail. Some of our accommodation was too far from the trail.
·         B and B’s are variable so be prepared for cramped rooms, hot water systems that are contrary and generally overheated houses, though this does help to dry out wet gear. Also be prepared to climb stairs. Very few B and B’s have bedrooms on the ground floor.
·         Newspaper is an excellent method for helping dry out boots. Pack it in tightly and as much as you can. Putting them ON heaters is not!
·         You get sick of pub food. There’s not that much choice, even the curries come with chips.
·         The English don’t know how to make salads, or what we would call a salad. If you find a good one, go for it.
·         You may get to like English beer.
·         The full English breakfast isn’t eaten every day by the English, so why should we? Many B and B’s have good muesli and a good range of cereal. Weetabix are definitely NOT Weetbix!!

Some breakfasts don't need to be hot!

·         However the full English breakfast can be used to make a not so full English lunch if you don’t mind a cold bacon and egg sandwich.
·         Most B and B’s now serve plunger coffee which can be quite good, though is often a bit weak. Coffee can never be too strong, you can always add water. Coffee that is too weak can never be resurrected!
·         We arranged our trip through Contours on the recommendation of various friends. Would we use them again? Well maybe, maybe not. I had no huge issues with them, a view not shared by all our party.  I would certainly canvass other companies like Packhorse, Sherpa etc. And ask them questions like is the accommodation on the path, do they have good drying rooms etc.
·         Multiples of two work best. Accommodation handles couples or pairs best. We had five in our group which created hassles with accommodation and with transport. Only a few B and B’s had vehicles that could carry us all at one time.
·         This is not an exhaustive list, just some random thoughts that have emerged.
Offas Dyke Observations
·         A great walk, highly recommended, that is easy to follow, and requires minimal navigational skills.

The best finish

·         Offas Dyke has probably the best finish of any trail I have walked on, presuming you’re going south to north.
·         Harvey Maps are good, as with C2C, and we found we had little use of the guide books we bought.
·         Don’t buy any maps or guide books-we have them all.
·         Accommodation was generally good, varying from B and B to pubs. The pubs were more interesting as that’s where you meet the locals.
·         Accommodation is not always on the path, especially if you are part of a larger group. There is less accommodation on Offas Dyke than C2C so options are less.

Offas Dyke Information Centre, Knighton

·         Baggage transfer is by the B & B or pub owners, unlike the C2C. There are no commercial baggage transfer companies that we heard of, so if you plan to arrange your own accommodation, check about baggage etc.
·         The only place that has any Offas Dyke memorabilia, like T-shirts or pack badges, is in Knighton at the Offas Dyke Information Centre, naturally. There is nothing at Prestatyn, even though some maps suggest a centre there.
·         The local shop in Longtown has Vegemite!
·         The pub food in Wales/England is much the same as for C2C except they don’t have salmon.
·         Be prepared to deal with cattle, of all shapes and sizes, and some may not be all that friendly.

There is probably more, however, this is enough! Happy walking.

Home at Last

The time has come to attack the Boarding Lounge. It seems that just about everyone has the same idea, and there are only two security scanners at work.
It takes ages to get us into the lounge.
Luckily they call the rows in correct order so actual boarding is pretty quick.
This time I have the seats I picked when booking the flight.
Port side, aisle seat.
For a while it looks like I may have the two seats to myself, however that was not to be.
A nice guy from Adelaide takes the window seat. He's been to the UK to take his mother's ashes home and on the way back went to Angkor Wat.
We talk a bit until takeoff.

Home!

The meal for the night comes round, I don't partake.
It's then on with the eye shades and try and get some sleep.
At least I don't have the restless legs this time.
I don't think I sleep, yet sometimes I think I may have been dropping off, as I note the engine noise drops a decibel or two, but of course that just wakes me up.
Finally, I look at my watch and it's 5.30AM, just two hours out, and we can start to see the sunrise.
Breakfast comes around, it is really just a snack, however is OK, as I'll be home soon.
Then we break out through the clouds, over Modbury.
Adelaide looks green still!
We're down just on 7.30 AM, with the usual crowd impatience (Flytience) to get off.
On the immigration form I have ticked the "Have you been on a farm box", so I know I will be delayed as they'll want to inspect my boots.
At immigration, they seem slow, and those who have used the new passport scanners are getting through faster.
Nevertheless, the baggage hasn't even started coming off yet. I am a bit concerned, as I didn't check at Singapore to make sure my bag had been transferred from BA to Qantas.
I had been told to, however somewhere along the way I have lost my baggage ticket, and I was embarrassed.
The carousel starts up, and lo and behold, my bag is third off. It's quickly retrieved and I am the first through Customs. They glance at my form, ask some questions about my boots and direct me to Channel E.
This is where I'll have to unload my pack.
No, it to be sniffed by  the dog and I'm out.
As I leave I notice the carousel has stopped and no more luggage is coming off.
Am I lucky or what?

The Way Home

London Day 5 pictures
Our last day and it's really a day to tidy up some loose ends, pack our bags and head home.
Margaret started packing last night and isn't finished.
I reckon I can pack in about 5 minutes and achieve this easily, just after breakfast.
We then put our bags in the YHA storage and all head off in different directions.
I want to have another longer look at the Science Museum, Eve wants to go shopping and Margaret is off to St. Pauls.
My walk takes just on an hour, back up through Picadilly, past the Palace, sort of, and finally to the museum.

Apollo 10 Capsule

It is still shut when I arrive, however opens after 5 mins. It's a mad rush to see it all, and that is really an impossible task.
Too much to see and too little time.
It's all overwhelming really.
 Lots and lots of very interesting stull covering all sorts of scientific endeavour.
It's then another long walk back to the British Museum to meet Eve at lunchtime.

Does this marble make my.....

A quick lunch then a run around the Museum, mostly just time to cover the Greek and Roman sections.
Again too much and feet by this time too sore.
I think I walked about 12 kilometres today.
We all meet up back at the YHA, release our bags from storage and order a cab to take us to Paddington Railway Station.

Harrods

We are joined for the trip by a Brazilian Gastroenterologist we got to know at the YHA.
We all get into a six seater cab, and the driver persuades us to have him take us to Heathrow, which he does. We get to see parts of London that we wouldn't have normally seen.
Check in is not that easy as we are travelling on Qantas using British Airways codeshare flight.
Eve is whisked away, with her Qantas Chairman's Lounge Card, and I don't see her again.
I think I hear her say "But I have to wait for my friend." though I can't be sure.
Anyway, they have no seat for me, and when they find one, I don't get my preferred aisle seat.
I complain and am quickly told most people book their seats on line in the 24 hours prior to the flight. My explanation, that I tried and the system wouldn't let me fall on deaf ears, so some poor bastard will have to get up every time I have to have a pee.
So much for being Qantas Club member, I guess carries no weight.
I do find the Qantas Lounge, however Eve is not here, she has been taken to a loftier lounge, she tells me when we make contact by phone.
She is hoping to be upgraded of course. Don't we all, but most of us in vain.
The Qantas lounge is OK, particularly if you want to get pissed.
It's basically an alcoholics dream-you want it, it's here.
I stick to orange juice and coffee, says he righteously. I tend to fly alcohol free.
I head off to find the boarding gate, about 45 mins prior to departure to find they are boarding.
It looks like a full flight. It is!
I am down the back between a tall middle aged man on his way home to Perth, and an older lady from UK on her way to visit relatives in Perth.
The seat isn't as bad as I had imagined and there is more leg room than I recall.
I don't sleep nevertheless, or if I do it is in spasms. Some nights I get restless legs, and this was one of them.
I would get comfortable, then just HAVE to move my legs. And so it went on.
Singapore arrives after 12 hours and we are served breakfast-it is 5.30PM in Singapore!
We unload and I go on a race around the Duty Free.
See nothing I want to head for the Qantas Lounge to link up with Eve.

YHA Computers down!

She's not there, so I call her.
She has missed her plane and is still in London!
Seems she read her boarding time of 2030 as 10.30PM and really missed it. She is trying to sort this out.
Meanwhile I have a shower in the Qantas Lounge and just wait.
The final episode tomorrow when I get home.

London Day 4

London Day 4 pictures
We are really running down to the end of our trip now. It's the second last day and we are trying to get as much done as we can without getting museum burnout.
Margaret is off to Dover and Canterbury Cathedral, all day, so Eve and I are again on our tod.

Bali Bombing Memorial

The route to Westminster takes us onto Pall Mall, and past Horseguards Parade where we pass the memorial to the Bali Bombing, that took place on 12th October 2002. It was sobering to realise that we were there on the 9th anniversary of the bombing.
Listed are ALL the victims of the bombing-all nationalities-sad!
We decide a boat trip is in order to give our feet a rest, so we head off from the YHA to Westminster Bridge and the Thames Cruise Company.
They are to transport us to Greenwich and the National Naval Museum and the Greenwich Observatory.
The ferry trip is good fun, especially if the commentary is good, as often the boat skipper will have his own twist on history and the various sites to be seen.

Thames-scape with Tower Bridge.

It's a grey day, so the pictures are rather somber.
However the park around Greenwich is far from somber-it's delightfully green.
The Cutty Sark, the wool clipper, which caught fire some time ago, is undergoing repair at the naval Museum.
The climb up to the Observatory is invigorating and the view excellent as it is one of the highest spots around London.
It is of course the the zero longitude and the point from where Greenwich Mean Time is measured.
We have lunch at the Naval Museum and browse the exhibits for a while.

"Scramble!"

Back on the boat for the return trip to Westminster, where on the embankment we find the very impressive memorial to The Battle of Britain and the pilots who formed "the few". It is an excellent memorial with the figures in deep relief, which I hope the picture reveals fully.
Walking on to Trafalgar Square, our way is blocked by motorcycle police who block the traffic. A black Rolls Royce goes past with Prince Edward ensconced in the back seat.
The National Gallery looms large soon after, and we go in to look at the Portrait Gallery which is quite interesting and has some pretty good portraits, mostly of people I have never heard of.
Our way back to the YHA is blocked by barriers and lots of cameras outside the Odeon and they're unloading red carpet from a truck.
The London Film Awards and a new film "360" is premiering tonight and they are setting up. It stars, amongst others, Anthony Hopkins-we don't see him.
Thank goodness as we are totally over stars and celebrities.
Dinner is quite a nice Chicken massala with just enough heat to make the nose run.
It is all quite convivial as we now know most of the longer term YHA's.
There is quite a mix here, and a whole range of ages too.

London Day 3

Day 3 pictures (crappy)
Another cloudy day, but no hint of rain and none overnight. All good so far.
Margaret gets up early, she's off to Stonehenge and Bath for the day so we won't see her until later this evening.
Eve and I decide on the Victoria & Albert Museum as starters and are out of the hostel after a brief breakfast and the obligatory coffee and Skype sessions back home to see how Sue's holding up after her first day back at work.
Not well as she woke at 3.30AM and couldn't sleep after that.
Also work weren't expecting her back until Wednesday, so she went back a day early.
Anyway we set off for the 30 minute walk to the V and A and after 15 minutes I discovered I had forgotten my camera, so there are no pictures today-there are some, however they're on my iPhone and I can't access them until I get back home.
We finally got to the V and A after some geographical confusion once again.
It is vast, overwhelming, and after two hours I seem to have walked miles and just touched the surface. There is just too, too much to take in.
You simply can't read all the plaques on all the exhibits. I ended up doing a style of speed viewing, where I scanned the exhibits as I walked, stopping only at things that caught my eye.
After two hours I linked back up with Eve, who had gone her own way and we escaped, to go to the Natural History Museum, next door.
It was the same thing, just too much to absorb.
Next door the Science Museum. Again too much and in all of them too many kids making too much noise (for me anyway), though they did seem to be enjoying themselves.

Thames view from St Pauls

We then hopped the tube and after a hot, smelly journey, alighted near St Pauls, or so I thought.
No, not near, about 25 minutes walking away, but we're seeing lots of London.
There are lots of smokers in London and they're all in the streets, on the footpaths.
Lunch at St. Pauls, with the smallest large coffee I have ever had. The Cappuccino froth hid just a half cup of coffee-what a rip and it was in a church too!!
I must say the cathedral is very impressive, and I don't usually like churches and cathedrals. We all have an iPod, and listen to various commentaries depending on where we are in the church.
There was also the obligatory climb to the top of the dome, and the walk around the outside.
As I get older I find my head for heights receding. Funny so is my hair.
I wonder if the two are linked? I really felt quite uncomfortable climbing the spiral staircase, as we got higher, and I could see through the tread to the level below.
On the final gallery, outside with just a stone rail, I felt quite spooked.
After St. Pauls we jumped a bus to Trafalgar Square, free as the conductor's ticket machine wasn't working, then walked back to the hostel.

London Day 2

London Day 2 pictures
Well it's now Monday and decided to split the blog posts to make them a bit more digestible i.e. not so long.
It was windy overnight and overcast this morning, though the forecast was for good weather.
Today we were going to do Terry Gasson's London walk.
Terry is a member of the Friends and a tailor who was born and trained in London, Savile Row no less.

No 1 Savile Row

Well Terry, being a Londoner has devised a walk to cover a lot of the territory a visitor may want to cover, if they wanted to walk.
There are notes and maps, so that's what we used.
So it was out of the hostel, down through Carnaby Street, of 60's fame, then across Regent Street to Savile Row. The Tailors were just starting to work as we walked by, mostly down in the basement. No 1 Savile Row is Gieves and Hawkes, tailors to Nelson and Wellington.
Then down Burlington Arcade, lots of top class jewelers and perfumeries onto Picadilly.
Past the Ritz where afternoon tea sets you back 30 pounds, into Green Park, to Buckingham Palace-the queen was home.

Household Cavalry

After some geographic confusion, we then headed to Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and into Whitehall where the Household Cavalry sit quietly on their horses.
Downing Street is here too closed off to the public by large gates and armed police.
It's then back to Trafalgar Square and down to the embankment.
The Embankment Gardens are a picture and the various statues spread throughout the garden very interesting.
On the Embankment is Cleopatra's Pillar, a gift from the Egyptian ruler to Great Britain, after Nelson's defeat of the French in the battle of the Nile, a few years ago.
We divert here to cross the Thames on one of the Golden Jubilee bridges to meet our destiny with the London Eye.

Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

For the uninitiated, the London Eye is a bloody great ferris wheel, that takes you high above London for the best view over central London that you can have. The trip takes about 30 minutes and is a must if you're visiting.
It's then back across the Thames to complete out tour, up past the Lyceum Theatre staging performances since 1834, into Covent Gardens, the old vegetable market, now better known for the Royal Ballet.
We wander round here for a while, there is much to see.
A young woman is singing opera in the lower market and an Australian street performer is doing an escapologist act outside.
We are done, it's been a walking day on hard pavements, so separately we make our way back to the YHA.
My feet are sore and I need a coffee, Eve needs her roots painted and Margaret needs something, though I have no idea what.
Thanks Terry great walk.

London Day 1

London Day 1 Pictures
Our first day in London started with rain on the streets all night and it looked pretty miserable.
By the time we had breakfast it looked less so and by the time we headed out it wasn't too bad at all.
We bought some tickets for the hop on hop off bus that seemed to offer the most potential stops, so off we set.
The plan was to get the bus, do the whole circuit, then decide where to get off on the second circuit.

Two ladies in Regent Street

The first bus of the day duly arrived and we hopped on, only to find that Eve had no ticket.
I had purchased two, as she was slightly financially embarrassed at that point, and had slid it across the counter at the YHA for her.
Of course that's where it remained.
Margaret volunteered to give Eve her ticket, and go back t the YHA and get the missing one.
We did not see Margaret again all day!!
The trip started OK past Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, then Fleet Street, past St Pauls Cathedral, over London Bridge (new), then over Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London, The Globe Theatre, out past Buckingham Palace and then the rot set in.
Not only was there a Half Marathon in progress there were protests all over the city about the government's budget cuts and we were in gridlock.
The bus didn't move more than 200 metres in 1 hour! Bugger.
We were offered the opportunity to get off and took it. Then began the walk back, through Hyde Park, along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus, where we took the bus again.
This time we disembarked at St Pauls, out intention to climb the dome to the top.

St Pauls

It was not to be, it's Sunday and there is no sight seeing, there's a service in progress.
It's off downhill to the Thames, across the Millennium Bridge (built in 2000) and closed the day after it was opened as being too dangerous-it swayed alarmingly-and took a couple of years to fix), then to the Tate Modern Art Gallery.
The art was modern and not to my liking, then I am a Philistine.
Eve and I then high-tailed it across Tower Bridge to pick up a free boat trip (part of the bus thing) from the Tower to Westminster.
The boat's skipper was one of those laconic Londoner's with the gift of the gab and quite entertaining.
We disembarked at Westminster Pier to find us , once again, in the middle of a protest rally.
After a few pictures with some leather clad motor cycle police it was back on the bus to complete what we had missed earlier in the day.

It was the leather

More Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Marble Arch, Madame Tussaud's, past the Registry Office on Marlybone Road as Paul McCartney was being married and then finally back to our stop near the YHA.

Cotswolds

Pictures Day 1 Stow on the Wold
We left Prestatyn on a blustery raining morning. Our goal the Cotswolds for a look see, from the car. Not enough time to do any walking and we lose our car tomorrow.
The Tom Tom primed for Stratford on Avon and instructed to avoid toll roads. Consequently,  the first part of the morning was coursing through narrow back lanes avoiding mothers taking children to school, white transit vans and the odd farmer or two heading off to work.
Reprogrammed to take us any way it wanted, we soon hit the bigger A roads and progress was more speedy.
The major disadvantage of the B roads are the hedgerows.
Only the driver and front passenger can see anything, the back seat passengers see hedgerow and then the flash of an occasional view as you pass a gate.
The route took us down the border of Wales, paralleling Offas Dyke, so many of the towns we passed were familiar from the last two weeks, albeit in reverse order.
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Street in Stratford

Stratford on Avon, as everyone knows is Shakespeare's birthplace and teeming with people. We were lucky enough to snare a parking place just off the main street.

It very Elizabethen and that made me wonder just how much was real or made to look Elizabethan.
Anyway it's very quaint and all the stores cash in on the Shakespeare idea with Fallstaff Walk, Yorick Way etc.
The Avon is a quiet little river that runs through the lower park of the town, past the Royal Shakespearean Company headquarters and theatre.
It’s all a hurried trip really as Margaret wants to see the Cotswolds, all in an afternoon.
It’s a quick lunch that takes some time, and I finally get to have a curry, chicken tikka, which is just spicy enough to get the nose running.
Then back in the car to Winchcombe, the road to which is blocked so we then undertake a roundabout way via very narrow B roads, which is really much more interesting as we get to see more of the Cotswolds than we had planned.
It is quite beautiful, though flatter and more rolling hills that we are used to in Wales.

Stow on the Wold square

Upper and Lower Slaughter are visited and are really quite lovely villages, Lower Slaughter with a very charming old mill.
We then wend our way to Stow on the Wold and the YHA. Stow is a larger village with a large village square, and we park right in front of the YHA.
It is obviously quite a wealthy area as the town has a number of jewellery shops, antique stores, specialist delicatessens, a number of pubs, quite a number really and even a Michelin rated restaurant.
We sort out our room, quite a stark contract to our usual B and B’s with bunk beds.
Luckily Sue and I are in one of the local pubs for the night, the Unicorn.
We have a delightful final meal together at yet another pub, The Old Stocks, where the owner is quite a funny bloke and gives us plenty cheek.

Friday Day 2 Stow on Wold pictures
The morning sees us packed up, Sue for her departure to Heathrow with the car, later in the day, and my move from the pub to the YHA with the girls.
We’re off to Cheltenham Spa for a quick look whilst we have the car.
Chetltenham is on the edge of the Cotswolds and was a Regency period spa town, where people came to take the waters.

Regency Cheltenham

It is the first day of their Literature Festival which means that the parks and views of the old buildings is masked by marquees and tents etc.
We nevertheless the beauty of the place is evident.
Back to Stow and we farewell Sue who then has the drive back to Heathrow to return the car and the long trip back home.
The rest of the day is spent mostly in the lounge of the YHA, as the weather has deteriorated and rains of and on all afternoon...and it is cold.
Tomorrow London

Saturday Day 3 Stow to London pictures
The night is over and initially hard to sleep. The town clock chimed every hour and I heard them all from 9 PM to 1 AM.
Packed up for the trip to London, that entails a bus to Moreton in Marsh, then the train to Paddington.
This all achieved with little fuss, however dragging the bags is a chore, as mine in particular are unwieldy and wants to fall off my shoulder all the time and trip me up.
At Paddington, it is a short trip to the YHA Oxford Street, paradoxically NOT in Oxford street but Noel Street, by cab, at least for  only15 pounds.
I stayed here 7 years ago and  it has undergone a complete rework.

U-33

Our room looks new, however is pokey, luckily Margaret volunteers to take the upper bunk. .
There is no ensuite which is also a nuisance.
After sorting things out we go for a walk along Oxford Street, down Regent Street to Picadilly Circus  to checkout the area.
Margaret is on a mission to get a trip to Stonehenge, so takes off to organise that.
Eve is meeting a friend of her daughter, so I am on my own. I do a circuit of Hamley's Toy Store, however it is too, too hot and I bail out to get some breakfast supplies and return to the YHA.
Not sure if I'll post every day or just from time to time.
We are in our last week.

Offas Dyke Day 15 Sodom to Prestatyn

Day 15 pictures
This is our last day!!
It blew hard all night and the weather forecast was for high winds and later in the day some rain.
We have a relatively short day so we reckon we can at least beat the rain.
Whilst we have had the relative luxury of our own home, we must get up to the B and B proper for breakfast. It's about 1/4 mile away and we drive, all ready to start walking straight after breakfast, and that's what we do.
It, of course, starts with a hill and with increasing wind from the west. The one good thing about the wind, is that the haze has cleared a bit, to the views are better.


Snowdon out there somewhere

We should be able to see Snowdonia and Mount Snowdon, however low cloud to the west precludes that.
The views start to open up and the Irish Sea is now clearly visible, and the wind farms out to sea come into view.
Whenever we get onto the north western side of any hill, the wind tries to blow us across the border into England, and it increases as the day goes on.
As we cross the A55 highway, we turn the final page of the Offas Dyke map, and almost immediately are thrown yet another hard hill, that becomes more and more exposed to the wind as we climb.
The reward is better views, and finally think we can see Prestatyn, our destination.
The way now picks up high ground over the Irish Sea, however from time to time we pass through open fields, still populated by sheep, horses and the occasional herd of bovines.
One herd turns up, all steers, on one side of a fence, as we walk past they start to follow us.
What we haven't noticed, at least initially is the open gate ahead, that can lead them into our field.
They head off in a different direction however and it's our last encounter of a ruminant variety.

Down a lane we come to an old water wheel with mill race and a decaying mill wheel, about 12 feet in diameter.
Finally we arrive at the cliffs overlooking Prestatyn and we can see our goal properly.
The track is high up on a very steep slope, and the wind really does try and throw us off. My anemometer records wind speeds of 44 kph, which is more than enough to push you off balance, luckily into, rather than off the track.
We decide to have lunch on the track, slightly out of the wind and we still have some views, albeit through the bracken.
It's then steep down into the streets of Prestatyn, and straight down the High Street to the beach and the END.
Sue meets us with beer and wine, a fitting end to a great walk.
NEXT!!

Finished

Offas Dyke Day 14 Clwyd Gate to Sodom

Day 14 pictures
Our accommodation was certainly very comfortable and I think we all slept pretty well. The night had been pretty blowy, however there had been no rain.

Big hill

The forecast was not that great with the weather deteriorating as the week progressed.
Homemade muesli, homemade bread, homemade jams were the order for breakfast.
It was bleak and cold outside the warmth of the house, so extra clothing was in vogue.
Our start at Clwyd Gate was a slow easy climb, along with four other walkers, whom we soon passed.
One was wearing open toed sandals (with socks) which intrigued me, until she told me she had trouble with her old faithful boots.
Today we are truly in the Clwydian Hills and we follow them now until just about the end.
We decided that the Chlamydian Hills was a better name, as they were insidious, repetitive and caused irritation!
Like many parts of the Heysen Trail, they are a ridge line with the many ups and downs associated with that.
The first up, after the initial slow easy slope, is very steep 200 metre climb to Moel Fenlli , moel meaning an exposed place or hill.  Supposedly at the top is a hill fort, however it was not to be seen, probably as we circuited just off the top of the peak.
 It’s then an equally steep descent, losing most of any height gained, to have another 200 metre up, though this time over about 2 kilometres.

Pike of stone!

We are aiming for a structure on a far hill, that looks like a fort of some description, yet is in fact the Jubilee Tower built in 1810 to celebrate the jubilee of George III, however was never completed, and what was built was blown over in storm in the 1960’s.
It has great views and toposcopes for each view, however the wind has picked up by this time and it is decidedly cold, with the temperature about 11⁰C and wind chill of about 6⁰C.
We shelter out of the wind with another walker, on the eastern side until invaded by about ten young men with three leaders who look like they are on day release from somewhere.
We flee.
It’s then very steep down, then the ridge ups and downs, over Moel this and Moel that.
Lunch time looms as does another sharp drop and another climb. We are quite exposed and it isn’t a great spot to lunch so we press on down, down, down, through a carpark, then up around Moel Arthur hill fort, which is more obvious to the uninitiated archaeological eye than mine.
We finally chose a spot to lunch, just off the ridge and just out of the wind and enjoyed the spectacle of gliders circling overhead.
Lunch completed, we had done most of our hill walking, quickly losing our elevation, to rejoin the pastures of sheep on the way down to Bodfari and Sodom.
The path had one little surprise for us in that whilst Bodfari was on the flat, Sodom was up a hill, so our walking day finished with a sharp climb.
I had forgotten to take the details of our accommodation. All we knew was our hosts name was Gladys. It was going to be interesting, knocking on every door asking if they knew Gladys. 
As we were coming up the hill, through a field, we could see a figure over the hedgerow that looks like Sue. She could see us yet failed to acknowledge us, so we walked on towards the stile.

At the stile was...
Our accommodation is our own house. It is the owner’s brand new house as yet unoccupied. They had a double booking for their B and B, up the road, and so we were given their yet to be completed house-very comfortable.
Well tomorrow is our last day-the Irish Sea looms close.

Offas Dyke Day 13 Llangollen to Clwyd Gate

Day 13 pictures
A good night's sleep is a good way to greet a Monday.
For some reason though I was vaguely irritated most of the morning.
It was overcast, not cold, not raining, not windy so I had no reason to be so, yet I was.
We needed delivering to our start point, which necessitated a 15 minute drive out of Llangollen. I missed a turn off which didn't help the irritation, yet was vaguely vindicated when we arrived at the other end of the road we should have used, to find it was closed for some reason.

Scree slope of Craig Arthur

Anyway we set off around the cliffs of the Eglwyseg Mountains, along a well defined path through the scree slopes, about a foot wide. The scree slope rose above us quite steeply, to Craig Arthur and Craig-y-Adar, and dropped away from the track even more steeply. One of those places you wouldn't like to meet a yak, if you were in Nepal!
The views ahead and behind were pretty damn good and we made good progress.
Even though the track was narrow it was reasonably flat.
We came off the scree track at World's End, joining a tarmac road, that climbed and climbed, through forest then quite suddenly broke out into classical moor country, gorse and heath covered, rather desolate looking.
It was here we started to get the wind, that blew across our faces, as we walked.

Moorland board walk

The moorland also threw up the first section of boardwalk I can remember. These went for quite some way, hundreds of yards/metres, preserving the fragile bog environment.
Relief from the wind arrived in the form of Llandegla Forest, a cultivated pine forest for paper manufacture, and here we enjoyed morning tea.
Typically our height gain was short lived, and we then descended quite rapidly, through forest, then out into open farmland again.
This comes with it the terrors of  the bovine, however there were none and we safely arrived at the very pretty village of Llandegla.
The houses in the main street had quite delightful window boxes full of flowering plants, none of which I could name in a fit.
Soon after we hit the pastures and this time our bovine luck ran out.
A large herd across one part of the path, a long walk to get to them, a long walk past them to the refuge of a bridge.
Funnily enough this was completed safely and the bovine with HUGE scrotum went unnoticed.
It was then  happy meander until we came across another walker sunning herself, without her top on. She watched our approach, and then realising the person out front wasn't a female with bright orange hair, but a bloke, hurriedly put her top on-you win some and you lose some!!
She was very chatty, however had been smoking too and I think was more embarrassed about that.
We climbed up for lunch and sat in the wind. The wind was strong enough to blow my camera off a post when I attempted a time delay picture.

Lunch with wind

It was then hills for young and old. First Moel y Plas, the first significant climb of over 100 metres, then a very pleasant track contouring around Moel Llanfair, then another fierce climb to Moel Gyw, followed by another lovely contoured track, until our final decent into Clwyd Gate.
Tomorrow more Moel's.
Our accommodation is off track about six kilometres, so our trusty driver picks us up once more.
Our accommodation, Hafan Deg is quite luxurious compared with previous and everyone is happy.
The wind picks up and looks bleak for tomorrow tho I am assured it will, well blow over!!

Hafan Deg

Offas Dyke Day 12 Bronygarth to Llangollen

Day 12 pictures
The overnight heat settled and the new day was cooler and overcast.
There was even some early rain revealed by drops on the car's windscreen.
After the usual breakfast, now mostly limited to cereal, muesli, coffee and toast, we were ferried out to the start point at Bronygarth on the B4500.
Unfortunately, this meant a climb right off the blocks, initially up a tar road, then a rough track and then into the open fields.
As I said, it was overcast and the first few minutes we were threatened with rain, which thankfully failed to materialise. It did however raise the humidity.

Chirk Castle

It was at this point, about 15 minutes after parting company from Sue that I realised I had left my hallmark fluorescent Frillneck hat back at the hotel. A quick call to our driver ensured it was retrieved, however I able to preserve my sunburn free dome with the help of Margaret's head gear, a grey version of mine.
Once our in the open, Chirk Castle revealed itself, as quite a magnificent structure, large, impressive and in remarkably good shape.
Our descent lead us to the Shropshire Union Canal, which we had come across at Montgomery and later just prior to Llanymynech, and this we followed for some distance.
This is a navigable canal and had a steady stream of canal boats cruising along with quite a number tied up along the way.
This canal goes all the way to Llangollen, today's destination, however we do not follow it all the way.

Pontycysyllte Aqueduct

After some two kilometres we come to the most magnificent structure, the Pontycysyllte Aqueduct, which spans the River Dee, carrying the canal. The aqueduct is about 30 metres above the river level, has the canal on one side and then the footpath and a single railing.
It is quite spooky and with water flowing along the canal, albeit slowly, there is quite an impression that the aqueduct is moving.
Once over, there is a large basin where the canal boats have to do a 90 degree turn to follow the contour and it was fun to see just how well the various pilots manage the process.
We follow the canal a bit further, however of course it contours around and we, of course climb!!
We climb quite steadily through a thick forest, meet us with a group of giggly school girls who are doing their Duke's Award, and undertaking a navigation exercise. They are slightly lost, however their supervisors, following not that far behind think the girls will sort it out.
Finally at about 250 metres height we break out into the open and have great views of the Vale of Llangollen and Castell Dinas Bran, that overlooks the town.

Castell Dinas Bran

It is here we have lunch before our descent into Llangollen.
The town is thriving and on an early Sunday there are people everywhere with the steam train running and horse drawn canal boat rides, there is much to do.
We finds our accommodation, have a coffee and do very little.

Offas Dyke Day 11 Llanymynech to Bronygarth

Day 11 pictures

The night was hot and the noise from the street too loud to allow an open window, so sleep was intermittent.

I don’t think any of us slept that well.
The day ahead was to be hot with a local forecast of 25⁰C.
Records had almost been broken the previous day for the UK. Today of course was a new month, so new records were there for the taking.
We set off at our usual time, about 8.45AM, with a climb immediately in the offing, up Llanymynech Hill. On the way we passed the cutting where Charles Darwin learned to use an inclinometer.
Such were his skills he was chosen for the Beagle trip.

I am sure the view is great

The on the climb we became geographically bemused, thinking we had missed a turn off. That righted, the track contoured around the hill to a vantage point where the views would have been stunning had it not been for the haze.
The heat haze plagues us when we want good pictures.
A second geographical incident occurred when Eve and I missed a turn and lost Margaret. She took the turn and we took some time to realise that.
Reunited, now having come off the hill and down quite a steep incline we were greeted by a herd of cows, some fifty or so, all crowding the fence to see these odd people.

Inquisitive cows!

Soon after we hit another herd all crowding the stile. Judicious banging of our walking poles, had them move just out of the way, with Eve wide-eyed giving them as much a wide birth as the fence would allow.
Some road walking whiled away the time until another hill raised its head, this time through a very pleasant wood called Jones Rough.
Here we had morning tea, Eve’s birthday cake and other delights.
Not much further on we came to another of those great view spots with 360⁰ views, again spoiled by the haze. I did take a picture of the diagrammatic that showed us what we would have seen on a clear day so that will have to do!
Then of course another descent and we know what that means, now don’t we children?
Yes, you’re right another bloody hill.
This hill, whilst proving some initial steep parts, soon started contouring round in nice cool shade, and as lunch approached we were on the lookout for a place to park our butts.
An ideal spot presented itself, so we all took our appointed seats and had our usual repast.

Three wise .....

Unfortunately, the lunch spot was not at the peak of the hill as intended and so started the rumblings of dissent that continued all day, as the heat and distance increased .
It was about this time our old friend, the Dyke rejoined us, and we followed it for much of the remainder of the day, past an old horse racing track and its ruined grandstand onto a long road section.
Whilst this was pretty ordinary, especially with the heat, it lead to a farm, Careg-y-big that offered coffee, cool drinks and toilets, but not necessarily in that order.
Whilst partaking the cool drink we met the owner of the farm, nice bloke who gave Eve advice on how to make bulls scared of her.
I hope to have pictures of her utilising his advice, along with the outcome. This could be ugly!!
We were now on the home run, yet there was some more geographical uncertainly thrown in just to keep us on our toes, when we misinterpreted a fingerboard’s direction and headed at 45⁰ off course.
That corrected, and more time lost and more mutterings about complaints to management we hit our last hill, or so we thought. There always seems to be that short, sharp, hard hill that slips through the contour lines, and so it was again.

Management

The promised final stile of the day proved to be false, though there were a couple that had open gates, or better still no fence attached, yet there was always one more until we finally crossed the River Ceiriog at Bronygarth where Sue awaited with the car.
We were well over an hour late, the heat had taken its toll and we had slowed considerable after lunch.
Eve sucked up the last of her water as she got into the car and investigation of my Camelback proved it to be empty also.
Our accommodation at Chirk, The Hand Inn, came good with some beers, good cold lagers.
Our rooms are hot, but at least they are at the back of the hotel and we have a fan, but no sheet, just the bloody thick doona.
It was a hot day and broke records all over the UK. The hottest day EVER recorded for October.
Tomorrow a shorter day, though the good weather is predicted to follow us to the end.

Offas Dyke Day 10 Buttington to Llanymynech

Day 10 pictures
The poms certainly know how to heat houses for winter, double glazing and all that, but they simply can't get the idea of cooling.
I slept badly with the window open as far as it would go and no covers.
The bed has a doona thicker than R3.0 insulation and no sheet.
Sleep was not constant even though otherwise the bed was quite comfortable.
The blog for yesterday hadn't been uploaded so that was job #1 of the day.

River Severn in the early morning

There was a heavy mist in the valley and it was very still.
Breakfast was broken by the arrival of a cake with a single candle and suitable songs for Eve's birthday.
Her card was to be unveiled later.
We had a simple day of only about 14 kilometres all flat so we should be in just after lunch.
The start of the walk was along the river flats of the River Severn, flowing north.
You may recall we had started at Severn Estuary in Chepstow. Same beast, that does a huge loop through mid Wales than back.

Port Quay locks

We then joined the Montgomery Canal and had a very pleasant stroll along the canal path, past an interesting drawbridge for farmers to access fields across the canal, and then to Pool Quay, the first of the locks we would pass that day,
Of course river flats means grazing country and grazing country means bovines, ruminants of the four footed variety and it was after leaving the canal and rejoining the river we came unstuck.
There at the stile was a ruminant of the bull variety and it wasn't moving for love or money. Further on was a large herd of cows, but the bull wouldn't budge, and we weren't brave enough to challenge his authority.
This mean a back track, and a very long detour to avoid said beast.
Just as we rejoined the path, a couple of German walkers approached. They had just simply walked past, and the bull ignored them, as it did another couple as we watched. Indifferent.
This failed to lower the apprehension levels.
Another couple of herds overcome, whilst in the company of the Germans, we stopped for morning tea, they walked on.
Not long after yet another congregation of cows at our exit gate, so a tentative walk around, resulting in us finding yet another huge bull lying amongst the herd.

A load of bull!

Our bravery did not get much higher, though some other herds we managed to entice to give ground, to let us by.
Eve still needs lost of coaxing.
We arrived at Four Crosses, small village, in need of a strong coffee which we bought from the local pub and were rejoined by the German couple, whom we had passed, and two blokes I had talked to yesterday on Beacon Ring.
It was soon after this that we became geographically embarrassed. They had created a highway bypass and changed the geography, causing me some confusion, as they hadn't updated the maps, or more importantly the signage.
Sorting this out took longer than it should, and we finally got back on track 40 minutes later.
Lunch was enjoyed on the banks of the Montgomery Canal once more, and we were joined for lunch by a pretty black kitten.
This left less than three kilometres to Llanymynech our destination.,All alongside the canal and over three viaducts that took us across Afon Vyrnwy, a river, and a couple of low spots on the river bank.
The canal is in poor repair, however work is being done to slowly restore it.
It has been a hot day 29C and almost a record for UK in September.
Our B and B is the Bradford Arms, and like I said, they have no idea about cooling. The room is hot. The beer however is refreshing even if not icy cold.
It's Eve's birthday dinner, and she almost explodes with mirth at the card.
I eat too much and almost explode.
The room is still too hot and it's 9.00 PM.

Llanymynech Wharf.

Forecast 25C tomorrow and we have 20 kilometres with hills.