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.

Offas Dyke Day 9 Upper Shirley to Buttington

Day 10 pictures

A rather warm night that needed only a sheet to be comfortable, another summer day predicted, albeit in late September.

In spite of the room facing south and our curtains not drawn, and only slightly painted, the red sunrise did not do its magic until 6.50AM, later than our usual getting up time.

Breakfast at eight, most electing to have just the cereal and fruit and eschewing the full English (sounds like the full Brazilian, tho with less hair).
Sue took us to Brompton Crossroads where we started an eight kilometre straight line walk along the dyke.
It was already warm, we were in short sleeves with the Australian obligatory sunblock. Temp 24⁰.

Montgomery Castle

This took us across fields, beside fields, along avenues of trees, all the while with very little rise and fall.
We passed Montgomery of yesterday’s blog, this time partially obscured in the hazy conditions.
We made good progress and consequently had a rather late morning tea in a field with sheep, who studiously avoided us.
After morning tea, just out of a nondescript village, Kingswood (not the Kingswood I hear you say) we started our days climb. Initially up a tarmac road, where our progress was disturbed by a quartet of Canadians coming the other direction. They were chatty and sweating, just like us.
Having dealt with them, it was up and up, until finally we entered a forest, the track levelled out and it was shady and cool, a delight for walking.
Our walk continued through this nameless forest, past a rather unusual dam like structure, holding back no water, then past a very still pool, with the sign “Private Fishing” . Here Margaret proceeded to throw the top of her drinking bottle into the pool, such that it was irretrievable!
We then passed an intriguingly named Pant y bwch, a farm I guess, before yet another climb to Beacon Ring, the zenith of our day’s efforts.

Beacon Ring hill fort

Beacon Ring is an old hill fort (old as in unimaginably old) that is ring shaped around the top of the hill overlooking Welshpool.
Here we meet a couple of blokes who I challenge with “You must be English?” To which they reply “Yes, why?” To which I respond “Well you’re sitting in the sun, we Australians would be sitting in the shade.” Eve and Margaret have walked on to find a lunch spot, in the shade I presume, and I chat on to these two guys.
I bid them farewell, walk on to find the chosen lunch spot to be in full sunlight!!
Our lunch spot does have great views over the valley and Welshpool, though idiosyncratically, Margaret IS sitting in the shade, off track facing into the rather impenetrable forest.
Lunch over it’s then down, down down  nearly 300 metres to our accommodation.
Coming through a field, we meet us with a herd of cows and calves bunched up on the fence right in our path and in light of our previous experience we try and give them a wide birth.
Buttington our destination is reached, however we can’t find our B and B and walk on hoping to chance upon it. No such luck and we end up crossing the railway line and the River Severn (remember that from day 1) until we give up and phone Sue. We missed our accommodation by about 10 metres, as we didn’t know its name.
Showered and feeling less sweaty we head off into Welshpool for some shopping, in the car.
The main reason I am going, is to get a cake for Eve, it’s her birthday tomorrow and we need a cake for breakfast.
There is a big supermarket there and we get what we need. I am running out of lip sunblock however can’t find any sunblock at all. I ask one of the shop assistants who tells me they have stopped stocking that, as summer is over!! Can you believe that?
Sue has got Eve a terrific card for tomorrow, however as usual I can’t think of anything to write that is either funny or appropriate.

Eve's birthday card

As we leave the B and B for dinner at the Green Dragon, I say something that makes her laugh, then fart, and I have suddenly have my bon mot “May all your laughter turn to farts”. It’s appropriate when you see her card!

Offas Dyke Day 8 Newcastle on Clun to Lower Shirley

Pictures Day 8
The day started with a white-out. The valley misted right over, tho the suggestion of a sunny day was there.
Breakfast dispatched, we got right onto the Dyke, as it was literally around the corner from the B and B.
Of course a hill was first on the agenda, a short sharp nasty one.

Eve and Margaret at the 1/2 way point

The reward was a sign that told us we had reached the half way point on the Dyke.
The mist was still pretty thick so pictures were pretty ordinary.
The first hill, Graig Hill, then leads to a fierce descent, which lead to another hard push back up another hill.
And that's how it was most of this day's walk.
The sun has broken through at last, and having worn short sleeves for the first time this trip, I use the sun block also for the first time this trip
We are walking along the Dyke almost all the time, and as I mentioned in previous posts it is an impressive earthwork.

First sunblock

In parts it has been badly eroded and some of the blame has been leveled at badgers digging burrows. They look very much like wombat holes, though I am told that there are no wombats in UK. Pity!
After another hard steep slippery descent we cross a miserable stream, Cwm Ffrydd and come across a pretty church and cemetery.
We having morning tea here, on a seat dedicated to a Mrs Davies. The church is appropriately in Churchtown, original idea.
The penalty for loitering is yet another hill, however at the top we see the long valley below that we will traverse on our next day.
At the top, we cross back into Wales, and play our usual game of stepping back and forth. Wales. England. Wales. England.
Bored with this childish game we had down our final hill.
The last few  kilometres are through flat farming land until suddenly we come across this vast caravan park, just stuck out in the middle of nowhere. There's no obvious reason why it is here, however there are lots and lots of well established mobile homes that look like they have never moved.
They have gardens, permanent attached patios, all battened down for winter.

Walk right through

Not far on from the caravans, we come to one of those delightful idiosyncrasies of the UK footpath system.

We walk right through someone's house. Well not through their back door and out the front, but pretty close -> .
It's now lunch time, our car with Sue attached is waiting, we we alight and head for Montgomery, a small town not far away.
Lunch is at the town castle, with a stunning view across the valley.

Our accommodation is run by Sheila who greet is in a pink bikini. She is ironing and absorbing the gammas out the back of her house. Once we are settled in, she is back to the board. Having finished that, she then gets out the mower and mows the lawn, all in aforesaid pink bikini.
Dinner is at the B and B and two birthdays are celebrated. Margaret and I share 28th September.

Offas Dyke Day 7 Knighton to Newcastle on Clun

Day7 Knighton To Newcastle On Clun

We woke to the sound of running water.
Well of course we did we were staying by a stream.
The day was misty, so initially it was hard to see what was in store.
The forecast was for sun!!! And they were right.

Nippy to start, then simply beautiful.
Breakfast, however was not a great start as there was no plunger coffee and the instant Fare Trade coffee on offer was, to put it bluntly, CRAP.
So no coffee.

Offas Dyke Information Centre

That overcome however, the car packed, we were off at 8.40 AM our earliest start yet, for one of our shortest days, a mere 14 kms.
We dropped back into the Offas Dyke Information Centre for a quick photo shoot, then off in earnest.
The early part was gently along the River Teme, then a quick crossing of the river. along with the railway line and our first climb of the day.
Hard and quite drawn out.
This set the tone of the day.
The climb did afford us fine view back to Knighton and back over some of yesterday's walk, south, making it hard to take any pictures as that's where the sun is in these climes.
Having climbed the climb, we then descended the descent, to then climbed the climb again-useless hills-up to the intriguingly named Cwm-sanaham Hill, which at 407 metres gave us stunning views to the west.
It bought to mind "How Green was my Valley".
This then lead to a foot numbing descent, through gorse, then down slick wet grass past Selley Hall (nothing to do with glues etc.), then past Carbett Hall, another large farm.
Another 150 metre climb ensued to Llanfair Hill guranteeing more fine views.
All the while we are either walking on, over or beside the Dyke itself. It is the first time I can recall ever mounting a Dyke!!

Dyke on right ditch beside track

It is quite an impressive structure, hard to capture with the camera. It has a ditch on the western (Welsh) side then the Dyke itself, a high earthen  bank up to 14 feet high, reinforced with stone slabs.

Dyke overgrown with trees

Dyke mid distance running diagonally

Dyke running into distance

It runs over hill and dale, being cut in places where farmers have driven tracks through, exposing the structure.

Our final climb took us to our originally planned accommodation, cancelled due to illness.

We got there at 11.51AM, rather early. Thankfully we were walking on.

Our lunch view

We found a great spot for lunch with a million dollar view of Newcastle on Clun and were joined by a very friendly dog that just loved to clean up Eve's sardine tin.

It was then a short stroll to our accommodation, Quarry House, where we arrived just on 1.00PM. The house was open so we made ourselves at home until Sue arrived with our gear.

As we had plenty of time we decided to take a drive to Welshpool, a small town about 25 km away. Another cute old English town, albeit this time with a canal running through it.

Our dinner was organised at the local pub and to be kind it was pretty dismal. Unfriendly, poor food and lacking the charm it should have had.

We find the locals don't eat there and our B and B hosts wouldn't have booked us there if they'd known we had a car. Rats.

Offas Dyke Day 6 Kington to Knighton

Offas Dyke

Day 6 pictures
Of course another night of rain, and I woke at 11.40 PM having slept well for all of 90 minutes, to realise I was hot.
The furnace had come on and my orthotics were cooking and downstairs. So on with the bathrobe and down stairs I went.
The stairs were steep and I realised the bathrobe covered very little if any of the bare essentials if someone had been ascending from below.
Thankfully I was on my own, and orthotics rescued, back to bed, minus bathrobe.
The morning however revealed clear skies and we set out with some sunshine.
The way out of Kington took us past a babbling brook, rather like Eve who had Monday-itis, she said.
The babbling brook was followed by a nice climb out of Kington, in fact a nasty piece of work really.
It lead to the local golf club where I misread the sign stating "Beware of Golfers" for "Beware of Gophers".
We certainly had to be aware, as they were playing across our way, badly and they were digging up the fairways.
Once on Bradnor Hill we rejoined the earthworks that form the Dyke, which pictures fail to capture very well. It is still quite impressive.
We then had very steep descent into Lower Harpton, a village of no note whatsoever.
Another short sharp ascent through Burfa Wood, then another to Granner Wood notable for being on the Dyke again.
We had morning tea on the edge of a paddock, near the dyke.
The paddock had three horses that kept galloping towards us, stopping short, coming closer, then rushing back from whence they came. Then repeating the charge/retreat process.

View from lunch

Having climbed, as is the way, we then lost all height gained, heading into a village, Dolley Green, which we never quite got to, as the track did a sudden sharp left turn and headed up another long hard hill.
Having laboured up this, we found ourselves sharing a field with animals of the bovine variety, so lunch was delayed until we could put a couple of gates between us and the aforesaid animals.
Having regained our height and walked pretty well through the morning, the afternoon was pretty easy with a slow ascent down to Knighton, through yet another golf course, this time thankfully, devoid of gophers.
Knighton has the Offas Dyke Centre, an obligatory stop for walkers where you can get badges T-shirts etc, which we duly did.

Dyke earthworks

Our B and B overlooks the River Teme, and there is a cascade close by-noisy. I hope the bugger doesn't keep me awake.

Offas Dyke Day 5 Hay on Wye to Kington

Day 5 pictures
Of course it rained most of the night, so our hope for a totally rainfree walk seemed dashed.
Breakfast takes on the usual tenor, cereal, orange juice, yogurt to either eat on the spot or take for lunch and toast and jam. The others have scrambled egg or other varieties of the same.
We walk out of our accommodation, as today it is right on Offas Dyke and head off.
Sue passes us in the main street and is gone.

River Wye

It's over the Wye River and it is quite a good river, fast flowing and clean. It's then along the river bank and across fields, until the rain starts and we stop to jacket up.
Of course we then have a climb so the wet outside joins the wet sweaty  inside and it is all quite unpleasant.
It only rains for about 30 minutes and finally I take off my jacket as I  am fed up with feeling so hot.
It's a good move as it doesn't rain again all day. In fact the day gets better and better and we finish in sunshine, but more of that later.
The walk is undulating over pretty fields through flocks of sheep and the occasional herd of cows, that are negotiated with great care.
We meet up with three guys coming the other way whom we have passed every day over the last four days. They were having bets as to what time we would cross paths, we were walking pretty fast, so one was very pleased.
They had parked their car at a place called Newchurch which we got to  quite quickly, even though it was about eight km, our days walk was about 24 km.
After Newchurch came our first good hard climb up to a hill that has an unpronounceable name Disgwylfa Hill). Of course this meant we had to come off it, which we duly did after about half an hour and descended into Gladestry a small village of little note other than a pub called the Royal Oak.
We stopped here for lunch on a bench that has a sign telling us refreshments were available at the local church.
It also had an overflowing rubbish bin, that I failed to take a picture of!!
Lunch dealt with, it was then another hard climb up Hergest Ridge, a climb of about 150 metres that afforded us great views of the surrounding countryside, west, south and north but not east, as that's the way the ridge ran.

Back to Hay Bluff

We could see right back to yesterdays, Hay Bluff, and over to Brecon Beacons, and north to heavens know where, but I guess we'll find out in due course.
The ridge is a few kms long and we finally get to a point where we can see Kington, our goal, and then it's the descent off the ridge along a wide grass path that could be the fairway of Royal Adelaide.
The ridge is populated with sheep, of course and a large number of horses, many with foals.
The bracken, in parts, is cut and rolled into what at home we would call hay rolls.
Some fellow walkers we meet tell us that bracken causes stomach cancer in sheep, that they used to poison the bracken until they stopped that, as the poison washed into streams, They now cut it roll it and then do something with it.
Into the outskirts of Kington we stroll, it is only about 2.30PM and we have done well.
Kington is one of the typical strip villages with a High Street with shops and little else.
It is like someone died, it's quiet, all the shops are closed except the supermarket, and there is no one around.
We find our digs however Sue is not there, she is trying to intercept us back up the track-well it didn't work.
Finally we all get together, there's few places to eat in Kington on a Sunday evening so we settle for the nearest pub.
It is great, the gaffer (boss) is great fun and we have a great meal-so good to have a stir fry after all the other pub meals.
The weather looks good, we have 23 kilometres to do tomorrow, so it should be a good day.

Offas Dyke Day 4 Longtown to Hay-on-Wye

Offas Dyke Day 4 pictures
Fitful night as the Friday night crowd at The Crown were a little rowdy until after 12 midnight, especially in the car park, under our window.
When good sleep arrived it was time to get up, and again we were greeted with low cloud and grey skies.
Today we had to climb back onto the Hatterwel Hill ridge, the ridge that dominated Longtown, and off which we walked last night.

Red Daren and the path up (it gets steeper)

So it was about a 300 metre climb back onto Offas Dyke, around a feature known as Red Daren, on a poorly formed track overgrown with bracken, thistles and stinging nettles and scarred by horses and sheep.
The ridge finally achieved, the view could have been stupendous if it wasn't for the persistent dullness induced by the dull weather.
The walk along the ridge for about seven km was pretty easy with some pretty benign hills and often along a path paved with huge stone blocks, through the more sodden areas.
Occasionally the slate stones would be poorly seated and rocked, squirting foul, black peat laden water onto the back of your legs, as a unexpected surprise.

And now for the descent

At Pen y Beacon the trail did its descent, around Hay Bluff, called that I guess as it overlooked Hay on Wye, and across quite a large open area of common.
At this stage we crossed paths with quite a few walkers, reminding us that today was Saturday.
The track then descended quite steeply through an open field, offering our best views of Hay, to date, so we sat and admired the view and our lunches.

Hay on Wye from lunch spot

After lunch we followed a creek, called appropriately Cusop Dingle!!
This took us into Hay on Wye, through the car park where we found our car, so assumed Sue must be close by.
Hay on Wye is supposed to have the largest concentration of second hand bookshops in the world, and it certainly has a lot.
We wandered round and round until Eve and Margaret were ready to rebel, unless I phoned Sue to establish her exact whereabouts. Then lo and behold there she was walking up the street.
Our B and B is behind the Cinema Bookshop, which is as the name infers is a bookshop, in the old Hay on Wye cinema.
After a shower, I had some time on my own around the town, dropping into the various bookshops, checking out various authors and generally fiddling about.
Sometimes it is so good to be by yourself!

Offas Dyke Day 3 Great Tre-rhew Farm to Longtown

Day 3 Great TreRhew Farm To Longtown
It seems that the weather is a very important component of walking enjoyment, so it's out the window we look on waking everyday to check the elements.
Today, grey as usual, but dry.
And it was a fine day, once breakfast was dealt with and the car packed we were off.
An initial navigation error, where we missed a stile and had to back track, was soon dealt with and we were on our way.

Verdant fields

Once again over verdant fields, pushing flocks of sheep aside as we walked and skirting the cows, with some element of apprehension.
The way was pretty easy really, with little to tax us in the morning.
At morning tea we chose the corner of a paddock at a stile onto a back road, with great views and at the time some sunshine.
Sue had given me a yogurt for lunch, however investigating my lunchbox I found I had no spoon with which to consume the said food. Commenting to the others that I would have to remonstrate with her when we met up later in the day, Margaret chipped in and said, you can tell her now, as lo and behold, Sue just drove past!! She did not have a spoon however, so the yogurt remained uneaten.
The easy early morning then progressed into the somewhat harder later morning with a steep and steady climb up to Hattervel Hill which constitutes the eastern boundary of the Brecon Beacons National Park and our way joined the Brecon Way.

Lunch in a small quarry

Once on the ridge we had fabulous views east west and south and could see the ridge heading north, our direction of travel.
Lunch was on the ridge in an old quarry site, a shallow dugout, that had us out of the wind.

Brecon Beacons

The after lunch amble took us further along the ridge until we has to come off down a steep track to Longtown,our destination for the night.
This took over an hour, even though the distance was just two kilometres.
We have to get back up there tomorrow. Bugger!
Our accommodation, The Crown Inn provided us with beers whilst awaiting Sue's arrival and our rooms were pretty good.

The Crown

We were joined at dinner by an old school friend of Ian along with his wife Jane. They are taking Ian and Jo back with them, as they leave us today to head off to Morocco.
Meanwhile we just plod on!!

Offas Dyke Day 2 Lower Redbrook to Great Tre-Rhew

Day2 Redbrook To Great Tre-rhew Farm
It rained overnight, of course leading to the pessimistic weather predictions for today.
In spite of this the day was fine with high cloud and even some blue sky.

Naval Temple (under restoration)

So with good weather, the day started with a climb, quite a long climb through Redbrook up to the Kymin.
That's really just a hill, that overlooks Monmouth and notable for having a Naval Temple commemorating the great admirals of the Napoleonic Wars eg Nelson, Rodney, Hood etc.
Next door is the Round House which is described a Gentleman's Banqueting rooms!!
Then a steep descent to Monmouth, notable for producing Henry V (once more unto the breach dear friends Henry) and Charles Rolls of Rolls Royce fame.
Morning tea is on the banks of a river on the outskirts of Monmouth where we are harassed once again by the itinerant Australians, Jo and Sue.
It's a pretty town with small shopping streets, and in walking through the town, who do we come across other than Sue and Jo who have driven from Redbrook and are sitting outside a cafe drinking hot apple juice and also on a shopping run.
Once out of Monmouth it's a climb into King's Wood before a descent to follow the River Trothy.

The running of the bulls

It's at this time we nearly have the running of the bulls, when on a narrow back road we are confronted with a herd of the horniest looking animals imaginable.
We back up against the hedgerow until they pass. After yesterdays incident with the cows we are rather chary of any big animals.
Further along we pass the Church of St Michael of the Fiery Meteor-for heavens sake!!
It's then the final climb up to the White Castle, a very impressive Norman Castle that from the outside looks quite small, however it unfolds in front of you once you cross the drawbridge.
A final hard descent, off Offas Dyke to Great Tre-rhew Farm, our accommodation for the night where we find we are the only guests in the old farm house.
Our dinner is provided by the owners, we are too far from the local pub and we dine rather grandly, the piece de resistance being the huge apple pie. This we consume with hot custard, and what's remaining gets divvied up for lunch tomorrow.
It was a long 25 km day and we are looking forward to a shorter day tomorrow.
Can't complain, no rain.

Offas Dyke Day 1 Chepstow to Lower Redbrook

Day1ChepstowTo Redbrook On Wye

As is the way with walking, the day did not look that good to start with. Rained all night.

Margaret, Eve and Julian at start
Jo and Ian slept in

However when we set off in the car to get to the Sedbury Cliffs, the start of Offa Dyke things improved to the point where we actually had sunshine.

River Severn and Bridge

The walk involved a walk to the cliffs, then back out along the same path, so a bit of doubling back required.
The Sedbury cliffs overlook the River Severn, and the views down to the Severn Bridge, a might suspension bridge, are pretty good.
It's then through suburbia for a while until we rejoins the River Wye a tributary of the Severn.
The walk is along high cliffs and overlooks Chepstow and the castle, in parts very close to a very steep drop into the river.
We follow the fiver for quite some way briefly heading away from it, then returning to the riverbank to a place called Bigsweir, which has a pretty neat bridge.

Chepstow Castle from across the Wye

It was near here that a mob of cows took a dislike to our presence, probably because they had small calves and decide to head butt Margaret, who I must say took it all very calmly.
So it was a traverse slowly past them until rescued by a gate.
It's then a climb up into the woods and a transit through the woods until we see Lower Redbrook, many metres below.
A slippery descent into the village, was then followed by a frustrating 30 minutes trying to find the Bell Inn, until we discovered we had walked past the back door just after we had completed our drop down.
Sue has beaten us there, thankfully so our bags are all in our rooms ready for our arrival. The Bell Inn is a very pleasant pub with a very attentive barman cum waiter.
Jo and Ian are staying about 200 metres up the town and join us for dinner-there is now here else.

Offas Dyke Day 0 Chepstow

Day17Transit Day
Well I've had a few days off having finished Coast to Coast and trained from Robin Hood's Bay to Birmingham via York.
We left Arrienne and Peter in Robin Hood's Bay at the bus stop, waiting for a bus (yeah I know, obviously). They had a later train from Scarborough than us so had time for a bus.
We had to get a taxi, that arrived on time and dropped us off at Scarborough Station with plenty of time to spare.

Mouse man's Handiwork on the Old Robin Hoods Bay Police Station Gate

The taxi took us via a gate with some handiwork of a man known as the mouse man!
The Trip via York was pretty painless, through some very nice English countryside, of course.
At Birmingham, Eve and Margaret went off to stay in a pub and I was reunited with Sue and my friend Pat, with whom we stayed the last two nights.
Pat is a GP, whose wife is working at the local hospital doing extra training in liver transplant surgery, she is a surgeon.
He and I worked together a few years ago.
Sue and I had a day walking Birmingham, around the canals and jewelery quarter and other places.
We visited the Pen Museum.
Did you know that 90% of all pen nibs (the old wet ink variety) were made in Birmingham.
Today was our transit day to Chepstow in south Wales.
As we headed south in the car, the weather worsened and of course it is now steady rain.
We visited Cardiff, so I could be added to the list of drivers for the car and frankly we saw so little of Cardiff as it was so wet.
Anyway here we are in the shadow of Chepstow Castle, the first stone castle in Wales, 50 metres from the English border, with the rain falling.
We can only hope tomorrow is another day from the weather point of view.

Day 16 Coast to Coast Grosmont to Robin Hood's Bay

Day 16 pictures
It rained quite heavily overnight with thunder and lightening so our hopes for a dry last day were rather low.
In spite of this it was clear and a bit sunny.
Our B and B whilst being by far the most modern had some quite irritating feature. None of the doors had handles, only spring loaded tongues that clicked loudly when opening or closing the door.
Not conducive for a good nights sleep when you have some chronic nocturnal wee-ers.
The taps were an odd configuration and turned on, in a way that was contrary to what most of us expected.
They also had no markings for hot and cold that was a dilemma, if the hot water ever came through.
The most odd thing was the square toilet seat. Now I have been a GP for nearly 40 years and examined many, many bottoms, and I have yet to see a square one!
Anyway, we were duly transported to Grosmont which meant quite a long hill to start the day, about two kilometres of hill.

Falling Foss

That completed it was back to the moors once again, albeit along a tarmac road, until we turned off.
Then of course steeply downhill losing all the height we had gained previously, though thankfully into a very pretty village and beck called Littlebeck.
This we followed for some time, a leafy path along and back and forth over the beck until reaching a splendid waterfall called Falling Foss.
Morning tea was called soon after and this we ate on the track on some suitable stones, with other walkers walking around us.
It was ten back to the chase, until a few minutes on it started to rain. Initially protected by the dense foliage of Littlebeck, the torrent soon overcame the trees and it was back to the rain jackets again.
Of course this was followed by a long hill so we were all steaming within minutes AND the rain had stopped.

Just a bit of bog

It was then back to some final moorland country and just to make sure we hadn't become too cocky, threw some pretty good bog at us.
This overcome we were soon back on the bitumen through a small place called Hawkster, then finally onto the coast itself.

Robin Hood's Bay

We had been getting quite good view of Whitby whilst crossing the moors and now it was time for some pretty good cliff top views.
We were at this stage unable to see our objective, Robin Hoods Bay, as it was too far along the coast.
We gradually hauled it in and were rewarded with some fine views of the little town that started on the cliff top and seemed to flow into the bay.
A final steep descent to the old boat ramp and we were done. Sixteen days and 300 kilometres later and it's all over.
The stone we had carried since St Bees was duly cast into the North Sea, our boots duly dipped in the North Sea and we then proceeded for the obligatory beer at Wainwright's Bar at the Bay Hotel where there were literally dozens of Coast to Cost finishers arriving all the time.
Many we had met on and off over the past 16 days so it was congratulations all round.

Eve, Julian,Margaret, Arrienne and Peter at Wainwright's Bar

Well that's it......NEXT!!

Day 15 Coast to Coast Blakey Ridge to Grosmont-penultimate day

Day 15 Pictures
It's funny how the weather seems to dominate your thoughts on a long walking holiday.
Will you get wet, will you boots remain dry, will you get them dry if they get wet, and so on.
The forecast for today wasn't good-rain and wind again.
We'd looked at the map, as one does, and decided to cut out walking a four km bitumen road section. We had travelled it in the car yesterday when we had been picked up.
We would add another four km onto the end to make tomorrows walk shorter.
By the time we had breakfast, packed up our bags for their 30 metre move, and been driven out to the start point, with Peter in the boot of the X-Trail it was 9.45AM.

Great Fryup Dale

It was windy and soon started to rain.
The jackets went on just after starting our walk across Danby High Moor. The walking was easy and it was quite snug in our jackets, with the rain falling lightly. In fact so light that we could walk with the hoods down.
After a while the rain stopped and all we had to contend with was the wind, initially in our faces and then from the right side.
The views into the various dales was impeded by the light mist and the pictures truly don't do the views justice.
After about 90 minutes we started our descent into Glaisdale, where we'd been the night before, and we were sitting having lunch at our pub by midday.
Lunch was somewhat hurried by further rain, so we headed off for the last 8km or so.

River Esk

Diesel Gala, Grosmont

This was along the River Esk, a very pretty walk, through Egton Bridge and finally to Grosmont.
Grosmont, pronounced Gro-mont, is the home of the North Yorkshire Railway company that runs steam and diesel tours from Grosmont to Whitby and other places and we had arrived for the Diesel Gala.
There were train buffs all over the place, shooting pictures of the comings and goings of the various trains.
We had about an hour to wait for our transport and I reckon about 20 trains came and left in that time. On each occasion the main street through the town being blocked by the closure of the railway crossing.
Mark, our host took us back to our B and B, the first modern house we have been in, and as I said only 30 metres from our pub of last night.
So it's back to the pub again, there's nowhere else, and tonight it's very quite, compared with the large numbers of walkers crowding the bar last night.
It starts to rain again so we hurry back to the B and b and then it's not only rain but thunder and lightening too.
We don't mind if it rains etc tonight just so long at its stops tomorrow for our final day.

Day 14 Clay Bank to Blakey Ridge (The Lion)

Day 14 Pictures
What a great start to the day!! Clear skies and SUN.
Today an easy walk of only about 14 km, and after an initial 200m climb and easy day across the moors, finishing at a pub.
What could be better than that?
Breakfast over David (the B and B) owner has the complicated task of getting 11 walkers to the start of their walk.
At least this time we are all starting at the same place, Clay Bank.
Eve and I travel with two women, a GP and a cardiologist, who trained at Newcastle, NSW.
The GP is quite chatty, the cardiologist is taciturn and that's being polite.
Her only comment was to contradict something I had said. I can't imagine what her beside manner would be like.

The climb up Carr Ridge

So the day begins in sun and wind free with a climb up Carr Ridge to Round Hill, then its across the moor, which after the initial climb is a slow up.
The trail then joins up with an old railway line and follows this for about the next eight km.It's easy going, and sometimes hard on the feet.
We meet up with a whole convoy of grouse shooters, all dressed in their tweed with shirts and ties, all in posh 4WD's.The staff are out in the heather with the dogs sweeping up the killed grouse. There must be at least 40 dogs out there, all with one or two handles, who also pick up the grouse. We are told that the shooters pay over 1000 pounds per gun to play!

Farndale

The walk overlooks a very pretty valley called Farndale, through which runs the River Dove. It's chocolate box pretty as was yesterday.
We stop briefly for morning tea at the headwaters of the River Esk. By this time it has clouded over and is getting quite chilly.
It's then a short walk to the Lion Inn, sitting out on the moor all by itself.
Walk into the Bar and it totally packed with people having lunch.
We have lunch outside on the tables and while we are there about 20 old bikies and their "dolls" turn up and troop in for a feed.
It's then end of our walk and we call our accommodation for the pick-up.

The Lion

Neil turns up with a Nissan X-Trail that seats only 5. We don't want to do the double trip  so I hop into the boot. Luckily one of the companies that takes all the bags from B and B is there too and offers to take one of us the the pub, our accommodation.
We are of course up stairs so it's a lug with our bags and our room is cosy to say the least.
The pub is nice and has a good menu, which is just as well, as there is nowhere else to eat.
I am getting sick of pub food.
It's all very jolly as about 20 or so of the Coast to Coast walkers are congregated in the area and all are eating here. We have met most of them over the past 2 weeks.
They have pasta and salad, without chips, thank goodness.

Day 13 Ingleby Cross to Clay Bank

Day 13 pictures
Today we start the the climb over the Cleveland Hill to the North Yorkshire Dales.
It's our first climbing day for a while and I wonder if we are going to be to be happy with this.
It's all a bit complicated getting us all to our various starting points. You may recall there are eleven of us staying at the B and B and each group is starting at a different point.
Dave sorts us all out and we get away walking about 9.15AM and it's all uphill, for about 45 minutes at least.

The Vale of Mowbray looking west

The rewards are great view over the Vale of Mowbray, the valley we have transitted the last few days.
It's then along the escarpment that forms the Cleveland hills, initially through forest then into open moor land.
At this point we also get our first view of the North Sea, over the top of a very industrial city which I mistake for Newcastle.
It is in fact Middlesborough.
The day is really a series of quite fierce climbs followed by some equally fierce downs.
The ups produce some great views to the north and show the true tapestry of the English farming.
The pockets of fields with the stone wall divider or the hedgerow.
Then the little villages are all over the place and often quite close to each other.
It really quite remarkable and very pretty.
Morning tea is under some trees in dappled shade and lunch is at a cafe and cake shop where we order a hot chocolate and a cake, along with the lunch we have also bought. The appearance of a peacock and pea hens just adds to the effect and it's all very civilised. That is until it's an off, and more of the ascents and descents.
There quite vast numbers of walkers and we pass and are passed by more walkers then we have seen along the way over the past two weeks.

The Wain (sic) Stones

The final climb of the day takes is past the poorly spelled Wain Stones, a wall of stone we need to circuit around. Then more moor and a knee crunching descent AGAIN to our finishing point Clay Bank.
It's then a call to David to come and get us, which he does in due course, over two trips, as five people in to his Mercedes doesn't work.
Four more walkers are picked up later and two are from Ballarat, so Aussie rules, for the time being at least.
Back to the pub again and a very nice pasta with lots of spice-YES!!.
Arrienne, Peter and I decide to walk back to the B and B, as David is still taking people too and fro.
It's quite pleasant and the walk is over in 15 minutes.
You will note there has been little if any mention of the weather. That's because it was sunny most of the day and the wind, whilst still strong. was manageable.
And there's more tomorrow.

Day 12 Coat to Coast Dandy Wiske to Ingleby Cross

Day 12 pictures
Each morning we look out the window hoping for a surprise when it comes to the weather.
Well today we had it-there is an almost completely blue sky-bugger all clouds to be seen anywhere.
By the time we have breakfast its very dark and the clouds are flying across the sky.
We have a wait for our transport to Danby Wiske, so it's a late start.

Stiles, stiles and more stiles.

We finally climb aboard the minibus about 9.30AM, however have an interesting ride using back roads and lanes we might not normally see, a this is the bus that collects the walker's baggage for the C2C.
At Danby Wiske we find the large tree in the village green has been blown over in the middle of the night, just missing the pub.
Today's walk is pretty much a repeat of yesterday with lots of hedgerows, farm tracks, back lanes and lots and lots of stiles and gates and FLAT.
In the distance we can see the Cleveland Hills our next objective and they look somewhat more UP than we have experienced over the last few days.
We are hit by quite a ferocious rain storm, that threatens to drench us with  a combination of wind and rain. It lashes our legs and threatens to fill our boots.
We cross two rail lines, one the major London Edinburgh line via a bridge and the next, the line to Newcastle by stumbling over the tracks.
Passing a farm we come across Australia's secret weapon for the next Ashes test series, if we get a chance to select the roller.

Australia's secret weapon for the Ashes

We also cross the very busy A19, a four lane highway, that is quite dangerous and requires a dash.
There are no villages today, other than our final destination, Ingleby Cross, which has a craft shop and a pub.
The craft shop has some quite delightful turned bowls made of local wood.
They are quite fine and smell beautifully of bees wax and the timber.
We have lunch at the pub, on one of their benches, and call our B and B to come and get us.
Dave arrives in about 15 minutes and takes us in two trips back to Dromonby Bridge Farm, a large old farm.
The farm is quite close to the birthplace of some guy called James Cook, and we can see a memorial raised to him on a nearby hill.
Our room is quite large with a double bed and single, however we don't think Dave is much of a house keeper,  it's a bit grubby, yet he is very welcoming.
There are 11 of us staying here so the trip to the local pub for dinner is quite a rigmarole, with multiple trips to get us all there and back.
The same will happen tomorrow morning after breakfast and we've all got different starting points.
The pub is a great little pub and serves me a fine steak.

Day 11 Coast to Coast Richmond to Dansky Wiske

Day 11 pictures
The wind whistling through the skylights and the rain we found on them did not bode well for today's walking
We seem to have had a lot of bode on this trip, and we are sick of it.
The forecast is for 60-70mph winds, not kph, but mph and that's pretty strong along with fleeting showers.
Another wet day.
By the time the cereal and coffee and the obligatory bacon and eggs have hit the gastric lining it has started to become sunny.

Richmond Castle

We walk out in sunlight, down a very steep street over the ubiquitous River Swale and had our last views of the Richmond Castle. It's then along the river and we are protected from the wind.
Then it's open field and rain, so the jackets come out and on for some. I see a ray of sunshine and decide to park mine in the top of my pack-a great move as the rain is gone and with it the prospect of wearing a hot rain jacket.
It's then a series of fields through Brompton on Swale, over the A1 the original main road from London to Edinburgh, past Catterick Barracks the largest military base in Europe, we are told.
We cross the Swale yet again and have a very pleasant morning tea on the river bank.

Kiplin Hall entrance

At this point we are faced with an 8 mile walk along bitumen, so decide on an alternative using bridleways and footpaths, which takes us through a variety of fields, farms, past the impressive gates of Kiplin Hall, and then once again on farmland.
We halt for lunch in a field with an open gate, which has hidden a sign that warns us of bulls.
We have no problems.
It's then more fields being almost blown away by the high winds that harry us all day.


Lunch spot

My little wind meter tells us that the highest wind speed is 48 mph, which is about 60 kph.
We pass the smelliest field I have ever walked past, it is laid with fertiliser that consists mostly of cow poo.
It's then past a corn field that is just about ready for the picking, or at least that's what Margaret thinks as she pinches a cob, for later consumption.
It's then Danby Wiske and pleasant small village, with just a pub.
We are however in for a surprise. We arrive at 2.30pm and need to call for transport to take us back to Richmond. It can't get us until 5.30PM as he's out doing the school run!!

A quiet drink

Danby Wiske

We're stuck in the pub for three hours so there's little we can do.
Yeah we did have a drink of course.
Back at Richmond, it's a quick shower and tea at one of the pubs AGAIN.
I manage to get a very nice chicken salad. It great to have some fresh salad.
The Brits don't do salad well.