Day 55 Monmouth to Pandy (17.3 miles, cumulative 928.7)

This journey throws up many challenges. Sometimes they are physical (steep hills, long distances, hot weather), sometimes transport-related (no Sunday buses), sometimes route-related (diversions). Today posed an accommodation challenge. The pub/bunkhouse I'd booked months ago had closed down last Sunday, but they promised to honour my booking despite this. The only problem - I didn't know whether dinner or breakfast would be available. So I headed to Monmouth high street and visited the nearest supermarket (M&S) to stock up on food, just in case.

Today's walk soon entered the woods, then crossed the rolling hills of Monmouthshire along country lanes and across farmland. An inviting poster outside St Michael's church in a remote hamlet offered refreshments to walkers, so I popped inside and chatted to the lady who organises it.

The temperature rose in the afternoon and more hills appeared, so a farm offering refreshments and a village pub were welcome pit stops.

I arrived at my accommodation and was welcomed in. Dinner and breakfast would be available, but only cash could be accepted. Not a problem.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 59 Newcastle in Clun to Welshpool (18.9 miles, cumulative 999.7)

Image
Apologies to the people trying to contact me yesterday - I had no wifi or phone reception at my B&B. Today's weather forecast was more rain. I feel as if I'm being punished for the endless weeks of sun I enjoyed earlier in my journey.  My B&B neighbour kindly gave me a lift back to the start of the footpath. I made very slow progess during the morning, walking just six miles in three hours. This was due to a steep climb at the start, then the infamous Switchbacks, a series of successive steep ascents and descents, which were even more challenging in wet conditions.  I commented yesterday about the stiles being replaced by gates. This clearly has not happened in the northern section of Offa's Dyke, where stiles are dominant, many in a poor state of repair. This only added to today's workload. From midday there were frequent heavy rain showers, so I added more items to my growing collection of wet clothes. Fortunately my hotel in Welshpool has a heated...
Read more

Day 63 Bodfari to Prestatyn (12.2 miles, cumulative 1,071.2) FINISHED!

Image
The last day! Shelley drove Gordon and me to the start of today's walk and I set off for the final time. We started with a long ascent, then zig-zagged our way through fields, moorland, woodland and country lanes, dodging some heavy showers on two occasions. Then Prestatyn came into view from above and we gradually descended into civilisation.  After 1,071 miles in 62 days, 4 hours and 45 minutes, I reached the end of my journey at the coast, having walked the perimeter of Wales. What an adventure! There are so many memories - 40 days of amazing weather, followed by a fair dose of rain, spectacular scenery, meeting interesting people en route for a few minutes or a few days, visits from family and friends, super accommodation, countless lasagne and chips dinners, steep hills, secluded bays, stunning cliffs, reliable trains and buses...... My body has coped admirably, with no injuries, no blisters, and no Covid. I've lost about a stone in weight during the journey. U...
Read more
Image
It's just over one month before the start of my big walking adventure around the entire border of Wales. This trip has been in the planning for so long, with the original walk due to take place in 2020, that it feels surreal finally to have reached this stage. The overall distance (1,050 miles) will be around 100 miles more than my last major walk between John O' Groats and Land's End (JOGLE) back in 2013. However, there will be significant differences in the two journeys: 1. The Walk Around Wales will follow just two defined footpaths - the Wales Coast Path and Offa's Dyke Path, whereas JOGLE offered complete freedom in the choice of route between the start and finish points. 2. The Walk Around Wales route will pass through dozens of coastal resorts, hopefully thronging with tourists willing to part with their cash by donating to my Cancer Research UK fundraising. In contrast, most of my JOGLE route passed through rural areas, so I had minimal human contact for long se...
Read more