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


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 towel rail.

In the evening I was joined for dinner by my former primary school classmate Bev and her husband David.

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