Day 21: Where did the hills go?

What a pleasure to wake to blue skies after yesterday’s monsoon. A quick look at the weather forecast predicted zero chance of rain, so I didn’t even put the waterproofs in the bag: that’s a brave decision for a man who worked in Credit for 25 years, trained to think ‘but what if…’

In fact, it turned into a really warm one. I started off with four layers and was down to one by the end. Any further and people would be confusing me with Speedo Mick. I won’t mention The Naked Rambler.

Starting from Montgomery, I reached Andrew and Steph’s chateau in Forden after a couple of miles and popped in for a coffee. A day isn’t a day without inconveniencing Steph.
There were a couple of small climbs in the morning but nothing to compare to previous days and the final 20 miles were flat, running alongside the Severn and the Montgomery Canal.

Work is ongoing to reopen the canal to leisure traffic.
Offa’s Dyke itself only appears occasionally on the trail and, to be honest, is pretty unimpressive. Apparently constructed around the 12th century to defend England from the Welsh, you gain the impression it was just a couple of blokes with a spade and a wheelbarrow piling a bit of dirt up. I suppose it has stood the test of time and sheep seem to like sunbathing on it.

I bravely walked through two fields of cows (beef, not your easy-going dairy), emboldened by the fact most of them were asleep and the rest were paddling in the Severn, although I’m not too sure that is a good advert for clean rivers.

The third field contained a more militant bunch, who sauntered toward me on my direct path, chewing the cud like a troop of American GIs. After some thought (at least 2 or 3 seconds), I turned on my heel and fled. My revised route was about a mile longer and involved a terrifying journey down an unpavemented A road but it was better than being stampeded.

I was back in my Llanymynech digs in time to watch the Grand National and see Wolves gain another three points. Had an excellent lamb casserole and a few Black Sheep in the Bradford Arms in Llanymynech, which seemed like I was slightly betraying all the woolly friends I’ve made on the Dyke in the last few days. Still, very tasty. A big thank you to the Bradford Arms for the sponsorship money, as well - recommended even without that!

I head towards Chirk tomorrow, eastwards away from the Dyke late in the day, towards another hotel in Western Rhyn. At some point, I will be joined by ex-colleague Keith Robins. We’ve a lot to catch up on - I think we’ve only seen each other two or three times in the last 20 years!