Day 12. 18 June Llandegia To Bodfari

I had the best night’s sleep ever. The sun doesn’t go down until about 10 pm, and we are settled for sleep usually by 8 pm, so I sleep with an eye mask on. Awake at 4.30 am, and it is bright daylight, so roll over, pull the mask back on, and tell my brain that it is still the middle of the night. I sleep on.

I  woke to see that there had been some light drizzle so our tents were wet. Kay had already been up and had her breakfast so I quickly got packed up and scoffed some gingernut biscuits. They are a similar flavor to our NZ ones but not quite so hard. Better for old teeth  I think.

We walked a couple of kms to a village hoping to get a coffee but we were too early.

We had a total of 1,090 metres of climb today over 30 km so we were planning on finding a camping spot half way along.

We climbed about 5 Moels, which we think is Welsh for hills. They definitely are not mountains out of miel hills but are long, steep climbs.

This was a day when the hills just kept coming. One after the other, relentless climbing. Kay is faster up the hills than I am so I plod along behind her. You will notice that she is ahead of me in most photos. I am faster downhill, so catch up by the time we get to the bottom. Then she gets ahead again.

We met the teachers with the Duke of Ed kids at a couple of parking areas we passed through. The kids were way behind us. We are proud of ourselves. We can still do the hard stuff better than the young ones.

We als9 met quite a few days walkers, with their dogs, of course.

The highlights of the day were supposed to be yet another decrepit castle, a few piles of rocks, and a couple of plaques. People have lived up on these moors since the Iron Age.

Actually, when I am huffing up a hill, chest and legs burning, feet sore, wind blowing a gale, I don’t really give a damn about all that old stuff.

No suitalke camping spot was found, but we did find a place to dry out our wet tents while we rested.

After about 9 hours of steep ups and downs we made the final steep descent into Bodfari.

We both had sore feet and had ready to call it a day about 3 hours ago, but there was no camping anywhere.

Then Kay, being a sheep farming girl,  heard the sound of a shearing shed in action. So we made a detour into the farm to have a nosey.

Again, our Kiwi accents were welcomed, and we heard all about their stud sheep and farm dog trial competions. We watched the funny sheep being shorn. They only have a herd of 200 and sell them for breeding. One of their relatives had recently become the worlds best shearer,  beating the New Zealanders, which is unusual.  They were very proud, and Kay had brightened up after chatting with them. I was just pleased to have a rest.

We hobbled the last 45 minutes into town heading for the pub that we had been told a number of times served very good food.

However it was a very posh restaurant and people were arriving in all their finery, making us feel very conscious of our  dirty, smelly state. Kay wouldn’t even step inside,  so I ventured in alone  and asked about accommodation.

The nice young girl took one look and wiff of me and suggested the campground across the road. She said they did welcome walkers in their posh establishment which pleased me as the food smelt so good, and the beer taps were calling me.

We were both a bit grumpy and too tired  to have a shower with the 10cm square piece of towel we carry.  So we  just washed the most smelly  of our body parts and changed into some slightly cleaner clothes.

Then we waddled up to  have a plate of cheesy chips and a drink. We were seated in a little table in a corner close by the door. We knew our place.

  This was our last night on trail.