Supposedly the hardest day, and yes, it was hard but totally ok.
Our notes said it was a day of switchbacks, which to us meant a path that winds back and forth across and up a hill. However, a Wlesh swithback means staight up then down the other side of a steep hill. There were quite a few that I followed Kay up that day.
Shows the DykeHaving a rest in barn
The rain came in about 1ish as we expected but it was only light. However, the wind was strong. We wore our black raincoats and rain pants with orange plastic ponchos over top, we looked like a couple going to a fancy dress party as mandarims.
The houses are very close to the barnsPoor cows stuck inside a smelly barn
Not fancying tenting after a bug day we had booked into a Bnb right on the trail. We were treated like royalty for £48.50 ( Mary was £60).
Newpaper to stuff our wet shoes, a heater to hang our wet weather gear over, hot drinks in front of a fire, shower with nice smelling soaps and shampoo.
Shoe traysHeaven after a day battling the elements
There was a hot water cupboard to dry our clothes. We also had a decanter of sherry in our room and a good variety of hot drinks. Our breakfast was superb, 3 courses.
I took the dinner option of salmon, veges and salad. It was fine dining.
There is obviously a huge amount of competition in the bnb market as they all really try hard to impress waiting on us hand and foot. Neither Jay nor I really need so much fuss but this us what one gets here. No complaints.
About 26km mostly over rolling farmland crossing narrow country lanes.
CropsUp another damn hill
We started the day in England for the first time for a while. A coffee was only £1.90 compared to £4.50 in Wales. The day ended in Wales.
The last few kms in the day were hard as we tired but I am now feeling much fitter and happier.
We rush up very steep streets, which is not fair after a long day, to get to the Offas Dyke Information Centre before 5 to find it rarely opens and when it does it is from 10-4. Stupid times as that is when walkers are out walking.
On another border Lots of ups and downs
We did a bit of food shopping, followed by a Kebab dinner, then we put up our tents in a field of sheep on the trail just out of town.
Lots of people oit walking their dogs, passed us with friendly smiles. It seems everyone has a dog, and they take them everywhere they go. They are allowed in the shops, pubs, and restaurants, boats bikes, and rarely do we see anyone out without a dog on tow.
Admittedly, they are mostly small, well-behaved doggies. We see few children or signs of them.
Another good days wslking. We found two churches that were open and welcomed weary walkers. Kettles for hot drinks and biscuits and chocolaye bard were on offer along with a comfy pew and a few quiet words with God.
We leave a donationLunch church
On trail today we met Bob from Perth and the Monk again and saw our first mole, albiet it dead one. They are smaller than I imagined.
Those little feet can move a lot of dirt
It was another nice 26km walk to Kington without getting lost too much.
We had planned on sleeping at the old race course just before the town of Kington. I had slept in the Hokitika Racecourse but Kay hadn’t had such an experience yet however as the last race was in about 1885, there was nothing left to see, let alone shelter under. No doubt the locals had pilferred all the stones there too.
So we carried on into town planning on a church yard or the sports grounds for our camp spot. We found out later that the Monk had a good camp spot at the sports grounds.
The church came first and was more than adequate.  We slept in a church grounds along side their compost bins Another St Marys. We were near a tap and were able to catch the last of the sun for the day as we cooked our noodle dinners. I had some minestone soup mixed into mine tonighy for a nice change. We carried a bench seat over to sit and enjoy the evening before our 7.30 bedtime. 9 hours of walking means we are ready by then.
A few dog walkers came by after we retired and as we packed up in the morning. They were quite accepting of us being there.
Mary managed to drop us back at the trail without hitting anything and without giving either of us a heart attack. She had fed us a “full English breakfast” and given us ingredientd to make a sandwich for our lunch. We both passed on the ham as it was a bit slimey anf had an October use by date. Even I don’t push iy that far!
We walked across the Black Mountains on a well defined path and as we now expect, past a ruined castle. I had been wondering where all the stonedms go that fall from the castle as it decays.
Apparently the people in the surrounding villages pilfer them to build their houses and barns etc. Good recycling there.
England was to out right and Wales to our left.
We had a couple of stops as it was quite a climb up, then along these moutains.
At our second stop, Kay had just taken her shoes off to air her feet when the clouds opened and it began hailing. I took off at as much speed as a Granny can do with a pack on her back, to get out from under thst cloud. Kay caught up shortley, a bit worse for the wear.
There were many wild horses up there, all goid and healthy looking. They also had good bowel habits and today I learnt from Kay that horses prefer to shit in the same place if they can. Hence they keep their grazing and resting areas clean. So there were large piles of less frequent droppings to walk around than we were used to. Sheep and cattle just shit anywhere and everywhere.
A big pile of pooHappy horsesMy hair does not look good with a buff
We met a physio from my home town Palmerston North today. We also met up again with a young Monk who we had come across a few times. He is walking the length of UK visiting monastries on the way. We could tell he wanted to keep our company but we were too slow for him.
A man from Palmerston North
At about 4pm we hobbled into Hay-on-Wye after a 26km day. This is the world’s first booktown, with an annual bookfair which we missed, and 22 bookshops which we also chose to walk straight past. We had full packs and no additional energy to carry books.
Our BnB
Our home for the night was built in 1623, originally owned by a lawyers family. We had to watch our heads as the ceilings and doors were very low.
The landlady also ran the bookshop that was downstairs. Her family are rich landowners and she was born, one of 9 childten, in their Castle. Servants, nannies, gardeners, the lot. I could have listened to her stories all day. Her name was Mary too. We also notice that most churches are St Marys as well. They don’t seem to have a lot of imagination when it comes to names.
NZ Wine for saleEccles cakes, a Coronation Street favourite
We did a bit of resupply and met up with more walkers for breakfast the next morning. An interestinh bunch including Bob, originally from Wales but has been living in Perth for 30 years. He has 2 sons who are in the New Zealand Royal ballet. I put my foot in by saying, with astomishment, “They obviously are not built like you.” Luckily he had a sense of humour as we met him on trail the next day. He was doing half our days and getting taxis back to his lodgings. He was very impressed by Kay and I.
I enjoyed that days walk, my fitness is coming back so I am happy.
I started the day in a positive mood; positive that I did not want to back track at all.
So off we went following the marked path until we lost it. Using one of my apps we found it again but came to a sign telling us there was a diversion which meant I was grumpy with myself again. I had seen that on the website the day before but was too tired to study it.
We followed that trail and ended up back at the gate to the bloody castle again. F##k me days!! There, right in front of us was a notice with details of the diversion.
A bridge was out of action. We contemplated just taking the official route and risking a river crossing. We hadn’t seen any water courses here that looked uncrossable and we were both Te Araroa veterans who had crossed many proper rivers in New Zealand.
But best keep to the rules so off we went again, me cursing and swearing. The day was a shit show already.
Damn diversionGreen
Pandy was the next village on the trail so we decided that it would be a good idea to stop there and give me a short day and time to rest up. I am sure Kay was hoping for a major chsnge in my attitude
We arrived to find that the bnbs and pubs were full and jyst to add insult to injry I had a message saying I had used my months data already, a polar blast had arrived and I couln’t get the phone app working to top up.
We were given the number for Mary who would take us in for the night so I rang her. She sounded very old and doddery but she said she would be there to pick us up in 1o minutes that ended up about 30 minutes. I made Kay sit in the front with her as I did not feel like being polite.
Mary is 87 years old and tells us thst she has a new car and had taken a while to work out how to use the key and start the car. She has little sticky labels on the dash saying petrol, speed, lights, indicators. The console is also marker with go, reverse, hand brake etc. This is her first automatic car so she has a lot to learn.
The drive along the very narrow winding lanes to her house was a bit hairy, to say the least. Having lived her whole life in only two houses she gave us a running history of every cottage we passed, pointing out things, hands off the steering wheel and seemingly taken no notice of the road as she sped along. She talked at 100 miles an hour so we knew all about her 87 years of life by the time we reached her cottage.
I sat in the back laughing away and lost my bad mood completely.
Mary had a birthday recently and has all of her 57 birthday cards on display. We were given a running commentary of who they were from and how she knew them. The Post Office would need extra staff in May to cope with it all.
Having worked on the manual Telephone Exchange for 37 years she knew everyones business including Priness Anne’s conversation with a local landowner. Kay, being a bit a royalist, was able to name the man, which really impressed Mary.
We had tea from a pot, 3 pieces of velvet cake, a shower (do not flood it like some naughty man did 10 years ago), and Mary made sure we knew how to pull the curtaims so that they faded evenly, then it was time for a tour of her expansive gardens.
Mary still looks after them herself having made them from scratch 27 years ago, so we were introduced to nearly each plant separately. Thank goodness Kay knows about plants!
Conservatory where she says good morning to EnglandQuaint, flowery bedroomA tour of the gardenHer hens for fresh eggs for breakfastMary’s cottage57Â birthday cards
Mary prepared a salad dinner for us which was appreciated after a few days of instant noodles, porridge and cheese and crackers.
Then we went on another hair raising drive out to the Llanthony Priory. That was a place for monks to learn their stuff way back from the 12th Century until Henry 8th closed it down. Now it is another set of ruins with accomodation, a pub and a church. Mary knew every rock and person in the little pub.
History if you are interestedMary points out the Black Mountains , tomorrows walkLittle pubMary Mary
We were then dropoed at the Skirrid Inn, the oldest pub in Wales. It also served as the court and the unlucky ones were hung under the stair case.
Everyone in there knew Mary or was related to her. We had a fun couple of drinks before ringing Mary to pick us up at 9pm.
That is a very late night fof hikers but wr still had to have supper and more cake before bed. We were exhausted from all of Mary’s constant chatter.
We started the day determined not to miss any signs and managed to keep to that resolve except for a minor miss in the town of Monmouth and later a major one that cost us an hour of extra walking through long grass on a farm. Grr!
We could see where we needed to get to but we couldn’t take the short straight line route because of the thick prickly fences. In New Zealand one can just climb a wire fence. Not here! I was getting grumpy.
My body was not happy with me for taking it on another damn long walk. Some jet lag combined with sore thighs from the climbing yesterday , a sore shoulder and back, made for an unpleasant day for me.
We walked mainly through wooded areas that enthusiasic locals were trying to regenerate. Again that meant lots of wild nasty stff trying to scratch or sting us.
Being Saturday we met up with quite a few clean, fast people with little day packs who were just out for a nice stroll. Many with their dogs. They pissed me off!
Some were doing longer sections of Offa’s Dyke but from pub to pub with their gear being transported for them. They pissed me off as well. Gosh I was a grumpy bitch.
We were the odd ones. I imagine the talk at the pubs would have gone a bit like this.           Â
“Did you see those two old ladies from New Zealand who were walking the FULL Offa’s Dyke?”
“Yes and they were carrying tents and a weeks food.”
“The bigger lady looked shattered. They were slightly mad, I think”
We stopped for coffee and a pastry in Marnmouth, a quaint town with narrow cobbled streets, a big church which provided a pew to sit and have a rest on. I downloaded another app that was suggested by some walkers we had met earlier. Maybe that would help with the route finding and my mood.
Our lunch stop was at a church out in the middle of nowhere. The vicars husband was there doing some maintenance work so we were told all about the history of the church, going back to 500AD. That meant a decent break in the sun drinking coffee provided by the church.
It was too early in the day for us to camp but he told us that they welcomed walkers to camp or sleep in the church. That was good news as one of my plans was to camp in graveyards. No crowds, usually toilets and taps to fill our water bottles. Being able to sleep inside a church was even better.
The afternoon was mostly through farms, lush green crops, funmy looking self shedding sheep and mole holes.
Moles action
The shedule I had copied was not made for an unfit Granny with her house on her back, so we again, didn’t make target.
I ranted and raved a bit, well a lot, saying I wanted to go home and hike with a decent app and signage
Then ee came across the ruins of an old castle and decided to camp there the night. There was some mowed lawn and picnic tables so we were pleased. The house by the gate looked like a caretakers house and we didn’t want to have some grumpy lady come and send us on our way. So we got out of sight behind the moat wall and cooked our dinner before putting up our tents.
White CastleBest campsite ever
My theory was thaeat if we were found asleep we would be left alone.
A few tourists wandered around but left us alone. I had to crawl out and growl at a Woodpecker for tap, tap, tapping while I was trying to get to sleep. But I woke next morning in a better mood.
Kay catching her liner before it blew too far down into the moat
During the 8th century, King Offa of Mercia ordered a great dyke to be built to mark the western boundary of his kingdom with Wales. Offa’s Dyke Path follows the course of this ancient earthwork from Chepstow to Prestatyn, passing through scenery of great beauty and variety along the way
Words from me
Our idea that all walks im UK were flat or rolling coutryside with quaint villages every few kilometres, was shattered when I looked at the details for Offa’sDyke (ODP).
We had chosen this trail because of its start place being close to Bristol and headimg in the direction required to eventually reach Edinburgh.
We will cross the Anglo-Welsh border over 20 times, and pass through 8 different counties! We will also pass some high and barren mountains (which can be savage places to be in bad weather apparently) and calm, flat sections of riverside trail.
Information tells us that it is graded as challenging, difficult, strenuous depending on the site used. I have been convincing myself that this is a UK based scale and hopefully equates to Easy on a New Zealand scale. Most climbs are only 200-300 metres which was hardly a bump when I was doing Te Araroa which was 3,000km through rugged New Zeakand moutains and bush. But that was 4 years ago and I am now an Old Age Pensioner. We will see.
Kay was on the bus as planned at Heathrow airport so we had a good catch up on the 4 hour ride to Chepstow. we arrived in the little village, and stayed the night in a nice room in an old pub.  We did our food shop consusting of 5 packeys of instant noodles, prridge and cheese and crakers, so were ready for day one.
Nice roomDinner in our roomQuaint little old village
OMG! That first day was a long hard day for my fat, unfit body. The guide said it was 32km to Monmouth and it should take 8 hours.
However we stuffed up the bus timetable to the start and ended up walking the 4km getting lost a few times trying to take short cuts alongside a motorway resulting in over am hour of walking before we even started at the coast. Kay said we need to get lost once a day so it was good to get it out of the way before we get onto the trail. I agreed.
At the coast and ready to start
We walked for nearly 11 hours, up and down, around and around weaving our way through little paths behind beautiful old cottages. Sometimes across farms and along narrow roads with prickly hedges either side with nowhere to duck out of the way of the traffic.
GreenNice gates are better than heaving over stylesLunch breakFunny looking sheep
UK has adopted a go back to nature stance on grassed areas. I first noticed on the bus to get gas, in london. All the parks are overgrown, lawns not mowed, gardens not weeded and hedges not trimmed. Their aim is to increase diversity; bring back the bees amd other creatures. It really looks messy and I think this keeps the accountants happy and the rates down.
We were relying on Google Maps and All Trails for directions to compliment the signage. My theory about good signage went out the wondow but to be fair it may just have been that we missed some of them.
I think some signs had been there since Offa was alive and are now overgrown and hard to find.
We did quite a bit of back tracking and I got grumpy with having to be online using precious data to find our way. In NZ maps can be downloaded and used anywhere without data. We will have to get something better sorted.
Anyway that was only one of my challenges for the day. I was struggling to keep a decent pace and huffing and puffing as though I was up a mountain in Nepal.
Kay has come from walking for 37 days on a Camino in Spain, preceeded by a month tramping in New Zealand so she is very trail fit which made me feel even worse.
Even the sheep didn’t run away from me
Our plan to find somewhere close to the end of the section to wild camp was buggered by the holly and blackberry bushes that grow everwhere and masses of stinging nettle. Also few flat places to pitch up tent.
It will either stab us or make us itch.One tired lady
I was at snails pace, and had used up all my will power by the time we reached a little village of Redwood, 5km from our original target.
We stumble into the little shop saying “We are two absolutely shattered ladies. We have been walking for over 10 hours and need somewhere to stay or put up our tents.”
The nice lady told us that either of the 2 pubs may have a room or we could camp on the village green straight across the road. Music to our ears. We found a nice little spot and put up our tents. I moaned and goaned getting up and down but eventually we were eating our 2 Minute Noodles and feeling much happier. I had made up part of my overspend at the Hyatt
.
I crawled into my tent at about 8.30 in bright sunshine absolutely exhausted, sore all over and full of pills.
Awake now at 5.30 in brilliant sunshine unable to move wothput hurting but listening to the meloudious birdsong. Day two is supposed to be a 6 hour 25km day, but we are 5 km behind and I will not be moving fast.
I was up at 7:15am Tuesday 4 June, all eager to complete the few things on my TO DO list before flying out at 3pm. I was sure I would have plenty of time to just chill out and get my head into the “I’m off on an adventure” mode.
I had everything done at least a week ago as I have people coming to live in my house while I am away. Therefore I needed to pack up my personal stuff as I don’t want strangers rummaging through my undies drawer.
I ate as much food as I can before departure, just leaving behind the spices and other staples. I think some of the packets of herbs and spices date back to Garry’s days as my lack of culinary repertoire does not usually require such additives. I just keep them to fill my pantry and to give the impression that I can cook.
I wonder if the flavours get better with age like wine. Well, not all wines, as I have found out when my daughter, Cara, tells me to open a bottle from her wine rack that has a good 5cm of dust on it. She doesn’t drink but people give her wine, or leave it for her after one of the many gatherings at her house. Believe me some of those white wines were the same colour as the urine of a very deydrated and hungover man. They probably tasted the same too!! I am happy with a $9 bottle of wine from the bottom shelf at the supermarket but I don’t stoop that low.
Anyway, I digress. Back to preparing my house to leave. Clearing out the food means that I have had some weird combinations for my meals recently. One night I thought I had defrosted a casserole to have with my veges but it was just gravy, so a vegetarian meal that night. My freezer gave up a few bags of pumkin soup and numerous bags of stewed fruit from my garden. The oats, rice and muesli were all finished and my last meal was 2 Minute Noodles and a can of salmon that was past its best by date.
Tabitha ended up with a container of a dubious looking meat dish, half a packet of fish fingers and some vege soup. Fridge and freezer empty. Tick.
I had tried to drop off a bag of work clothes at a couple of Op shops but they weren’t taking any more donations. Apparently more people want to be rid of clothes than want to buy them. So they live to see another day even if it is in a bag stowed up in the ceiling. Like the family silver, they may not come down again.
There wasn’t much to do so but I ended up rushing to finish by 1pm so I have time to watch my last episode of Coronation Street for a while.
My grand daughter Holly took me to the airport and we shared a conversation about failed pregnancies over a cuppa while waitng to fly. Holly is a nurse in the maternity ward. As usual I was last on to the plane. Then I was off on a short 1 hour 15 minute flight to Auckland.
Nice flight, snow on mountains and a nice chat with my seat mate.
Then a 4 hour wait in Auckland enjoying airport life.
In particular I like the self flushing toilets. I want one of those at home. However I always struggle at the hand basin. Everyone else seems to be able to gracefully wave their hands under the soap dispenser and get soap, then another slight wave to get water followed by a magical slight of hand to get hot air. Not me. I wave and flap, waggle and flutter and nothing happens. Then out comes hot air that won’t stop followed by water and no soap. For f###s sake, I give up!! I didn’t touch the toilet as it was self flushing so bugger the soap and I will just dry my hands on my pants.
What I do like is the smell of aviation fuel as I walk across to the International terminal. Petrol, Vivid markers and paint are other things I enjoy inhsling. I follow the green line and a family who also began their journey in Palmerston North and are heading to London, as I am. They were keeping very calm, at this stage, with a runaway toddler and an inquisative 3 year old to manage. I told them they were doing well and wished them luck. Apparently the doctors don’t prescribe drugs for travelling kids these days.
Waiting to get on the next plane I met up with Brigit who I knew from my Take A Kid Tramping days in New Plymouth. She, and her son, had come on quite a few of my tramps around Taranaki over the years. We had a catch up before being some of the last to get on the plane again.
I don’t like the wooden utensils we get with the meals; they feel so awful on my teeth and ruin what would be a perfectly adequate meal. I contemplate packing my Spork in my carry on luggage on my return journey in September. I have seen that firearms and weapons are prohibited articles but I have not seen any mention of plastic sporks. For those who do not do damn long walks, a spork is the only utensil I take on my walk as it is a mixture of a spoon, a fork and a knife.
I also take a small cooking pot that doubles as my plate, bowl and wash basin for a sponge bath and for washing my knickers in. Everything i carry should have 3 uses.
Landing in Los Angelas USA. We flew over some huge soageeti junction motorways with numerous levels of flyovers. Power poles surpised me as I live in a city where the wiring is all underground. The power poles look messy to me.
I had chosen not to bring my comfy travelling neck pillow with me as there would not be enough room in my pack to bring it along on our walks. But I gave in and bought one at Auckland airport planning to ditch it when I get to the other side. It was a cruel buy. It was the consistency cold plasticine, or maybe my scones. I tried, unsuccesfully to swap it with other passengers who had nice, soft squishy ones. The guy in the seat next to me on the final leg seemed to take offence to my offer and moved seats. That worked well for me as again I had room to spread out.
Time moved backwards from 8am Wednesday to 1pm Tuesday. So I have been transported back to sitting in my lounge watch Coronation Street.
Again everyone jumps out of their seats as soon as the plane stops. I just sit and wait until it is my turn to actually start walking down the usle towards the door. We all go out in turn and all have to wait at caeousel 6 to pick up our luggage so what is the rush! Same thing happens when boarding a plane. As soon as the announcement to biard us made people are racing to line up. Then they stand there for another 30 minutes or so waiting to get on board. The plane will not leave without us all and personally I prefer to walze on down the isle after everyone else has finished fighting over which is seat E or F, put their bags away and sat down. I had a sparee seat next to me on both long flights which was great for spreading out my stuff. First was a 12 hour flight to LA and next was a 10.5 hour one to London.
Photo and fingerprints taken and I am in the US of A for the first and possibly last time. I collected my bag and walked about 50 metres befire it was taken off me for transport to Terminal 7. With no quarantine issues or declaration forms to fill out, I can see why visitors to New Zealand find our arrival procedures to be onerous.
I walked the 10 minute over to Terminal 7 as I needed to move after the long flight. At first I repeatedly found myself banging into others on the path before I relisedthat the Keep Left Rule is not valid in USA. So I had to switch my brain to the otherside of the path. That didn’t come easily and I know for sure that I should never try to drive in one of these countries.
I had time to have a wee look around, clean mtmy teeth, have a couple of chats with random strangers and then catch a couple of pirated episodes of Coronation Street before being one of the last ones to board flight UA923 to Heathrow, London.
U had slept for about 4 hours on and off on the last flight so planned to get a few more hours in on this one. It woukd be 11 am UK time when I arrive but midnight NZ time to my mind and body.
I gave to navigate through of Heathrow airport, one of the busiest in the world, to the Central Bus Station. I get some cash out buy a sim card and now I have a UK number 07508 192 588. I rang the shop that i had ordered next day delivery for gas cannisters to find that they wont be delivered for another 3 days. We need these to cook and cant bring them on the plane. So Google heloed me find a stote on the same bys route as my lodgings, about 20 stops futher on. So i enjpyed a ride through lots of narrow winding streets lined with two storey houses. Yes, I am in England.Bought the gas then back There I catch a bus to Hamondsworth to my home for the night. Booked on Booking.com a few weeks ago it was a quaint cottage with a few rooms so I was hopinv to meet some interesting travellers. It was only 15 minutes bus from Heathrow so easy to get back to for my bus to Wales the next morning. 60 pounds a night. A good score.
I arrived at 4pm to find a dubious looking guy sitting by the front door smoking. Looking me up and down he said “You won’t be staying here as this has been converted to emergency housing.”
The caretaker confirmed this and took me into his liitle room to try and fimd alternative accommodation. I had been travelling for over 45 hours by then and past getting upset. He complimented me on my calmness as phone call after phone call was either not answered or proved fruitless. I asked if I coukd put my tent up in the bavkysrd but he showed me the medication he dished out to his tenants and said it would be very unwise.
The Hyatt, came to the rescue but at 280 pound ($560) my weeks budget had been used up already. But what the heck it was only 15 minutes walk and I needed to get a shower and a good nights sleep as I had probably only slept 5 hours total on the flights.
DD cekebrations this morning
I had an expensove beer and snack chatting with an interesting old lady who had lived and taught all over the world. Then I slept well.
It is definitely time to get out and go for a damn long walk so Kay and I have hatched a plan to meet in London then head off to walk from Bristol to Edinburgh. We decided to walk in the UK because the trails are easy and reasonably flat (compared to most of New Zealand). Are we getting soft on our older ages? Maybe? The decision on where to walk was difficult as there are hundreds of well established walking trails throughout the country. People have been going on damn long walks there for a damn long time. Britain has been populated for over 500,000 years. The first inhabitants were six-foot tall Homo heidelbergensis. Shorter, stockier Neanderthals visited Britain between 300,000 and 35,000 years ago, followed by the direct ancestors of modern humans. Namely, Kay and I. So my theory is that they should have the signage perfect by now and we will not have any problem finding our way.
So why Bristol to Edinburgh? My daughter, Laura, lives in Bristol and my grand daughter, Hope, has recently moved to Edinburgh. So that gave us a starting point and an ending point. Kay is currently in Spain finishing a Camino and will meet up with me on Thursday morning (If the plan goes to plan.) Unfortunately Laura is not actually going to be in Bristol as she is heading to Korea for some of her own walking, therefore we will meet up at the end when we finish these trails. We may go to Iceland together if the volcanoes stop erupting over there. I also have some visiting to do, so if you are one of my mates over that way get in touch.
First we will walk Offa’s Dyke Trail – 285km – 12 days – This goes along the English / Welsh Border following a dyke built in about 500AD to keep out marauding interlopers. It starts in Chepstow, Wales, close to Bristol and finishes in Prestatyn, close to Liverpool, where my mother was born.
Then Lady Anne’s Way – 160km – 6 days. Skipton To Penrith through the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria
The third walk is the Kentigern Way – 240km – 10 Days starting in Annan in England then onto Glasgow in Scotland
We will finish by picking up the John Muir Way -146Km – 7days near Glasgow and ending at the coastal town of Dunbar near Edinburgh.
With travel in between we will be in Edinburgh in about 45 days time around 20 July 2024.
Kay then flies home and I stay on for another month. Below is my poor attempt at a map.
So I head off today with a marathon of flights, buses and train rides that will see me arrive in Chepstow on Thursday, hopefully all bright and ready to start walking, having met up with Kay enroute from Heathrow airport. Hopefully we will not have any jetlag and be ready to start walking on Friday morning. I am usually ok for plans to go astray but I would rather plane travel goes to plan. There aren’t many nice hunters hanging around in the sky to pick me up!
Being an accountant, I have made a spread sheet to get me through the next 48 hours. See you on the other side!
Some of you have been asking me what I have been up to so here is a little post to bring you up to date.
After leaving New Zealand in early April, I arrived back on 1 October 2023, after my trip to Nepal and Australia. I had been away from my house for over 2 years at that stage, so was pleased to be back. I walked in and unpacked my bag as though I had only been away for a week. Nothing had changed except the fruit trees had got bigger.
My calendar was prepopulated with Granny duties well before I arrived back in the country. So I had some busy days with active toddlers followed by some lazy days recovering.
I am doing about 10 hours accounting work online each week for my cousins business, which fills in some time and tops bank account. Being 65 I now get the Old Age Pension which all New Zealanders are entitled to, no matter what their assets are or income is. It is not enough to do more than basic living but I have always been cheap to keep. The work helps fund my adventures before dementia sets in.
I did a couple of 3 day tramps over this period namely Pouakai Circuit with Kay in early December 2023. We had three days to walk the 25km track through forests, alpine tussock fields and the unique Ahukawaka Swamp. I had done this tramp numerous times when I lived in New Plymouth but this was Kay’s first time. This track has become very popular over the last few years so there have been some good upgrades to the track.
It was cold up there on that mountain but Holly Hut had a good supply of firewood. We had been told that there was no firewood at the next hut, named Pouakai. That would mean a miserable evening there. So I asked or encouraged or bullied? everyone into carrying a few pieces of wood with them. So we had a good roaring fire and even left some wood for the next lot of trampers.
A bit foggy up high crossing a slipKay and I looking happyNice to have a fire after a cold walkFirewood loaded onto their packsWe have to climb to the top of that peak thereThe majestic Mt Taranaki/Egmont in the background
Tramp to McKinnon Hut in Ruahine Forest Park
I did a 2 nighter up in the Ruahine Ranges later in December with 4 others. Friday was a walk up a river crossing it 22 times followed by a final crossing on a cableway high above the river, and then up to Kawhatau Base Camp for the night. The track was quite overgrown and there was a lot of stinging Ongonga weed that needed to be cleared.
The next day we went back and did a lot of work on the landing spot for the cableway making it much easier to get on and off.
Saturday was a 1,000m climb up into the Hikaurangi Range to McKinnon Hut. I huffed and puffed the whole way up, definitely not so fit! But the others were clearing the track as we went so I didn’t hold anyone up. It was so nice to be up on the tops again.
Sunday was all downhill until the river. I spent a fair bit of the time on my bum on the steeper parts.
