Offa’s Dyke Day 11: Hay on Wye to Pandy
An account of walking the 177 mile long-distance trekking route between Prestatyn and Chepstow, along the Welsh-English border, in 12 days.
Day 10 of this walk can be found here.
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We met a two lovely Swedish ladies over breakfast at our B&B. They had flown over from Sweden, spent a day in Cardiff and travelled up to Hay on Wye and were just realising how much of Wales there was further west of them (most!). They were delighted by the number of pubs and restaurants in the UK which were dog friendly as they said that dogs were only allowed in the outside spaces of such places in Sweden.
They had come to Wales for a three-day riding holiday. The younger, a teenager, rides regularly but the older, who was in her mid thirties had never ridden before and had decided if she didn’t do it now, she probably never would. I feel she may regret her level of commitment to trying a new sport by day two or three, when her aching muscles kick in!
My aching muscles weren’t too bad as we set off up the hill out of Hay. We’d been building ourselves up to face the five miles of solid uphill trudge as we made our way onto the Hatterrall Ridge. It turned out not to be too bad a all. Yes it was gradually uphill all the way, but even on the steep bits, we were managing a mile in twenty-four minutes. We choose the slightly longer, but more diagonal route onto the ridge, rather than heading straight up and were glad we had done so. We saw our first group of wild ponies just as the path branched and many more, some with foals, as we walked across the top.
The top of the ridge was beautiful today. We had blue skies with only a few clouds, which gave us some very welcome cloud cover and a constant cooling wind. It was a lovely day to walk it and the visibility was incredible. We could see the Brecon Beacons and right the way down to the Severn Estuary, where we finish. It still looks like a long way away, I have to say! I think we met more people on the ridge than we have done in total on the rest of the walk. Lots of people had moved it up their schedule so that they weren’t walking it tomorrow,when thunder, lightning and storms are forecast. It’s so exposed that it must be miserable up there in inclement conditions. There is just no shelter at all (nor toilet facilities, nor any bushes to hide behind) just heather and bilberries.
We walked 16.86 miles today and despite the length, our only complaint was with the surface underfoot. Most of the path along the ridge is large paved flagstones or asphalt-style gravel tracks, with the occasional patch of sandy ground with large loose stones. Whilst I can understand why this has been necessary to prevent erosion, it does make for a very solid and unforgiving walking surface and we were definitely footsore as we made the last mile or so on the road to the B&B. Thankfully The Lancaster Arms is only about five feet off the track, so we could easily stagger that, even with aching joints and sensitive feet. Our total mileage is up to one hundred and fifty four now.
The views from the top of the ridge were breathtaking in every direction today. I loved seeing the wild horses ranging freely across the moorland. The heather was in flower and we were treated to a great aerial display by a red kite. I’d forgotten just how red-orange they were on their backs. We watched a couple of Typhon fighters flying along the valley below us and looked down on Llanthony priory ruins. It was a pretty perfect day’s walking, all told.
We passed a barn on the way into Pandy with an extract of ‘The Lofty Sky’ by Edward Thomas painted on the gable end, which I think sums up the day perfectly.
The Lofty Sky
Today I want the sky,
The tops of the high hills,
Above the last man’s house,
His hedges, and his cows,
Where, if I will, I look
Down even on sheep and rook,
And of all things that move
See buzzards only above: —
Past all trees, past furze
And thorn, where naught deters
The desire of the eye
For sky, nothing but sky.
You can read about day 12 of the walk here.
We are raising money for The Teenage Cancer Trust during the walk. If you would like to donate, we’d be very grateful.
Our trip was organised by Celtic Trails Walking Holidays, who I have so far been very impressed by. I have received nothing from them for this endorsement. #celtictrails #shareyoursteps
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