Away we go again. After having 5 of not walking it was a bit strange getting back into the swing of things. Early breakfast and then off to the start of the Offas Dyke Path. It is only Twitchy and me walking this one; Libby and Gail have decided not to attempt it at this stage (possibly a wise idea).
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| The start |
The first 1.8Km heads south through the town of Prestatyn. After that it winds its way up the escarpment behind the town. Finding the actual path at the base of the hill was problematic and I'm sure we weren't the only ones to have issues here (we did see another walker behind us and it appears as though she made a similar miscalculation to ours). Heading up the hill in a general Southweat direction we joined the correct path fairly soon.
The track was a single file track around the side of the hill then within a couple of Km we were into open fields. Most of the day the track was in fields and it was really nice to walk on something that was soft underfoot. There was some road walking but not a lot.
I miscalculated the overlap on one of the guidebook maps and after some agreement between us both we went a tad off track along a public walking path; quickly realised things were not correct (wrong direction and hill gradient) so we back tracked and found the correct route. Rule number one - follow the acorn. So far this guidebook appears to be better the one we had for the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and the path is well marked, however there are still some things that are out of kilter. The woman we had seen walking near the start of the path overtook us during our off track excursion and was quite a way ahead of us.
A lot off the fields had livestock in them and at one stage there was a horse backed into a fence and against a gate; it wasn't going to move come hell or high water but I managed to open the gate against it and then squeezed past. It just didn't move. Twitchy climbed a series of fences behind it.
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| Water mill creek |
The track was a single file track around the side of the hill then within a couple of Km we were into open fields. Most of the day the track was in fields and it was really nice to walk on something that was soft underfoot. There was some road walking but not a lot.
I miscalculated the overlap on one of the guidebook maps and after some agreement between us both we went a tad off track along a public walking path; quickly realised things were not correct (wrong direction and hill gradient) so we back tracked and found the correct route. Rule number one - follow the acorn. So far this guidebook appears to be better the one we had for the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and the path is well marked, however there are still some things that are out of kilter. The woman we had seen walking near the start of the path overtook us during our off track excursion and was quite a way ahead of us.
A lot off the fields had livestock in them and at one stage there was a horse backed into a fence and against a gate; it wasn't going to move come hell or high water but I managed to open the gate against it and then squeezed past. It just didn't move. Twitchy climbed a series of fences behind it.
We a group of 4 women who were going in the opposite direction. They were on their last day of the path - well done by them.
At the 15Km mark the track started to go up hill for quite a way and it took a toll on both of us. We stopped at the top for a well earnt break and to enjoy the view from the highest point of today, just below the top of Moel Maen-Efa.
From here it was almost all downhill with the exception of the unwelcome walk up the side of Cefn Du Hill which is about 2Km from our accommodation. Most off the last 1.5Km was on a steep downhill road; the knees suffered a bit. The B&B (Llety R Eos Ucha) was relatively easy to find although my GPS coordinates for it were out. We arrived just before 1500.
Libby and Gail arrived at about 1600 after having a difficult time finding the B&B (street address didn't work well in car GPS. The road is narrow and just to make matters more difficult signs say the road is unsuitable for vehicles - houses in the area have cars so this clearly not entitely true). After a number of phone calls from me things worked out - they did well to find it.
At the 15Km mark the track started to go up hill for quite a way and it took a toll on both of us. We stopped at the top for a well earnt break and to enjoy the view from the highest point of today, just below the top of Moel Maen-Efa.
From here it was almost all downhill with the exception of the unwelcome walk up the side of Cefn Du Hill which is about 2Km from our accommodation. Most off the last 1.5Km was on a steep downhill road; the knees suffered a bit. The B&B (Llety R Eos Ucha) was relatively easy to find although my GPS coordinates for it were out. We arrived just before 1500.
Libby and Gail arrived at about 1600 after having a difficult time finding the B&B (street address didn't work well in car GPS. The road is narrow and just to make matters more difficult signs say the road is unsuitable for vehicles - houses in the area have cars so this clearly not entitely true). After a number of phone calls from me things worked out - they did well to find it.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be a similar day to today but I sure there are some surprises waiting for us.
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