Are we having fun yet? Today was probably the most unpleasant day of walking I have ever had.
Back to normal walking routines with early breakfast, pack the car and leaving at about 0910 for the walk. The weather was as forecast, wet. We had about 2 Km of fairly easy walking until we came to the first hill of the day. It was really slippery and in some places it was a matter of taking 2 steps forward then sliding back one step. Tracks in some places were flooded and they became creek crossings.
The path eventually came out onto open moorland which was eady to walk; it was still raining and the path was not well marked so we had some sleuth work to do.
We got to the bottom of the climb up onto Hattetall Ridge and started the laborious trek up the side of the hill; it climbs for what seems like forever but it does cut across the hill and not straight up it. The wind had picked up and was blowing a real gale, it was also raining fairly heavily by now. We saw wild ponies in the valley below (they knew better than to be up here today). One couple who were out for a couple of hours walk passed us as they were going back down the hill and they were really glad to off the top of the ridge.
We managed to get to the top of the ridge at around 1130. It was really blowing a gale by then at the top (I estimate at +30 knots with gusts way higher) and rain coming in horizontally. The path for most of the way was fairly good with large flat stones but the relentless wind made walking really difficult. Some areas the track were flooded so we had to walk on the carpet of heather. The wind driven rain stung like hail and we couldn't hear each other unless we were within a few meters of each other. We only encounter one other walker today; he was going the opppsite way to us and we all just nodded and kept walking. Twitchy took a fall in the heather when he leant into the wind, the wind momentarily eased and he lost his balance.
The views from the ridge are meant to be magnificent and today we did get some lovely views but we couldn't use our phone cameras due to the weather; we were also too busy trying to stay upright to appreciate the view.
Just over 19Km into the walk we left the ridge and walked down a sodden goat track into Llanthony (thankfully it was pout of the wings and rain). This was slippery but we coped ok. About 500 metres from the Priory Hotel (our accommodation for tonight) I had a slide and fall. We were in a sheep paddock and I was about to warn Twitchy that the sheep s**t was slippery and I slipped and fell into some 🤮. I sat on my left knee, which had been playing up for a number of days, and it hurt heaps. Once I figured out there was no severe damage to my knee I was more concerned about being covered in sheep s**t.
We arrived at the hotel at the same time as Libby and Gail, it was great to see them. Lib's first words were something like "you've fallen in s**t"
The hotel is built on and part of the priory ruins. It is a quaint set up of rooms with a dining room, bar and guest lounge. There are no ensuit rooms (shared showers and toilets onlu), no mobile network coverage and No WiFi. We had a good meal for dinner and then early to bed.
Note to self from today - dry bags do not stay dry in continual rain (my backpack was soaked so I had to explode everything out of it and let stuff dry)
There is some debate tonight as too whether or not we will walk the rest of the ridge tomorrow if the weather is the same.
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