Bendy ODP Day 6 - Welshpool to Mellington

22.8 Km in 6:54

Left the Royal Oak Hotel at 0900 and Twitchy and I were driven to a point on the Montgomery Canal that we walked through yesterday. Crossing 'A' roads and a bridge without a footpath we started the long ascent through the fields.  The path went up and up and up in misty conditions; the humidity surprised us (it was hard work).

Misty view down the hill

We made it to the top of the 3Km climb in just over an hour; so far so good but it started raining when we got to the top (just our luck). Before the summit we went through pine and fir plantations; very nice even with the muddy paths.  At the top is the iron age Beacon Ring hill fort. This is amazing and walking into it in the rain and mist is quite spooky. Already today is shaping up to be an interesting day. 

Beacon Ring hill fort

On the way down the back of Beacon Hill the path goes through lovely woodlands and passes a pheasant farm; the birds run free range in the area and there was hundreds if not thousands of them. At the 11Km mark we got into Kingswood just before 1230 where Libby, Gail and Jane (an English friend of ours) met us. Jane and Libby joined us for the walk at this point. 

The path ran predominately  southeast for the rest of the day and followed the dyke most of the time (including through peoples  back yards). We lost count of the number of times we crossed the English/Welsh border. There were quite a few sections of woodland corridors which made the day more enjoyable. The final 500m  into Mellington Hall was along the dyke and through a beautiful woodland corridor. We arrived at Mellington Hall at about 1600.

Today was a far more interesting day than yesterday with lovely sections of woodland.  Tomorrow is shaping up to be a similar distance but looks to be a lot more difficult (hills).