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Link to part 7:
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=38563_____________
Knighton to Chipping NortonFeeling refreshed again after a day off, I was looking forward to exploring Wales. The sun was out already early in the day so I made sure to stock up on plenty of water before leaving Knighton. I joined Offa’s Dyke path just after leaving the town, which immediately led up a steep hill. It was hard going in the heat, 31 degrees according to my thermometer, but the path was an absolute pleasure to walk; varied, well signposted, stunning views and it was great being out of the flatland and going up and down hills again.
After a very enjoyable ~26km I arrived in Kington where I stopped at a pub for dinner. Unfortunately they didn’t serve any food that day, so I opted for a liquid dinner. After two pints of Guinness, I continued on. There were quite a few B&Bs with vacancies in Kington, but it was such a nice day that I really wanted to camp out plus Hergest Ridge nearby looked very promising according to my map. Feeling pretty tipsy after drinking on an empty stomach I sauntered up Hergest Ridge as the sun started to set, bathing the already beautiful plateau in a nice warm glow. I set up my camp on the summit, not very sheltered but the views were too nice to pass up on.
After a slightly chilly but overall comfortable night, I woke up surrounded by sheep and several horses with their young foal. Ended up staying in my sleeping bag for quite a while just enjoying the peacefulness and beauty of this area. Eventually I got up and headed back down the hill and followed the river to Hay-on-Wye.
It was another scorching day but on the bright side it meant I could wear my sunglasses for most of the time. My proper glasses still required almost daily glueing back together and by now were in 5 pieces that needed to be puzzled together. I was looking forward to arrive at my friends place in Pontypridd where a new pair of glasses awaited me.
I had only walked about 21km by the time I reached Hay-on-Wye but the place had a lot of charm so I decided to cut the walk short and spend the rest of my day there. Didn’t take long to find a nice B&B where the landlady told me quite proudly about Hay’s 28 bookshops and its own self-proclaimed king! Spend the rest of the day exploring this quaint and fascinating little place and eating ice cream in the local coffee shop.
The following day I got up early and dropped by the local post office to send my thermal baselayers and five finger shoes to Luxembourg. I needed to carry more water in these temperatures and didn’t want to increase the weight of my pack plus I didn’t think I would need the thermal layers anymore. This saved nearly a whole kg, which I replaced by an additional bottle of water.
Shortly after getting out of town, the views opened up and the path lead me towards a great ridge walk which I would be following for about 25km. Loved walking between more wild horses and their foal and had several stops just to sit down and appreciate the view.
When the sun started to set, I made my way towards a hill just outside of Abergavenny where I stayed for the night. Found a good spot to bivvy and spent the evening reading until it got dark.
Woke up to a brilliant sunrise and made my way down the hill into Abergavenny. To my delight I came across a Subway there and stopped by for breakfast. Always loved their sandwiches and it made for a nice change from my usual jaffa cakes. Used the opportunity to find a shop and stock up on supplies again before continuing on. After walking through Llanfoist Woods, I came across a really steep hill. My planned route would take me around the hill but took the direct route up the hill. Quite hard going in the heat and had to crawl on hands and knees occasionally to get up but the view from the top was well worth it. Sat down for a while chatting to some locals.
Dropped down the other side of the hill again, re-joining my original route into Blaenavon and up yet another hill.
This hill ended up being really quite frustrating. Shortly after getting to the top the path disappeared entirely into thick heather in front of me. The gps confirmed that I was in the right spot but the path was gone and I must have spent a few hours wading through knee-deep heather bushels before finally finding a way down the hill towards Abertillery. Walking in the right direction wasn’t a problem but stumbling through the heather with sore and tired legs wasn’t much fun and I fell over repeatedly, getting my leg stuck in unseen holes. Being a bit paranoid about ticks didn’t help the situation either.
Not really sure why, but didn’t like Abertillery at all, so I kept going despite feeling pretty tired and sore. According to my map there was a campsite near Aberbargoed, not too far from there so I continued on. Sill didn’t like the area in general and the campsite didn’t exist anymore. My feet were really quite sore now, I was pretty grumpy and it started to get dark with nowhere nice to sleep in sight. Eventually I had enough and just dropped off the path through some bushes into a small forest. The location looked nice enough but it was right next to a farm and their dog must have smelled me as it kept barking throughout the night, so I kept worrying that at some point the farmer might show up to figure out what was going on.
Before settling in my bag, I did a full check-up looking for any potential ticks. Didn’t find any luckily but I noticed that two of my toe nails were missing… Not really sure when that had happened as they were both from toes that had gone numb a while back so I hadn’t felt anything. Oh well, it didn’t hurt and there was nothing I could do about it now but it didn’t really improve my mood either, so I went to sleep.
Despite all of it, I actually slept quite well and got up early to make sure I was out of there before sunrise. Todays’ walk wasn’t as spectacular as the last few days but still very enjoyable. I made good progress as I was really excited to reach Pontypridd where I would be staying with Sonja and Ben, two friends from my first year at university student halls. I hadn’t seen them in a couple of years and I hadn’t seen a familiar face since I left Edinburgh over a month ago. After 3 days walking in scorching heat without an opportunity for a shower, I felt pretty yucky and was also looking forward to a shower and a chance to wash my clothes again. The day passed quickly and I shortly found myself looking down at Pontypridd, which was a lot larger than I thought it would be.
My feet were aching but with renewed energy I made my way down the hill and into Pontypridd. Seeing my friends again was absolutely fantastic and I had the pleasure of being introduced to their 16 months old baby daughter. Lastly I received my new pair of glasses which my mum had sent over!
I had to get up early the following day as they were both working and I had agreed to babysit for the day. I was a bit nervous as I never had to deal with a baby yet but quite looking forward to it too as she was a really cute and smiley little meatbag. It was a really fun day but probably also one of the more exhausting ones of my adventure
In the evening I had a proper catch-up and party with my friends.
Woke up quite the late the next day and decided yet again to never drink Tequila again. Sonja joined me on my walk for a while before she turned back and I continued on. The temperatures had luckily dropped a bit by now and walking was a lot easier. I wanted to reach Bristol in 3 days so I had quite a bit of ground to cover, especially after such a late start and not feeling all too fit. At least the walk along the Sirhowy Valley Walk was quite easy. I stopped in a forest overlooking Newport and found a great spot to bivvy with a nice view and quite sheltered.
After a very comfortable night I got up early and set off quickly. If I wanted to reach Bristol as planned, I would have to cover about 40km today as I only walked 29 the previous day. The path towards Newport was pretty nice, leading mostly along a canal. Walking through Newport seemed to take forever and I was glad to get out of the city again and getting back into the countryside.
It kept raining heavily enough to make me put on all my goretex overlayers to then stop again and the heat making me take it all off again. This kept going on for most of the day, which would have been quite irritating, but my mind was too occupied otherwise to really care. I had kept my phone on all day as I knew my mum was having surgery. When I finally got a phone call from my dad, all he could tell me was that something had gone wrong and they had to keep her in ICU. I spent the rest of the day repeatedly texting and calling my dad and grandmother trying to get any info on what the hell was going on but nobody could tell me anything. I got increasingly frustrated about the doctors not sharing more info and felt really helpless stuck out here. There was nothing I could do though, so I continued on. At least I was close to Bristol and would be able to get a flight home from there if need be. I walked on until it started getting dark and stopped in a forest outside of Chepstow. As soon as I had put the bivvy down, it started raining heavily again and continued to rain all night. For the first time it was raining while I set up my camp but I managed pretty well getting my sleeping bag out and getting into and my gear stashed away without getting too wet. It was a really miserable night though, I was extremely stressed out, uncomfortable and unable to sleep and pretty much just spent the night lying there and waiting for the night to end.
Eventually I could see daylight come out through the bivvy and got up. It was still raining heavily so I packed up as quickly as I could and walked on. Wasn’t too worried about my stuff getting wet as I would be reaching Bristol by the end of the day and visit more friends. The rain showers kept up again all day. I was still too stressed and worried to really pay much attention to the route I walked. The only memorable part was crossing the long bridge over the river Severn at the end of which I re-entered England.
As I approached the outskirts of Bristol, I finally got a phone call from my dad telling me that my mum was out of ICU and recovering. Feeling incredibly relieved I continued on. Entering Bristol it started raining quite heavily, but I couldn’t be bothered putting on all the goretex yet again. As Bristol is not exactly small though and I was quite a soggy mess when I finally reached Ania and Harry’s place. Apart from reaching another milestone, I also felt good knowing I had kept my promise to both Sonja and Ania of visiting them at some point since they left Aberdeen, although I would have never expected to do so on foot…
After an evening of partying and too many White Russians, we were all pretty hungover the next day and apart from a bit of sightseeing around Bristol, spent most of the time nursing said hangover in various coffee shops.
The next day it was sadly time to say goodbye and I was on my way again, with clean and dry clothes. Not knowing Bristol, I headed straight across the city in the direction of my next destination and seemed to have navigated my way through the rougher and dodgier areas but no problems. It was nice getting out of the city and into the countryside again. Overall, since reaching Pontypridd, this whole area was far too populated for my liking, but there is no way to avoid that really while trying to get across this part of England. At least I managed to find some paths through the countryside.
Finding accommodation was a bit tricky but I eventually found a hotel in Yate, which was a huge disappointment, the room was tiny, dirty, I had to make the bed myself for £50 a night, quite a rip-off! On the plus side, I finally got to speak to my mum, which cheered me up quite a bit. It was good to hear she was terrorizing the hospital staff already by refusing to stay in her bed and insisting on pacing up and down the hospital corridors to get back into shape. It was only 5 days until my birthday and my parents had planned to come over to the UK for the occasion and join me on my walk for a few days. This wouldn’t really be feasible anymore but my mum was still determined they would come over and celebrate my birthday with me.
Considering how crap the hotel was I didn’t bother trying out their breakfast, even though it was included in the price, and just dropped my keys off and left. I stopped for food at the nearest Tesco instead and stocked up on supplies for the day as well. Shortly after leaving town I joined the Cotswold Way. The scenery improved a lot and the rain stopped as well. Today’s walk was a lot more pleasant than I would have expected, I had pretty much settled on having to follow roads for the rest of my journey.
I made great progress and all went well until I got to a field full of cows. About half-way through the field, the cows all gathered in one big herd behind me and started following me. I don’t really know anything about cows, but so far along my walked I crossed quite a few fields and I got the feeling that cows were quite curious animals and had followed me quite often. Never in such an ‘organised’ herd though. Something felt off and I got a really uneasy feeling. I kept looking over my shoulder, they didn’t look curious, they looked aggressive. As I looked back again, they lowered their heads, pointing the horns forwards and the whole herd started charging straight at me. Panic hit me and I legged it as fast as I could towards the nearest wall, jumping head first over it, landing flat on my chest in the mud. I immediately looked up and saw the cows already standing at the wall grunting down at me. Must have been really close! My heart was racing and it took me quite a while to calm down again. I have no idea what set them off, there were no calves, no bull and no dog anywhere either. Up to this point I would have never imagined cows as aggressive animals, but after that I have to admit, they really quite scare me! (2 days later a friend sent me a newspaper article about a walker who had been seriously injured near Barnard Castle, an area I had walked through a few weeks earlier). Still feeling quite shaky, I got back up and checked the situation. My heart sank a bit when I realized that the only way to get back on the path was to cross the field I just escaped from. Walking along the wall, the herd kept following me, so I changed direction and walked to the far end of this field, out of sight of the cows before taking the long way round, back to the original field. I now had some distance between the cows and me but had to crawl through a thorny bush, climb over a wall and wriggle under an electric fence to get back into the cow field. The bastards started coming my way again as soon as they noticed me, but I only had a few metres to go before getting to the gate and escaping for good. I immediately vowed to stop for a big fat juicy steak at the next pub I would come across!
Luckily the rest of today’s walk was pretty smooth, until I reached the Westonbirt Arboretum. It started to get dark so I decided this forest would do nicely for a camp spot. I left the path and had a look around until I found a nice flat area. While scouting for a good spot I did notice a large number of holes in the ground, but didn’t really think much of it at the time.
I made myself comfortable and read my kindle in the light of my head torch. I was reading World War Z, a zombie survival horror type book, probably not the best choice while lying alone in a forest at night! At some point I heard a noise, turned around and saw a fox running towards me. I blinded it with my headtorch, it came right up to me, ran a circle around me and disappeared into the darkness. I am usually not scared of foxes either, but the combination of my previous encounter with the cows, being alone in a dark forest, reading a horror book and feeling quite vulnerable stuffed in a sleeping bag inside a bivvy really quite freaked me out. My heart was racing again and I recalled all the holes I had seen in the ground earlier. I actually considered getting up and walking on but I was also very tired and exhausted. While debating about what to do, it started raining quite heavily on top of it all. I really had enough of it one day, laid back down and pulled the bivvy over my head. I kept the headtorch on my head though and my hiking poles lying within reach and have to admit to feeling pretty scared, however unreasonable it was. As soon as the light was off and I was lying still, I could hear more and more things moving all around me, which didn’t help me get to sleep either. The rain was getting into the top of my bag as I didn’t like the idea of fully enclosing myself, unable to get out quickly with all that movement around me.
As if that wasn’t enough, at some point during the night I felt something wet in my sleeping bag. I knew the area around my head was wet from the rain dripping in, but this one wet spot was unexpected and I wondered if there was a leak in my bivvy, so I had a feel with my hand and pulled a big slimy slug out of my sleeping bag!! I turned my headtorch on and saw in disgust that the outside of my bivvy was covered in slugs and their slimy sticky trails! Absolutely fed up, I zipped the bivvy shut and waited for daylight to come. Eventually exhaustion kicked in and I fell asleep.
When I woke up it was still raining, but my sleeping bag was already wet anyway, so I just crawled out, put my clothes on and set off. It was a pretty nice path leading to Cirencester but it continued raining all day and I felt quite rough after the sleepless night. I stopped at the first B&B I came across. After spreading all my gear around the room to dry, I headed back out to find a shop to buy some food. I was really looking forward to sleep in a bed and had an early night.
The majority of my gear was still quite wet when I got up in the morning, so I asked my host if I could extend my stay by one night. Luckily they had no further bookings and I could stay. I used the opportunity to explore Cirencester and search for a tourist info office to book a B&B for 3 days for when my parents would arrive, 2 days from now. Started to feel more and more excited about their visit! Once the B&B was sorted, I headed back and spent the rest of the day watching TV and relaxing.
With my gear dried out it was time to continue my trip if I wanted to reach Chipping Norton to meet my parents. I had to follow roads for most of the day which was a bit dull but after all the excitement I had a couple of days ago I didn’t mind too much. The villages I came through were really nice and the walk pretty enjoyable.
After a while I was back in the countryside following a public footpath. I definitely preferred this until I arrived at a gate to a field with a sign warning walkers of a bull! After getting chased by cows I really wasn’t very keen on entering a field with a bloody bull in it! I stopped for quite a while checking my maps to see if there was a way around this but there was no other route unless I was willing to do a massive detour. The field was really quite large and parts of it disappeared out of sight behind a forest but I couldn’t see a bull so I pressed on but walked as fast as I could without running. I felt a bit silly but was still quite glad to pass through the gate on the other side. The rest of the journey was quite leisurely and pleasant.
Once I felt I had walked enough for one day I got my phone out and had a look for any accommodation in the area. After phoning around for a while I managed to book a room in Great Rissington. It was a bit further than I had wanted ideally but it was the only vacancy I found. I was pretty sore and tired when I finally arrived but well worth it, my room was fantastic, especially considering how cheap it was and the hosts were incredibly friendly. Once I had dropped my bags off they insisted on inviting me to the local pub for a pint so I could tell them about my walk. Afterwards they offered to fire up the BBQ for me while I showered. After a good dinner and a few more beers I went to bed.
My room also included a kitchen and the owners had provided me with everything I needed to make breakfast. Having walked quite far the previous day, I only had about 25km to go to reach Chipping Norton and was in no rush.
The walk however was really quite unpleasant, I had to walk alongside roads all day long and there was no pavement either and I felt quite wary of walking on roads dodging cars for most of the time. To stay in touch with my parents and coordinate meeting up, I kept my phone on all day for a change. I don’t tend to celebrate much for my birthdays but having spent so much time alone it was quite pleasant to have ‘happy birthday’ messages trickling in throughout the day and keep me distracted from the dull walk. When I arrived in Chipping Norton, I sat down on a bench texted them my location. Turns out they were only about half an hour away, pretty good timing considering they had been driving all the way from Luxembourg that day.
Seeing their car pull up was amazing, I had been looking forward to this for quite a while and was still astounded my mum was here only a few days after the surgery. We got in the car and drove to Long Hanborough to check into our B&B.
I never thought I would be so happy to put on the trainers they had brought along after all this time wearing boots! We went out for an excellent dinner and celebrated in a pub for the rest of the night, catching up.
The next day we drove to Oxford and spent the day sightseeing. Despite the on-stop rain it was a fantastic day exploring the city and nearby surroundings.
On the second day we drove to the New Forest national park. 15 years ago we had spent a month roadtripping through the UK and we all had very fond memories of this place. We had a great day re-visiting the area, going for walks and stopping for a few drinks in the beautiful town of Beaulieu.
In the evening we drove back to our B&B and went out for a last dinner before they would drive back to Luxembourg the next day and I continued my journey.
In the morning we drove back to Chipping Norton and I insisted they dropped me off at the same bench they had picked me up from to make sure there was no cheating. I really appreciated their visit and felt motivated again to continue and complete my journey.
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Link to part 9:
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=39489