Welshpool to Cwm (pronounced comb)
17 miles with alterations and additions
7.5 hours
John Deere has made it all the way to Welshpool from Iowa.
On the outskirts of Welshpool is the Italian ice cream factory Sidoli. Three men eating breakfast at the B&B this morning are roofers and they are repairing the roof over one of the big cooler rooms. Isn't Italian ice cream supposed to be made in Italy?
Watched most of "The Time Traveler's Wife" last night. Had been wanting to see it because of liking the book so much.
Mill House
Woke up to another cloudless sky. There was mist down in the valley below the farm. Very scenic. Sure would be nice if the clouds stayed away all day, but might be too much to hope for.
The clouds did a lovely job of gently floating around all day. Had to get the sun cap out for the first time to shade the eyeballs.
Everywhere the landscape here is extremely beautiful and walking through it, rather than driving, is like seeing and getting to know a country in slow motion (very slow). Because of this manner of traveling and getting to meet local people, stay in their homes, have mini conversations along the way, makes the experience have a different level of Getting To Know A Country.
Traveling and just jumping out of a car, walking up to a tourist site, strolling through and taking photos, hopping back into car and driving to the next location, is not getting to really know a place and the people.
Entrance Gate to Leighton Hall, with the Gate Keepers cottage.
The actual Hall was deep in the property and the only glimpse was from a distance of this tower.
The side yard of a Funeral Service business.
Helicopter flying low over sheep.
In this case people who have lived in a location and can trace their family back 500 years. That is a lot of time spent becoming one of the Locals, with a history.
Jones is a very common name. Also Williams, Evans, Davis.
Here in Wales my name is pronounced very sweetly and this person likes it. Lois = low eese.
News story this morning was about how Junior high and Senior high students traditionally take trips abroad to places such on the Continent, or China, or Egypt, or India, as part of their cultural enrichment. The issue today was about an upcoming trip to Barbados, and what were the students actually going to be learning except "how to sunbathe", and even more troubling was that along with each student having to finance their own trip and have spending money, they were required to do fund raising to pay the teachers expenses. Parents were objecting.
Today's route, and tomorrow's (supposedly difficult and challenging) are new for me as this was the section missed when doing Glyndwr's Way. So as the trail was new for this walker it is understandable why there were some missed turns, missed signs, in general, some confusion. Ended up in an area of newer homes (subdivision) made to look old. The streets were empty of all vehicles and certainly no humans were out and about. Decided to knock on a door and ask directions. Three knockings later a tiny elderly woman stepped outside. She barely came to my shoulder. Very adorable. Pointed this semi lost person in the correct direction, then she wanted to chat.
Gate with Lodges to Mellington Hall estate. The Dyke path went right in under the arched entrance. Felt a bit underdressed for the surroundings.
Example of what the raised earthen dyke is like.
Holiday trailer park. The trailers are always this odd green color.
Met a man hiking Offa's Dyke as training for doing 500 miles in the Pyrenees on the border between Spain and France in July.
Spicy lentil soup (rather watery and not very spicy) with grain bread and sparkling mineral water for lunch in Montgomery.
The food was placed on a doggie placemat.
Montgomery received its Charter in 1227.
In Wales this herb is pronounced: Basil = baa zill
Couple at the next table to me had quiche and baked potatoes (jacket potato) for lunch.
"Open oak ceiling with arched beams" in Saint Nicholas church in Montgomery.
"the Herbert tomb and two effigy. One is of Edmund Mortimer. Son-in-law to Owen Glendower...Shakespeare's Heney IV Part 1."
In the churchyard is the
Just a little wooden cross where all the others were elaborate stone.
Robber's grave. "The story goes that Robert Newton, condemned to death in 1821 for robbery, swore his innocence and maintained that the proof would be known by nothing growing on his grave for a hundred years...a rose bush marks the spot." Also the grave is located way in the back of the churchyard.
Today could have been Wisconsin except for the ridges rising up across the wide valley.
Bucky didn't look both ways before crossing the road.
Large tree. The trunk was huge.
Nice place to have a soak after a long walk.
The dining room chair had this raised wooden carving on it. When I first leaned back onto it the carving poked the spine. Caused
the body to sit up straight, and feel like a proper Victorian. Then realized that the carving could be used to run that one spot on the left side that keeps tightening up and causing pain. A mini massaging backrest.
Would I like mayo on my salad? NEVER!! But a bit of some kind is dressing would be nice. That seems to be unheard of here. Paul Newman has not yet made it big here.
Learned the difference between biscuits, which can be sweet or savory. To be called a cracker it has to be square.
To be called a "cookie" it has to have rough edges, like a chocolate chip cookie made by the drop/spoonful method. If all the cookies are smooth and uniformly the exact same size (machine made) it is a "biscuit" and can be sweet or salty.
Also learned that the dead badgers are the result not of traffic incidents, but poisoning by farmers who think the badgers are contaminating the sheep flocks with TB. After the Badgers die on the farmland they are taken and left on the edges of road to look like roadkill. That explains why the two I have seen look so perfect and like they are just sleeping. A bit of a shady side of rural Welsh farming life.
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