Day 4 Walking
Longtown to Hay on Wey
13 miles, 7 wind blown hours
Tanhouse Farm B&B in Longtown
After breakfast of Good granola (the real thing), an egg, toast (told Jenny about the British film "Toast"), tomatoes and mushrooms (learned how to pick wild ones, at least which to avoid - definitely any with RED on), and of course coffee, set off to do that hike back UP to where I came down yesterday. Took about an hour and a half of stepping, stopping, breathing, repeat process. Still I felt good and the views were incredible. The higher I climbed more of the valley was visible.
Crisscrossing sheep trails while dodging them, a memory came back of my very first backpacking experience in Baniff, Canada where Gary and I wandered off the real trail and ended up following an animal trail. Set up the little tent right on the trail as it was the only semi flat place as we were perched high on the side of a mountain. Kind of what climbers going up sheer rock walls do to sleep at night, they bivouac on a ledge, and hope for the best (don't roll out of bed).
Took this "selfie" because I thought certainly it was the high point of the trail - wrong - it went onward and upward for about 3 more hours.
The book "How Green Was My Valley" keeps popping in the brain with the constant landscape of rich greens, valleys, mountains. Have not seen any coal miners, yet.
With all the distant peaks rising about me as I rose, and the Severn Estuary came into view from 4 days ago, and off to the northeast definitely the peaks of the Lake District, the wish for a set of binoculars was strong. Too bad they don't come in the size of eye glasses, weigh practically nothing, and cost just a little bit.
Path followed all day
Stone piles like this were constant on the very highest sections and probably well needed in heavy fog or cloud or pouring rain, or for those stranded way up there after dark.
These large stone slabs have been placed to help the walkers over the extremely boggy ground on the top.
Only cookies to eat 2nd day on a row. Thought to buy lunch at the village shop in Longtown, only it didn't open until 10 on Sunday's. The shop is owned by my host family. Mr Hope delivers the mail. Mrs Hope runs the post office, and daughter Christine runs the shop. Christine graduated with a degree to be a livestock auctioneer but when the foot and mouth disease hit the UK that changed the way cattle were sold/auctioned. Now they go straight to be butchered. It is a real family business. So cookies were the food of choice and necessity.
Not sure what this was, but most everyone else was having their photo taken by it.
Ate the remaining stem ginger cookie once up on the high path. After walking for over an hour enjoying the landscape and seeing not a single other hiker, the first moveable object, besides sheep, came into view and with him came the wind, and clouds. Wind and clouds picked up. A LOT. Stopped at a stone shelter, very low, but it worked, and got out the Buff neck cover and put it over my head to wear as a hat. Crunched my way through some chunks of the chocolate disgestives which melted into a gooey mess yesterday, and in the cold of today had solidified so they would not separate. Just bite in and hope the teeth don't break. Later, hours later, ate the remaining packaged cookies from a B&B a couple nights ago.
This stone shelter reminded me of the trip to Baffin Island with the gala force winds, Inuit houses anchored to the ground by heavy cables. The entire landscape up on the top today looked very much like the tundra.
Path down to Hay Bluff parking lot where all the day trippers started from.
Apparently Offa's Dyke is the official border between England and Wales.
Had to email my hostess for next Saturday nights accommodation as to what my menu choices were. Apparently food has to be ordered way in advance and will be delivered by a small truck to these remote villages
Path more stream than path
It was a very blustery 4 hour ridge walk. Good, but could have been better weather, but also could have been worse. Towards the northern end of the ridge many day trippers were out and about. LOTS of them. Some wore shorts, some completely covered in wind suits and winter hats. On my way down the steep incline being practically blown sideways by wind gusts I met two semi elderly ladies (semi in not really really old, but older than me) one lady wearing a pink hooded jacket and using what looked like a cross between a walking stick and a cane, stopped when next to me and smiled. I said something about it being a bit windy today, and she said "Lovely isn't it? Makes one feel alive"! I felt a bit closer to less alive.
Alms House in Hay on Wey
Bought myself Sealskinz gloves WATERPROOF. The pair I had from Gander Mountain - Seirus - claimed to be waterproof, but on that first day of walking in the heavy rain the gloves were so totally saturated that when I wrung the gloves out, water poured onto the ground.
So, as a present, I am giving my pink Sealskinz to Kim who has them over in Ireland at Ballycastle County Mayo (not as in mayonnaise).
Once down from the high area it was still about a two mile down hill walk to reach Hay on Wey where I am staying at Saint Mary's B&B, right across from St Mary's church.
He lost his hand
Pathia curry (I think) with lamb and garlic rice at the Red Indigo. Had a spot of trouble understanding my waiter who was newly arrived from India, who spoke with and Indian/British accent and of course I spoke with harsh Midwest (Wisconsin). But even without exactly identifying the meal ordered, it was very tasty, but could have been a bit hotter in the way of spicy heat for this eater. Everything was consumed. Felt a bit guilty. but justified, by not having anything but those cookies during the day
A quote from the AARP magazine by Patricia Heaton "My favorite body part? My feet, they are not pretty, but they get me where I want to go."
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