Offa’s Dyke Day 5.
Distance today: 18.7 miles.
Total distance: 898.9 miles.
Accommodation: campsite.
My first walking task was an hour and a half steady climb to get up onto Hergest Ridge. Pop fact: Mike Oldfield named his second album after the ridge. Essentially, it is a long, open common covered in bracken and the occasional sheep. Alan had texted me to ask if there were any good areas to wild camp and the answer seemed to be no, particularly if you were hoping to be inconspicuous. Trees were definitely in short supply. The compensation for the lack of substantial shrubbery was lovely panoramic views in pretty much all directions.
I met a few walkers along the way and stopped for a chat with a local woman out walking her dog. She rented a place near by as did a farmer who appeared to be her nemesis. By all accounts (well, hers at least), the farmer didn’t give a damn about the leaving the place in a tip, particularly when it came to disposing of the plastic wrapping used to cover the bales of hay. I walked past it later and had to agree. Really, is that the best you can do?
It was another hot day and once off the ridge I was thankful of the shade offered by a couple of wooded sections. On the last stretch of the trail before I reached Hay-on-Wye, the route did finally take me alongside the Wye where I passed some treetop glamping accommodation. They definitely exuded a safari chic. I happened to bump into a woman who worked for the company renting them out and she kindly showed me around one of the ‘huts’. Very tastefully done. No surprises, all this good taste and perfect location came at a price. I think it would have to be a very special occasion.
When I passed the sign declaring the town was twinned with Timbuktu, I couldn’t help being ever so slightly … proud? … nostalgic? … or even, dare I say it, smug. Many, many years ago (28) I had been to Timbuktu and if you didn’t fly, it felt like a proper adventure getting there. It got me wondering (definitely not in a smug way) how many people had been to both places.
If you ask me, Hay-on-Wye has been focusing too much on its literary festivals and not enough on people doing a long walk. After an extensive wander around town I could find hardly any ‘useful’ shops, certainly nowhere that was going to sell me dehydrated meals. I settled for having a coffee at the Old Electric Shop.
I headed back across the bridge and up the hill to the Radnors End Campsite. Even though it just looked like a big extended garden, it had all the facilities you needed. Apart from shade. The people who ran the place lived in the house at the end of the ‘garden’ and as a bonus, they had what was effectively a skinny conservatory which they left open overnight. This meant I could (finally) charge my power bank for a decent length of time.
Out in the evening in search of beer and food. It was a struggle. The food in the pubs all seemed to be overpriced. I stopped for a beer at the Blue Boar and while I was there, a man walked in hoping to get a pint but he was about to be defeated both by technology and cost. He had £4 in cash but the place would only accept card payments and the cheapest beer was Otter at £4.10 a pint. Very generously, I offered to put it on my card … if he gave me the cash. After he got his pint he was appreciative for approximately half a second before walking off. I was not exactly sure what I was expecting but his (lack of) reaction did seem a bit odd. Still, I’d done my good deed for the day, even if in hindsight I felt I probably should have offered to pay for his pint.
Food-wise, the best I could do was scour the shelves of the local Spar to conjure up some sort of meal. My Spar picnic ended up being a big pork pie, a pre-prepared salad and a pint of mango yoghurt. At least it was filling.
