Offa’s Dyke Day 7.
Distance today: 17.8 miles.
Total distance: 937 miles.
Accommodation: campsite.
The forecast had predicted a hot day, upwards of 27 degrees, and I knew walking was going to be no fun in that kind of heat. To make matters worse, my right foot was still playing up. Clearly the best thing to do would be to take the day off. And clearly I wasn’t going to do that. Instead my plan was to get up early to avoid the worst of the heat and to take what I heard another walker call a vitamin i. That sounds so much better for me than ibuprofen. As I walked, I was very conscious of how I planted my feet to make sure I avoided any jarring action. Slow and steady.
Without reaching the heights of yesterday’s walk, it was still a pleasant enough stroll through fields and along country lanes. At one point I was passing through Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern (not that I knew it at the time) and came across the Church of St Michael and All Angels. If there is one thing churches are usually good for it’s shady benches. My arrival coincided with that of a woman who was a key holder for the church. Normally the church was left open so that people could get a drink of water but it was currently being kept locked while there was work being done. Out of curiosity I asked her who the church was insured with. Sure enough it was Ecclesiastical.
I arrived in Monmouth at around 3.30. The first campsite I tried didn’t do tent pitches but the woman pointed me in the direction of another one that did. Monnow Bridge Caravan Park employed the Tardis trick of being bigger on the inside than the entrance would have you believe. You could easily walk past the anonymous looking gap between 2 houses and not appreciate there was a world of canvas awnings and folding chairs beyond. Inevitably, I was the only person in a tent. I pitched right next to what became my own personal covered seating area. It was like a bus shelter that had been given an Astroturf makeover. Naff but effective, and appreciated.
It had been a while since I’d been to a decent-sized town with such delights as Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, and even a Wetherspoons. It might sound very domestic but one of things I needed was some new zip-seal freezer bags to replace my old, slightly knackered ones. I stored everything from food, to toiletries, to usb cables in them and they were great because they weighed nothing, packed down small and best of all, they were transparent. I picked up some food from Waitrose including a salad with things like feta and avocado in it. Very fancy. An hour or so later I decided I was still hungry and went back into town and picked up my second course at M&S. I also found a corner shop selling Proper Job so that was me, sitting in my bus shelter as the sun went down, reasonably contented with life.
