The traffic around these parts is insane!!!

Standard

Good-Day and hello from sunny Welshpool!

Today was another hot and fabulous day in Wales/England/Wales/England…I’m soooo lost right now!

We started with a lovely breakfast from Sheila, our hostess, and her two helpers Toby, a chocolate lab, and Mouse, a Jack Russell, who were sweet and lovely to cuddle with.  Toby kept his head in my lap for most of dinner last night and much of breakfast this morning…perhaps because Dad let him in on my reputation of sending more food down my shirt or on the floor than into my mouth.  Sigh.  Dad asked me if I was going to purchase some vinyl clothing sometime soon.  No love.

After breaky and a few quick photos with Sheila, we were off on our way, or back on our way I suppose, since our excursion to Montgomery yesterday resulted in us re-walking ground we had already walked, but that’s okay.  The sun was shining, the temperature was cool and the air was filled with the songs of happy birdies.  The only problem was the morning TRAFFIC!  Holy smokes, there was one fence that was so backed up, Dad and I contemplated going another route…ewe just couldn’t get anywhere!

Our walk today took us over about a billion stiles..or at least that’s what it felt like.  These stiles seemed to be a bit more modern than some of the rickity, nerve wracking, survival-of-the-fittest stiles that we have been going over, since they were also equipped with a moveable dog door!  Very cool!!  The going today was my kind of hiking; long, flat and even ground…as opposed to up, up, up over mole hole ridden, ankle cracking uneven ground!  We breezed along the trail and even took some time to build some hay bale Inukshuks…just to ensure we left our mark!  Kidding, we didn’t build them, but it sure looks like someone else did!  I have also had to learn to watch dad closely…he is kind of like a toddler in that everything that looks like a berry will go straight into his mouth.  I am waiting, with bated breath, for the day that he pops some random unidentifiable fruit into his mouth and tells me it tastes like burning and passes out.  The guy is incorrigible!

Eventually we came to the town of Kingswood, which I swear, is the only town in ALL OF WALES that has a random sidewalk in the middle of a farm country.  It was so peculiar, but a happy site for dad and I who usually just hurl ourselves into the closest bush any time a car comes…from either direction.  It’s terrifying walking on the roads over here, especially being from Canada, because we are supposed to walk on the opposite side of the road to face traffic which is a) tricky to remember and b) just as dangerous.  We both have minor heart attacks when the cars whip past us at a million miles an hour, or when they zoom up from behind us which is when we are both determined we are going to get flattened.  Fun times. Fuuuun times.

Following Dad’s somewhat trusty-but-not-always guidebook, we wandered up to Heath Cottage, the home of Mary and John who own the Heath Cottage B&B.  The guidebook told us that Mary would give us the quintessential UK welcome, and we were both ready for a cup of tea over a pint of beer.  Upon knocking on the door, and having Mary answer it, Dad in his usual friendly-but-straightfoward way asked the woman if “she was Mary, and does she have any tea”?  She said that she was Mary, but doesn’t normally make tea, but would make an exception for us…huzzah!  Did she ever live up to the quintessential welcome!  We enjoyed lovely tea, water, lemon drizzle cake (which I am determined to get a recipe for) and currant cake with butter.  We sat in her gorgeous back garden listening to the birds sing, chickens cluck and watching butterflies gracefully flit around the garden…it was absolutely wonderful.  We chatted about all sorts of things, and Dad and I found out why Kingswood, of all places, has a fabulously wide sidewalk (it was intended for a safe travelling area for children attending the school).  Eventually Mary’s husband John came home and the conversation continued.  Before we knew it, an hour had passed and it was time for us to go.  It was a lovely break, in a gorgeous location, and it absolutely hit the spot.

From here dad and I set off across a few pastures, including one with a homemade sign that warned us not to turn our backs on the rams.  I felt sooo very safe. Not.  From there it was off to climb “kill-me-now” hill, a 408m straight up summit in the blazing sun.  It was awe—–ful.  However, the views from the summit were just spectacular so it made the near-death experience worth while.  When we reached the summit and were walking along the ridge, we ended up getting a little…misplaced, and wound up walking around trying to find the path again in the blazing sun…one of my favourite past times.  Nevertheless, we got back on track and walked around Beacon Ring…an old structure that was originally built in the Iron Age.  It was very cool.  From here we crossed the peak of the mountain that was chalk full of pheasants….or as I like to call them, the worlds least intelligent bird.  First of all, they crack me up when they run away because they zig and zag and wiggle like something out a cartoon…but they don’t really get away from you. Then, when they finally decide that you have cornered them, they freak out, squawk and take to the air.  Seriously, daft as a post.

After this it was a horrible and knee breaking descent until we arrived just outside of Welshpool.  Here we crossed the pasture of something that looked like a cross between a pig and a sheep, but the thing was totally huge!  I would have snapped a photo, but I was determined that, whatever it was, was going to eat me, so I got out of there!  We eventually arrived at Moors Farm, the most beautiful B&B I have seen so far, where we were greeted by Henia with tea and snacks.  She and her family run the farm, which raises dairy cows (hundreds of them) and from what I can see, she is very busy.  However, somehow in her busy schedule, manages to find the time to have an occasional visit with Prince Charles and Camilla. Wow. Wow. Wow. So cool!  She also hosts grouse hunting parties, where wealthy people from around the world will come to hunt grouse…for, in some places, a cool pricetag of 500,000 pounds per day.  Wow!  The B&B itself is gorgeous and rustic and I never want to leave.

Well, my eyes are forcing themselves shut, and we have a long day tomorrow…so I am going to sign off.  Have a fabulous day, and enjoy the pictures!

Yours in hiking!

Kate

8 thoughts on “The traffic around these parts is insane!!!”

  1. The country seems a bit different here – way more trees. The poem on the stile is an old nursery rhyme that I for one grew up with. I always felt sorry for the crooked man, who was portrayed in my book as hump backed. Mary’s tea looks scrumptious.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I’ve been playing around with Google maps and the info I can glean about the Offa’s Dyke path, and there’s a chance you’re going near my father’s childhood home – he lived in Llanymynech in a Victorian house up on a hillside, called Bron Heulog (it’s not an uncommon name, though) – in his day it was outside the village and surrounded by fields/meadows/woods/rocks/sheep. Llanymynech is one of those towns that straddles the border, and all the pubs were on the English side because of the closing times you alluded to. I think you’re in that region now, so give it a wave if you go past…a branch of the family still owns sheep land around Pistyll Rhaeadr Falls up the road from there. AND, you’re just across the border from Shrewsbury, Oswestry etc, the stomping ground of Brother Cadfael. Family (Ward and Hamer) is buried at the church in Llanyblodwel (near Oswestry), and there is family in the Whittington area also near Oswestry.

    Like

  3. Anonymous

    I think every time I read about your adventure, that you will, I hope, be able to print it off, and keep them as your journal for your trip, they will be such fun to read in years to come!! You have done a wonderful job of sharing it with us , your readers and kept us entertained too! Thanks again for sharing your scenic sights with us, You have not used “wooly” yet!! Wow, that traffic certainly was a jam, where were they going?? not that it really matters! Hope your next day is as awesome, you sure have been blessed with good weather!! Take care!!

    Like

  4. paddibrian35years

    I love how ewe describe the traffic jams – of sheep, I hope Dad has his white sweater with him ( I think it may not have made it to England ), to take photos of with it’s brethren – we have quite a few of the Cotswold sheep from 2011, and it seems there could have been many hundreds for it to be photographed with on this walk. I’m enjoying the historical tidbits and the photos, and am really enjoying the humour. If I didn’t know better, I would think that you were born with a bent for British humour. And it sounds as though you have really toughened up – either that or your joints are numb from all the stinging nettle toxins!!
    Great job, Katie.
    Love you lots
    Mum

    Like

  5. Kevin Donnelly

    I can only say that if you enter quizzes you must understand the lingo (Welsh/English)do not give the excuse you cannot hear the questions ,keep up the good walking, Monday evening will soon be in sight and Wednesdau morning I will treat you to Soothills Doughnuts. xxxx

    Liked by 1 person

    • paddibrian35years

      Soothills doughnuts – now that is what I call incentive. I can almost feel the jam running down my chin. Now I REALLY wish I as on the walk!

      Like

Thoughts and Comments Welcome