Friday Aug 16 2024

After another scrumptious breakfast and loaded up with our generous lunch we once again set off. Today we would be doing the section up to Chirk. Today would also be the day that we would spend the most distance walking either on or beside the actual dyke.

The day started beautifully as we climbed up through the delightful Candy Woods back to the dyke and then walked at times along side, at times on top and at times cutting through it as we made our way to Racecourse Common, the site of an abandoned racecourse. 

There were the customary (and frequent) farmer’s fields to walk through (and styles to climb over) after the racecourse and, owing to yesterday’s rain, wet (and sometimes muddy) feet ensued.

We were very glad we were not like other walkers who were pressing onto Chirk yesterday as it would have made for a very unhappy and soggy afternoon.

In the environs of Selattyn I had been hoping to make a short detour to Shropshire’s largest standing stone. However I had not noticed we had missed the detour until we had progressed quite a ways past it. And Lori was giving me a “We’re not doubling back” look.

Instead we took a different detour to the thoroughly disappointing ruin of the Selattyn tower. The book said, “erected inside a Bronze Age ring cairn in Victorian times but collapsed in the early 20th century and has recently been restored”

Restored doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

Thus doubly unsatisfied (and with wetter feet) we doubled back and continued on down into Craignant. Here we were greeted with the unfortunate information that a section of the path here was closed for repair of a culvert. This meant a long and at times dangerous detour up a narrow road. Normally a stroll along a Welsh country lane would be quite pleasing but when one has to almost leap into the bushes to avoid vehicles careering down the narrow road, not so.

We were very glad to eventually rejoin the trail and the dyke. Thus reunited we crested the hill to spy Chirk castle ahead (surprisingly below us) as well as the aqueduct and viaduct in the distance. Here Rob and Judy Greaves had walked up to meet us and thus together we descended to their place at Bronygarth to remove our wet and muddy shoes and enjoy some warming tea.

15.5km

Thursday Aug 15 2024

After we had arrived at the Bradford Arms I (Paul) went out for a bit more of a wander. Across the canal was an historical site, one of the raisons d’etre for the Canal. The Hoffman Kiln. It was built to process the limestone brought down from the hill above for processing into lime for fertilizer which would then be transported along the canal. That it was so well preserved was amazing. Also amazing that we lived so close to it for two years and never knew about it. Equally amazing was that I could walk inside the huge structure.

Today David and Fiona Loveday as well as Anne Hendrie were going to join us to talk the section to Trefnon and then we were continuing on to our accommodation at The Old Mill. We started by climbing up Pen-y-feol lane were Darwin first cut his scientific teeth (apparently he got his calculations wrong) before climbing up the old lime mine tramway to the path skirting around the Asterly rocks. We were provided broad views of the Severn valley and where we had walked yesterday.

As we climbed up to the summit of Moelydd we understood why the distant hills were dotted with power generating windmills.

We sheltered in the lee of some rocks to have lunch (again the lack of seating along the path was noticeable)

Arrival in Trefonen afforded the opportunity to buy some ice cream from the local store before our walking companions departed and the rain arrived.

This section is often combined with the following section up to Chirk as one long day. As the rain descended we were very glad to be not doing so. Our damp descent down into Candy was our first time walking on the actual dyke. To be honest our attention was more focused on arriving at our accommodation where they kindly let us in early to dry off and enjoy tea by the fire.

Wednesday August 14 2024

The Offa’s Dyke path travels the length of the Welsh-England border from Chepstow to Prestatyn. Parts of it follow the actual Offa’s Dyke built by, well, King Offa in the 8th century to separate Wales from his kingdom of Mercia. Whether it was defensive or whether it was purely “this is mine that is yours” is unknown.

The full length of the trail is 285km. We were only doing the 111km from Buttington to Prestatyn.

After the first of our many very generous breakfasts, and armed with our equally generous packed lunch, we took the advice of yesterday’s cabbie and had our host drop us at the Montomgery Canal which was slightly west of the official start of this section of the trail in Buttington. Thus we avoided walking through the (perpetually) wet farmer’s fields at the start of this section of the trail.

An inspired recommendation as walking along the canal was a beautiful way to start.

It appeared we even had a local dignitary there to send us off.

The Montgomery Canal (the “Monty”) was originally built to transport lime to the Llangollen Canal to be used as fertilizer. It was officially abandoned in 1944 and slowly attempts have been made to rehabilitate sections. It is allegedly a canoe/kayak route (as we saw several portage signs) however parts would require some serious weed whacking.

The path left the canal to continue along the Tirymynach Embankment which had been built to (at times unsuccessfully) hold back the floodwaters of the river Severn (which continues northeast to Shrewsbury before turning back south to end up at the Bristol Chanel)

On the embankment we had some peculiar obstacles to negotiate.

Childs play for a Hereford Princess.

We eventually made our way back to the canal to complete our day’s journey into Llanymynech and the Bradford Arms Hotel where Anne Hendrie was to join us for dinner.

We noticed a theme in the decor

17.7km

Tuesday 13 August

Yes it is an actual place and not a character in a Marvel movie. Nearby Buttington was to be our starting out point on the Offa’s Dyke Path the following day so we returned to the Shrewsbury Station and, after a very good coffee nearby, boarded the train to Welshpool.

Might we say here that the standard of coffee in the UK had improved immensely since our days of living there.

While waiting at the train station in Welshpool for our taxi Lori actually sent me into the old train station where an outdoor shop now existed. Why she then acted shocked when I came out with a cheap excellent hiking fleece?

Our cabbie took us to our accommodation so we could drop our bags and then kindly dropped us back at the city gate of Powys Castle. We had visited Powys several times in our time in the UK, the most memorable being for a performance of Handel’s Water Music on the terraces as we sat on the grand lawn. But we had never visited by the city entrance, which meant we got to walk up via the spacious castle grounds.

The castle originally built in the 13th century by a welsh prince, owes its grandeur (unfortunately) to Clive’s and the British East India Company’s spoils from India, some of which were on display at the castle. It is now in the care of the National Trust.

The gardens, as before, were glorious.

We then made a visit into Welshpool itself. Something we had not actually ever done before. We had chatted with our cabbie earlier that it was somewhat odd that Welshpool doesn’t attract as many visitors as the far more popular Llangollen (which we would visit later) as it has many of the same features (and more): a canal, various old buildings and pubs, a railway and even some standing stones. When we mentioned to the cabbie that we didn’t recall seeing the standing stones when we were here many years ago he commented “That’s because I remember when the council put them up”.

What it didn’t have was any souvenirs with “Welshpool” on them. Though we did find some made in Wales leather shoes for grandson Joey.

August 11 & 12 

After our beer and selfie at The Turf (Paul may have bought a cap) we boarded the train to Shrewsbury. It was a highlight for Paul as he had never actually ridden this route. Meant we got to pass by many of the landmarks we knew so well from our time there, particularly the aqueduct at Chirk.

John Buckley picked us up at Shrewsbury station and took us back to his and Fiona’s for a lovely tea in the garden, and a walk to fend off the jet lag and supper. 

The next day we (re) explored Shrewsbury, walking down to the river, first for coffee, then to meet up with a different Fiona (Loveday). We wandered through and past old favourites: the Dingle, the Market Square, down the High Street back past (Charles Darwin’s) old Shrewsbury school, the castle and the station and back to the river. 

Our destination was the refurbished flax mill. Again visiting  part of the country that was always close, but one we never had visited. (This became a thing). 

Whomever came up with the idea for somehow converting flax into linen was insane. So laborious. Interestingly it was the US War of independence coupled with the concurrent advances of the Industrial Revolution that was the impetus for the industrialization of the process to replace the sudden loss of access to cotton. 

And it also created the milieu for the design of the mill which is recognized as the first multi-storey building that became the blueprint for the skyscraper. 

After returning to Fiona’s car she dropped us out by the hospital where we got to have another lovely tea in the garden, this time with Czes and Jola who were Paul’s registrars when he was an SHO at Shrewsbury. Then another pleasant walk back to John & Fiona’s for supper. 

Getting our kms in, in preparation for Offa. 14km. 

10 & 11 August 2024

30 years ago, newly married, we moved to Shrewsbury UK so that Paul could do a year of anesthesia. Lori acquired a job in Chester as a medical writer for ADIS. When Paul’s year was up we decided to stay on so Lori could continue that job and so we moved up to Wrexham for 6 months (Paul working at the hospital there) and then LlayLLay so that Paul could work in nearby Chirk.

Yes Wrexham. Back then we never thought it would become famous. 

And we remember so little about it. Probably because there was very little going on there at the time and so, each weekend we had off, we would be exploring the many opportunities that surrounded it.

One such opportunity was part of Offa’s Dyke, built in the 8th century to mark the border between Mercia and Wales.

But first Wrexham, which we had not been back to in 30 years.

Friends had picked us up in Manchester and had driven us down to Wrexham with a plan to have dinner there. When arriving into town Lori exclaimed, “What are all these police and people doing here?”. It was then we realized that there had been a game on. The opening game of the season. AND that Rob and Ryan had been there. We missed them by a couple of hours! (not that we could have possibly got tickets).

However, the next day we did make it to the Turf for a drink.