July 09 Prestatyn

Last day of ODP, Bodfari to Prestatyn, a great section if you are into asphalt. Many miles, at least it seemed like many miles were on road and with big uphills to boot.  Eventually the route moved into fields and a tiny bit of woodland.  The last major section was a long hillside trek that could have been a walk in its own right.  As I was climbing up up up on this narrow rock path, I was thinking, "Man, I do not want to go down down down a path like this."  but I didn't have to because, baruch haShem, there were steps at the other end:

But I am getting ahead of myself.  After walking on road for very much time, and getting kind of fed up, I saw another possible route that went through a field and took it.  It was the OLD Offa's Dyke path!  Why they changed it, I have no idea.  This brief digression from the official route was most pleasant.

Hey....Hay!

Would you believe llamas?  Is that a one L lama or a 2 LL llama?

Ogden Nash expounds:

The One-l lama, 

He's a Priest;

The two-l llama he's a beast,

And I will bet

A silk pajama

There isn't any 

Three-l lllama

This is a I-don't-feel-so-good llama:

Gate on left does not open, gate looking thing next to it is part of a bed, crossing place for people is the stone stile to the right.  There were lots os stone stiles today.

All in all, not very attractive.

View of Prestatyn and the Irish Sea, and the ugly wind farm from way up high and miles away:

In Prestatyn by the sea, the official marker for Offa's Dyke, beginning or end:

I have no idea what it represents, maybe a person with very long legs and one to spare?

While I was having lunch at the quite nice Beaches Hotel, a gull came to visit:

Then I went in search of a pharmacy because I have a toe that needs some Compede, but I never found the shopping area.  On the way back, along the promenade, I did find a warning, but loose rocks I did not see:

View of the Irish Sea as seen from the chair while looking out window in my room:

You would think that a city  situated on the sea would have a lot going on on the beaches on a beautiful day in summer, but no, nary a soul cavorting.

Summation of Offa's Dyke, minus approximately two stages: harder than I thought it would be, only a few stages really nice, issue of accommodations not near trail a problem.  There was, at least, some variety in the scenery.  Better overall for sure than the Camino del Norte of last summer.  Eager to see how the Shropshire Way will compare.

 

July 08, Bodfari

I found the walk today difficult despite perfect weather: cool, windy, cloud cover for most of it, the path was easy to follow, so what could be hard?  Elevation gain about 2500 feet (depending on the source you consult), difficult downhills, and even though people say the stage is gorgeous, I found it dull: 99% through moors, not all as pretty as this section.  But why is that photo so tilted?

Relieved for a short while by a divine grassy stretch:

But most of the walking was on track:

This is the worst surface on which to walk:

Enough of the complaining for a few minutes!  

View with wall:

Wall in disrepair with modern wire and post fencing to do the job:

Because there are so many rocks, people can create very large cairns:

An even bigger cairn

Maybe there are cairn competitions, but I doubt it.

I totally don't get this country park status since you can't go cavorting through the moors, and this area looks like all the other areas, but hey, what do I know:

Fortunately, the route did not follow this wall that went straight up that big hill, it did go up there, though.

A moel, in Wales, is not someone who performs circumcisions, it is a big hill and an opportunity to name that hill after someone.  One of the too many moels today, was Moel Arthur.

It is not nice to remove directional signs from posts:

On the path, truly in the middle of nowhere, is a defibrillator:

Steps like this make steep uphills and downhills so much easier:

There were lots and lots and lots and lots of sheep, in all directions:

Since that seems to be it for the photos, I can go back to complaining.What made the walk especially hard, was the boredom.  Even though lots of people find it gorgeous, I just found it monotonous, it is completely exposed, and that makes all the hills so much harder.  I kept wondering what it would be like to do this in the rain.  Unbearable.

Anyhow...I am in a sweet Air B&B and the host allowed me to come on over at 1:30 when I got into Bodfari.  He had eggs and bread and butter and stuff in the frig, and I had packed up the leftovers from yesterday's shopping, so instead of going to the famous Dinorben Arms to eat, I made an omelette garnished with avocado, tomato, and onion, and toast with butter, marmalade and walnuts.  I found cookies saved from the Angel Hotel in Abergavenny and "paired" them with dark choclolate.  Then I took the half lemon I still had, squeezed it into a cup poured boiling water over it and added a generous amount of sugar.  Not a shabby meal for when you are just too plum tuckered out to walk 10 minutes down a hill for a steak sandwich and ten minutes up the hill to your digs.  I also have a sore toe that needs attention.  

July 07, Llanarmon yn-Ial

 First it must be said that Llanarmon yn Ial is not on ODP.  The stage ends at a place called Clywd Gate  where there is a manor, but to stay there you have to rent out the whole place, which is great if you are using the venue for a wedding or some such, but does not do the solitary walker much good. Since there is nothing else around there, so I had decided to go off the path 2 1/2 miles shy of Clywd Gate, which is how I ended up in Llanarmon yn-ial, an adorable townlet...it has a village store, which, at about 1:00 p.m when I arrived, had not one fresh item on the shelves, and when I did want to go later to buy cookies, I was out of luck because it closes at 4:00. 

The stage today was super long, so I took a taxi to cut off two miles, but then I was annoyed because I could have fairly easily walked to the path junction where the road meets the path.  The taxi ride, short as it was, made me so car sick I could not wait to get out, so I bailed before the predetermined drop-off point.  But enough of the complaining and regrets, the walk was gorgeous.

This stunning section, let's just say, you didn't want to have a slip and fall:

It is designed for the likes of them:

Behold! A rainbow in the sky:

This was BEFORE it started to rain, a rain that required a full set of waterproofs.

The path was less daunting when ferns appeared on the cliff side:

See who is hiding in there!

And behold! a ram caught by its horns in the thicket:

OK, so it wan't a ram and it wasn't really caught, but it was in the thicket and then scampered off.

All of a sudden, after the dramatic hills, came the moors. If you have never walked through moors, you cannot imagine the boggyness.  These paving stones made all the difference.  It must have been a huge project to lay them:

In case Alex and Alex decide to come back and bike this route, here is the info:

After the mountainous terrain and the moors, came the forest:

A sign post minus the sign:

By and by I came to a sign post that did have a sign.  It offered a path to Llynarmon yn-Ial, my very destination in just 45 minutes!  What to do?  Take the ODP to the designated turnoff and walk on a road for I am not sure how far, which takes 1 hour and 10 minutes, but then you could say you covered more of ODP.  Would the signposted route to the town turn out to be like the Mortimer Trail and have some impassable barrier that would make you cry?  

Screw it! I took the shorter route.  There were some big puddles:

And beautiful views

And maybe some fellow alums:

As I was walking, I was thinking how nice it would be to arrive at The Raven Inn and have a real lunch. A nice fantasy, because, this being Monday, there was no lunch and there was no dinner:

Or breakfast, for that matter.  Only booze.

and there is no restaurant in town.  AND not a soul around when I arrived.  Finally, a scraggly old man with terrible teeth and unkempt, long hair showed up (he was very nice) and told me he would find someone to help me.  He did just that.  Then luck came my way because said man and lady were planning to go to the store in Ruthin, the closest town with a supermarket, a 15+ minute drive away.  I asked if I could go with them; they said, "Yes," so I purchased at the Tesco: lox, avocado, onion, and tomato, and cold drink, plus a roll for breakfast, so all's well......

July 06, Llangollen

I  had wanted to do the 6 1/2 mile history walk around Llangollen, so while Alex and Alex were still abed, I headed out, but had surprising difficulty following the trail.  Never mind, it was fun anyway.

This urn in a nook must be history because it is old.  It is also quite lovely

View of the River Dee:

A most strange stile:

But cross it one must.

Like Tintern, this remnant of an abbey still stands:

Near the end, I abandoned the route, and so did not see the remnant of Castle Dinas Bryn, but I wanted to get back to The Riverbanc to meet Alex and Alex for breakfast.  Much, very much to my surprise, they were already dining at 10:00 because noise from an adjacent bar had interfered with their sleeping the prior night, and also they had to check out of their room by 10:00 a.m.  After breakfast, we headed out to Plas Newydd rather than to the aqueduct, which had been out original plan.  "I am all about the aqueduct," said Alex, only after crossing it the day before, her enthusiasm tanked.  "It was so not impressive," was the report.

Again alexandalexacrossamerica.wordpress.com will give you much absorb about the Plas and the Ladies of Llangollen, who, the audio insisted, were not lesbians even though, as young girls, they ran away from Ireland together to escape marriages they did not want, and lived together for the rest of their lives, 'because," the audio insisted, "it was common for people to share a bed back in the day, even strangers!" 

The house was reminiscent of Powis Castle what with all the dark Jacobean carvings, only here you could see them up close, and take as many pictures as you liked:

Beds were very short back then...don't know if you can tell from the photo:

The ladies of Llangollen, as Sarah and Elinore were called, were famous, but all in all it is a strange story.  You will learn a lot about them on Alexes' blog.

A sign at a restaurant:

This well-behaved not wet, welcomed dog was waiting to order:

A barber shop had a special seat for children:

Our walk through town took us to the railway station where a steam train was about to roll in

The station master:

"Say, Alex, can you help me with this luggage?"

It is good to be warned about the obvious:

A little girl watching the ducks on the Dee:

 We went for dinner to a restaurant near the hotel as a sort of farewell since tomorrow Alex and Alex head off to Switzerland.  It has been a lot of fun to share the sights and sites with them.  I hope they had a good time!