What a day! I had planned to walk to Presteigne, some ten or so miles, by way of a LDP (long distance Path, although I am not 100% sure that 30 miles is considered a long distance) called Mortimer's Trail, and then veer off at a point where a connecting path, designated by green dots on OS (Ordnance Survey) maps would reach a road than runs to Presteigne, pronounced Pres-TEEN. Whereas, Alex and Alex did not want to walk; they took the bus. The reason for our excursion was to visit the Judges Lodging, a most interesting historical museum, of guess what? A judge's lodgings, replete with a cell for holding a prisoner awaiting trial.
But first, who was Mortimer and how did he get a trail named after him? Mortimer was a family, actually, who, in medieval times, owned a lot of land along the Wales-England border, so the trail, from Ludlow to Kington, passes through land they dominated. There is also a Mortimer Forest and maybe some other Mortimer things, too.
The walk started out just fine:
but then things happened. First there were paths that were so overgrown, I was SURE I was in the wrong place, but mostly I wasn't. They were overgrown and full of thorns and thistles and very very very wet. So wet that you would think I had forded a stream, that is how much water got into my boots. Then it started to pour, which made everything even wetter, pants soaked to above the knees.
At one point, a section of path was not overgrown, it was IMPOSSIBLE, to navigate so I climbed over a fence, the top layer of which was barbed wire, and walked in the field parallel to the "path" knowing full well that I would have to recross the barbed wire fence further on, which I did:
What you have to hope is a situation such as this is that the fence will not be too high where you have to cross, because the wire square where you have to get a footing are wobbly, you know, and you are trying not to have to move your hands, so as not to get barbed.
I emerged from this feat pretty much unscathed.
There were metal fences that had to be scaled because the gates would not budge, and then FIVE, FIERCE, MANGY, MONGREL, LOUDLY BARKING DOGS came running toward me. I screamed, "GO AWAY, GO AWAY, (many many times) and threatened them with my poles. Finally, a lady came out, eventually corralled them, and said, "They are just on their territory," and she was right, but I was just on the road! Anyway, this time, I escaped without being bitten, but it was terrifying.
Eventually I came to the "Permissive Path" that was to lead to the road. It was blocked by a big, nasty-looking, rusted, impassable iron barrier, that virtually screamed NO! It didn't have a gate, it never had a gate. It was gateless, so a detour through a huge field it seemed might lead to some other gate and then I could circle around. Huge, sloping field, no gate. No gate anywhere. Back to the inhospitable, nasty barrier. I grit my teeth and climbed over, hoping this was a good decision. After the dogs, who knows what could be lurking. Not only did it turn out to be a good decision, it actually led to a decent path through woods! Why that obstruction was there, I will never know.
Never was I happier to see a shoulder-less road!
And, a mile or so down said road, confirmation that I was where I wanted to be:
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