I reduced my walking speed immediately even though the morning was still young.
Offa’s Dyke Path – Day 6 – Kington to Knighton
What a start for a day of hiking. (Location) First a sign telling us to slow down and then we climb a hill and another sign tells us to watch out for golf balls!
Imagine arriving at an open spot, looking at a signpost that points in two directions. One points the direction from whence you have come along the Offa’s Dyke Path; the other points out directions to a path that you don’t want to take. Thank goodness the local wildlife heard our plea for help and pointed us in the right direction :-).
I photographed many post boxes along the path and everyone of them seemed to be freshly painted.
Livestock that we met along the path on Day 6:
This is one of the largest cows that me met in our travels and,for a moment or two, I’m sure that my hiking partner wasn’t certain about getting free passage with this beast guarding the trail. However, this was nothing compared to our next animal encounter!
Then came the horse or should I say, hikers meet THE horse. I’m posting this end of the horse because this is the end that greeted us as we walked along the path in the early part of the day. Trouble was, a fence lined the right side, the steep embankment (going down) of Offa’s Dyke was on the left and a fence and stile was directly ahead. The horse had no where to go and no interest in going anywhere. Took quite a bit of coaxing but we finally got past. As I occupied the horse’s attention with idle chatter 🙂 my hiking partner headed down the embankment which was much steeper than he had anticipated and I ended up traversing the embankment through a good growth of Stinging Nettles. Only a short time earlier both of us had talked about bringing an apple along from the breakfast table. I’m sure our problems could have solved with an apple. Getting back up onto the trail required tough climbing and gave us soem idea of how useful Offa’s Dyke would have been is a battle situation.
Loved the angle of the hill in this shot. WOW! Is that steep or what? In reality, I had been climbing the hill for quite a while on a constant uphill angle that while not horrendously steep was steep enough to be tiring. I needed a good excuse to stop and take a photo.
Came across a pile of new signs beside the path. Since none of them had acorns on them we didn’t go in the direction that they were pointing.
We were on a holiday while some others were working. Not sure who was expending the most energy :-). Our Path passed right past the base of the scaffolding. The little road was very narrow and cars would need to swerve to get past the scaffolding.
Luckily most of the big patches of Stinging Nettle could be avoided but it seemed inevitable that about once per day I would end up brushing up against a leaf or two of this annoying plant.
Passing along greetings and trail information. Two walkers heading south. I think that the woman said that she was from Christchurch, NZ and I think that the fellow furthest from the camera was from somewhere in England. Of course, we told them that the path ahead was easy and they told us the same heading North :-).
A nice little trout stream under management by a local fishing association. We met a couple of fishermen here and they explained the ins and outs of fishing license/permission process. Still difficult for me to fathom a system where someone owns or manages a stretch of water.
For much of the distance along the Offa’s Dyke Path we were actually following the dyke but often it was difficult to tell exactly where the dyke was. Through this section of the path the dyke was readily visible rising as a dyke on the English side and then dropping steeply into a excavated ditch on the Welsh side of the dyke.
This is just one of many very large (and old) trees that were growing atop Offa’s Dyke.
Provides the information that Offa’s Dyke was completed in 757AD.
Time lord parking spot beneath town clock in Knighton :-). Knighton is actually the only town that is directly on the Offa’s Dyke Path. The town itself is partly in Wales and partly in England and is considered to be the half way point on the Offa’s Dyke Path. The Offa’s Dyke Heritage Centre, Information Centre and Headquarters is located on the path as it exits and heads uphill again for those going North.
Saw the sign. Entered the store. Never knew how little I knew about table soccer but was afraid to ask :-). Definitely better informed when I left than before I entered.
Our B&B in Knighton was The Fleece House. Staying at The Fleece was interesting experience for sure. We ended up in the pink room with ensuite bathroom. From bedspreads to toilet paper – pink everything. I never knew that there were so many shades of pink or so many things available in pink. Take a look on the accommodation page of their website. Not a colour that I would personally pick but if you are looking for items that are pink then contact Mrs. Simmons. I’m sure she will know where you can find the item. Other guests got the blue room.. If you happen to be in Knighton looking for a B&B, consider staying at the Fleece. Your host will go out of her way to make sure that your stay is wonderful and breakfast itself is something to experience. Choice. choice and more choice. Knowing that I had another steep hill to climb prevented me from sampling everything that was offered and staying at the breakfast table a lot longer. The Fleece was an 18th century coaching inn. The three steps were apparently from the days when mounting of horses by ladies necessitated a few steps up on the matter.
Started the day with a fun interpretation of a sign and this sign was a good one to finish the day. (Location)
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