Day 34 - Newcastle to Montgomery

Harry Tuffin, I have discovered, is a restaurant, supermarket, garden centre and goodness knows what else on the A489 between Craven Arms and Newtown! Tomorrow we are going to investigate further as we really didn't need shopping tonight - must think ahead, though, as they were offering 10p per litre off if you spend £60 ( beats Tesco and Sainsburys). This would make the diesel pretty cheap. The Walker is wondering how much wine we can fit in the van!!

On my drive back from dropping The Walker today I discovered another beautiful part of Wales. It is at the West end of the Clun Valley and Forest: the drive on the B4368 from Newcastle was amazing with views for miles. I noticed a lot of public footpaths, so another area to investigate in the future.

Montgomery castle is excellent - a super place for families - and quite a few were up there having picnics. Perhaps I should write a guide book to the best areas within 10 miles of our route......... the tourist information board has got nothing on me!

Ruins of Montgomery Castle

From Bernie:

Today's walk 10.7 miles : Cumulative 427.1 miles

Bit lackadaisical again today, I'm afraid! Offa's Dyke Path doesn't go through Montgomery but I fancied paying the old town a visit &, having arrived, didn't relish the only obvious return to my route... along a main road. Had also decided to detour to Welshpool so thought Montgomery was a good place to stop so I could re-jig the maps tonight! Still 3 miles ahead of schedule but should really crack on tomorrow, just in case we run in to bad weather.

Cloudy for most of the day & much warmer but the winds have dropped - it does make the walking a lot easier particularly in this terrain where the wind funnels up gullies & valleys where you would expect it to be most sheltered. A third of the whole walk done - if the weather's as kind for the rest of our journey as it has been so far I'll be perfectly happy!

Highlight of the Day: the climb from Churchtown to the top of Edenhope Hill - the track rises 350' in less than a quarter of a mile &, at times, it's like scaling a ladder! Huge relief at the top but was that because I knew there was only one more serious climb before the Montgomery Plain?!

Longmynd from Edenhope Hill

Met a lady just outside Montgomery who was walking with her Labrador (it skipped over the top of the stile while I was thinking about climbing on to the step!) - she has walked the whole of Offa's Dyke, the Pennine Way & the Cotswold Way since she retired & is walking LeJog next year with her friend who is retiring to tackle the path. Spent so long talking to her I was almost late for my meeting with Les!

Beer of the Day: 'Black Fox' cider from Dunkerton's Brewery at Pembridge, close to the spot where we camped at Kington. 7%, cloudy, it comes in a bottle & it is very good - I've enjoyed several this week! Had hoped to sample something new at 'The Dragon Hotel' in Montgomery but ended up with a poor pint of cider served by a disinterested barman who seemed only to want to play on his computer.... Tourist Info: Thumbs Down!!!!

Song of the Day (occasional series): Bonnie Raitt's version of John Prine's 'Angel from Montgomery' - it would have been an angel, indeed, who could have sold me a postcard that looked anything like the town!

Montgomery Town Hall

Old buildings in Montgomery

Museum on the left was 'The Old Bell Inn' : Building on right was 'The Plume of Feathers'!

Footnote: when I Googled the weather for Montgomery this morning the BBC produced a forecast for Montgomery, Alabama.... the temperature of 38 degrees was a bit of a giveaway but I wasn't impressed by the predicted showers!

Well, you'd look sad if all your relatives kept being squashed!