Day 58: Questionable caravan site just past Ironbridge to Flounders Folly, Callows Hill wild camp
? 34.31 km
?777m
We woke at 0530 and neither of us wanted to spend any longer than necessary at the caravan site so we were heading back up the hill behind the site to rejoin our route just after 0630. As a bonus, the site warden who had shown us to our camp spot yesterday evening, and said he would be back to collect our payment, never turned up to do so, so we got a free camp spot which marginally improved the whole experience.
A few km later, after passing though some woodland and navigating our way across some fields, we arrived at the pretty village of Much Wenlock and dropped by the Spar shop to grab a few things. Katie had a good chat with an old chap at the till who remarked on the size of her bag and was thrilled to hear of our adventure. Outside, we readied ourselves and checked the map to make sure we knew where we were going out of the village. A vicar was passing, walking his dog, and asked if we were ok and knew where we were going. I replied that yes were were ok, thanks, to which he replied “I have faith in you” ?.
It was a much cooler morning than we had expected, the starry night sky I had seen when I had a pee in the middle of the night had been replaced by clouds. We spent the rest of the day, about 30km, walking along Wenlock Edge in a South Westerly direction, with sadly less views than we had perhaps expected and hoped for since there was a woodland all along the edge, and we were in it much of the day. The walking itself was pleasant enough and the going not too difficult on good footpaths and bridleways.
The route we followed was part of a few long distance routes including the Shropshire Way, the Cross Britain Way and a bridleway, the Jack Mytton Way. The only real views were to the South East on the occasions we were walking along field boundaries, and when we stopped for lunch by a field. Despite the many trails sharing the footpaths we saw very few people all day, a solo horse rider and a couple on bikes who had seen us in Much Wenlock whilst they were having breakfast and were heading to Craven Arms. They were similarly disappointed with the lack of views and had the same excited and interested reaction to hearing about our trip as many people do. The most common questions from people are “How long will it take you?”, “How far do you walk each day?” and “Are you doing it for charity?”. The answers are about 2.5 months, average is about 26km, and no, we are doing it for fun!
We found a possible camp spot for the night about 8km from the end of the route bit it was a bit too far from Craven Arms, so we continued and headed up Callow Hill where we found a spot by Flounders’ Folly. It was a bit early to setup camp so we relaxed in the sun which had taken most of the afternoon to make an appearance but was now unobscured as there wasn’t a cloud in sight. We made some shopping plans for the next day or two (don’t want to get caught out hungry in the middle of a days walking!) and wrote journals before getting dinner on the go.
We setup the tent around 2000 and enjoyed a glorious evening and amazing sunset.
Day 59: Flounders Folly, Callows Hill wild camp to Rockbridge Holiday Park
? 41.42 km
?1069m
We knew we had a big one ahead of us today and had come a bit off trail to camp so rather than return and follow the route from the guide book, we improvised to rejoin the route just outside Craven Arms. It required a bit of road to begin with but was very quiet and not bad walking.
Craven Arms wasn’t the nice little town with a pub in the middle I had envisioned (based on nothing other than the name), it was in fact rather run down and miserable looking. The One-Stop shop wasn’t what we had been hoping for and the lunch options were poor so we grabbed water and decided to snack until we reached Knighton for a late lunch.
We left Craven Arms following the Shropshire Way as far as Stokesay Castle and left it to head through Stoke Wood, then followed the road for a little through Clungunford before passing Hopton Castle and heading through the woods at Hopton to Titterhill. Somewhere along the way we started following way markers for the Heart of Wales Trail and followed this most of the way to Knighton.
It had been a glorious sunny day from the beginning and the heat had slowed our progress a little so it wasn’t until around 1500 that we made it to Knighton, around 30km. We headed to the Co-Op to stock up and get some lunch. As we were queuing for the checkout the lady in front of us asked if we were doing the Offa’s Dyke Trail and we got chatting. It turned out that she and her husband were also walking JOGLE. She lived just outside Knighton and was currently having a few days off! Unbelievable! She offered us the option of camping in her garden and we did consider it as it had already been a long and hot day, but if we did it would have meant a 45km day tomorrow so we stuck to the plan, chatted a bit more and thanked her for her offer.
We sat on a bench in town and sorted food out whilst eating lunch and guzzling cold drinks. Then it was time to get going again at about 1600 and from here we were joining the Offas Dyke Way which we discovered was well way marked and well trodden so it was easy to follow. The scenery was incredible this afternoon, walking through farmland mostly with great views of the valleys and rolling hills. Along the way we met another LEJOG hiker and chatted for a few minutes, unfortunately didn’t catch the young lads name. That’s 2 other end to end hikers in one day taking our total tally to four! We met another hiker, Tom, who had been going 2.5 months and started with the South West Coast Path, since then has been just winging it day by day. It was nice to chat with other hikers again and an enjoyable walk so it didn’t seem to take that long to reach our campsite a couple of km off route.
We arrived about 1900 and had dinner before setting up the tent. It was still very warm and the cold drinks I had stashed in my down jacket to keep them cool were soooo good! By the time we were showered it was pretty much bedtime, we looked after feet and rubbed cream into today’s stinging nettle rashes.
Day 60: Rockbridge Holiday Park to Baskerville Hall Hotel
? 40.73 km
?1163m
We tried to avoid the road we had walked to camp the previous evening and follow a marked right of way which first took us across a field of sweetcorn with no obvious path and then no apparent way through a barbed wire fence. We back-tracked and sucked up the road, not the best start to the day and it was going to be another long, hot one.
We rejoined the trail and followed the visible dyke for quite a few kms, passing through farmland, mostly sheep and some crops. Again the path was easily navigated and pretty good underfoot. It was a blue sky day and the views continued to be fantastic all day.
Around 1100 we reached Kington and had a quick stop to top up on more water, grab a cold fizzy drink and an ice cream from the Spar. Actually I had two ice creams, the Spar brand magnums were only 75p each!
From here we still had around 24km to go to Hay-on-Wye and there were some really nice trails, all clearly marked and free of overgrown nasty plants that attack you. The horse flies on the other hand…. damn things!
It was hotter than yesterday and there was less coverage from woods so the afternoon was pretty tough despite good trails. Don’t get me wrong I’ll take this weather over rain any day. It was lovely walking and gorgeous views.
Often, particularly when walking through hilly country, you can see your final destination, if it’s a village or town, for some time but Hay-on-Wye didn’t show itself right until the last moment! I resisted the urge to wallow in the Wye river to cool down and we made it to the village about 1800. We still had about 40 minutes to walk along the road to our campsite for the evening at the Baskerville Hall Hotel and fancied a cool drink so nipped to the Spar. We had both been thinking it and decided to see if there was a taxi around that we could get to Baskerville Hall. As luck would have it, when I phoned the taxi chap, he was sitting just down the road from Spar in the centre of town. It was the best £5 spent, and we had the tent pitched by 1830.
The Baskerville Hall has charm by the bucket loads. It’s a bit jaded I guess and it appears to be run mostly by an old chap and his wife (I presume). More of a hostel with camping than a hotel per se, it’s a fantastic place. There was even a swimming pool here and by 1845 we were in the pool, had it all to ourselves.
The pub grub was perfect and very reasonable, we had a couple of drinks and both had lasagne and chips. I had a STP to follow and we wrote journals etc before returning to the tent to pass out.
A taxi!
Yes! It was off route don’t worry. ??
How is the official STP comparison going?
Not had many recently!