Making hay whilst the sun shines

Day 61: Baskerville to The Rising Sun

? 31km

?791m

I didn’t sleep well as it was hot, damp, my left shoulder was playing up and my feet were feeling particularly sore. We woke up earlier than normal so we could pad my feet out with Compeed.

After packing up a very wet tent from from the dew, we walked down the main road back to Hay, it being a Sunday the Co-op was not open until 10:00 so we popped into the Spa for a few supplies, despite it’s limited options, and then started the climb up towards Hay Bluff. On the way up we saw an ice cream van go past so did a bit of an alternative route via the car park so we could pick up a Calipo on the way.

The ridge was well marked, covered with fern and heather and had spectacular views of Wales to one side and England the other. We made decent progress with fabulous views in the hot sun. We passed wild horses, got the drone out and enjoyed the occasional breeze.

We descended down into Pandy to The Rising Sun pub, camping in the field behind the pub. We enjoyed a shower and a cold drink but the pub was not doing its usual food as it was having a new kitchen fitted so they let us get a local Chinese delivered and eat it in the pub. It was lovely food, I had veggie egg fried rice and we shared a chilli beef.

Day 62: The Rising Sun to Monmouth

? 27km

?542m

There was a bit of loud Welsh drama in the campsite so had to put ear phones in to sleep, again not the best night with the heat.

05:30 alarm, feet taped and soggy tent was put away. I struggled psychologically today, it was a shortish day but the heat was high and I kept looking at the tracker for the first half of the day. Some days you are just not in the mood for hiking. The highlight of the morning was the short visit to the ruins of White Castle but my feet were sore by lunchtime.

We stopped in an empty meadow field in the shade and had a nice lunch squeezing the melted chocolate from my cornflake Ritter bar onto scones.

The second half of the day was much better and we arrived into Monmouth in good time, the camp site was right in town and although we had low expectations it was a very sweet place with many static caravans and couple of campers and us. It was quiet, clean and very convenient.

We went to boots for supplies; bite cream, KT tape and alcohol gel. Then to M&S, the first on route and it was day 62. We picked up some old favourites and sat on the available picnic benches on the high street to nibble our luxury snacks. We then sat at a café for a cider but they closed on us mid drink so we had to take our drinks back to our picnic bench.

We chose a local Italian place for dinner, it had air con, fabulous pizza and fizzy water which was lush on the hot day. The only bad thing was I left my water bottle there and when Tom went back to get it I think they had thrown it away.

Back at the tent we watched the highlights of the weekend’s F1 at the campsite, it was quiet and I was zonked, so slept well.

Day 63: Monmouth to Chepstow

? 31km

?875m

Today was a really nice day through the fields, forest and along the river. We climbed up to the top of Klymin and enjoyed great views back across Monmouth, before descending through fields and then ascending back up through the woods. It was another warm day so were grateful for much more woodland coverage than yesterday throughout the day, it definitely takes a few degrees off.

At Bigsweir, the route left the ridges above the Wye and followed the river for a few km as far as Brockweir.  It was a hot section of walking through fields but the river was a bit on the muddy side and didn’t really tempt us in.

From Brockweir we returned to higher ground and on the climb up towards Caldwell Woods we stopped for lunch, putting the tent up to dry out as we would be in a bed for the next 3 days and didn’t want it smelling too bad. We also met Callum, a young lad who had started the Offa’s Dyke that day, he was pristine with all his new gear on, hope to follow his progress.

The last few km into Chepstow was a little frustrating, winding back on ourselves, made more interesting by helping a guy who had managed to get himself on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence.

We had a bunk room in a hostel in Chepstow which was lovely but so so warm. We picked up some snacks from our second M&S in 2 days and had a pie and chips at the pub around the corner. Back to England over the Severn Bridge first thing.