Whales to Wales

I owe Prestatyn an apology. Up until this morning it had underwhelmed. We arrived a couple of days ago via Helsinki and Manchester to rain, grey skies, grey seas and grey beaches. It’s a beach resort town on the Irish Sea in the North of Wales, and there is nothing gloomier than a beach town in the pouring freezing rain. So we went to Chester!

Chester is an hour away by train and one of those gorgeous old walled cities. This one was build on the foundations of a significant Roman fortress. It was wet and cold but there were fewer glassy eyed parents desperately trying to entertain their wild kids indoors than there were in our hotel in Prestatyn. It’s half term holidays so this weather is really tough on families desperate for a bit of sun and beach. We walked the wall in Chester had an excellent coffee and checked out the museum before jumping on the train back here.

We enjoyed Chester. This morning we discovered we enjoyed Prestatyn too. The sun came out a little and there was light on the water. Our trail took us through the inland parts of the village which were quaint bustling and delightful. So, sorry for being so dismissive.

Today was Day 1 on our Offa’s Dyke adventure. Prestatyn is either the start or end of it as people do it in either direction. The trail is 285 km long and ends in Chepstow in the South of Wales. It’s a National Trail of Britain. We will do the whole thing in 20 days - that’s the plan.

For much of the walk we will follow along Offa’s Dyke (of which I’ll tell you more when we reach it). For now, however, the trail is on a bit of a kink a little North West of the Dyke path. I’m not entirely sure why, but I think it is all about creating a track of contrast and linking the major Areas of Natural Beauty in Wales. Some of that is up this end. If you look at the pictures you’ll see that the way is well marked. We started with brass signs on the pavement and then excellent signage on posts for the rest of the day. The symbol is an acorn. Every sign is in both Welsh and English here.

We are doing the trail through Mac Travel, a UK company. They have booked our accommodation and will transport our bags- a blessing since we are carrying all our Arctic stuff with us). They’ve also provided us with an excellent app which uses GPS to show us the way. In addition we have been provided with information for each day. If you check out the photos with this blog you’ll see the profile map for today… we knew it was going to be tough. It was described as ‘strenuous’ which never augurs well in my experience.

After a week being lazy and eating too much it was a rude shock to be clambering 180m up at the start of the day. Reaching the top of the Prestatyn Hillside (an understatement I felt, as I caught my breath) we got an amazing view back over Prestatyn and the neighboring town of Rhyll. Red brick houses, blue ocean and literally hundreds of wind turbines out to sea. I’ve never seen so many and they line most of the horizon.

As the profile shows we spent the day going up or down! Often we were walking through fields with crops or animals. At one point we had to wait as a new born calf scrambled to its shaky little legs before we could clamber over the stile he was lying next to. Lots of sheep, black , white and mixed. Bunnies, squirrels and lots and lots of beautiful song birds including the Song Thrush.

When we weren’t crossing fields we were walking through beautiful tracts of oak forests or along quiet country lanes. We passed near a couple of towns but not through any - so got a bit hungry! It was a 20km tough day and we were both feeling it. We hiked through two very beautiful regions : Marian Cwm and the Clwydian Ranges. We carry on along those ranges tomorrow. More hills!

I’m always very pleased when Grant says he’s tired as it makes me feel it’s ok for me to be too and I’m not just being feeble.

There was a final cruel hill just before we reached our destination of Bodfari. What a gorgeous little village! Lots of old, beautifully restored grey stone cottages, rambling roses, winding narrow streets and most importantly, a very nice pub! We collapsed there for a grateful beer.

Tonight we are back in our quaint seaside hotel in Prestatyn called The Beaches. Any seaside British sitcom you’ve seen could have been made here. There’s no accommodation in Bodfari so we will be transferred there in the morning for Day 2.

In the meantime our feet are up and asking us what the hell we think we are doing..Read more