Switchbacks

I learned a new walking term today. Precipitous climbs followed immediately by precipitous descents are called switchbacks. I plan to never need to know that again.

It was a big day but I managed better than I’d expected so that’s a bonus. 21km and over 700m climbing was tough, but the steepness was other level. Check out the profile pic to get an idea. Crazy. We met quite a few other walkers today and those carrying proper backpacks were being slayed.

A lot of the time we were literally walking on the top of Offa’s Dyke.

My main complaint is that the effort to reward ratio was poor. I’ve climbed like this before in New Zealand or France but the reward was usually some breathtaking vista that made it all worth the pain. Today we were in the Shropshire Hills, an Area of Exceptional Natural Beauty. It was pretty - think rolling green hills, hedgerows and sheep- but I could have seen them all without the effort of climbing crazy heights.

Just near the end of the official walk for today was a post announcing we were half way! We thought we were that yesterday but have done so many extra km getting to accommodation each night that I think we are going to be well over 300km on this walk.

The day ended up being longer for just that reason: accommodation several km away. Mac Adventures had given us a ‘find a bridle trail on your right, take the walking trail off its right, cross a river, walk through a farm, accommodation on left’ kind of instruction. No distances or anything useful. When you’re already tired it’s not what you need. We eventually found a bridle trail, but the grass was too long to find a walking track so we had to follow the fence until we found a foot bridge. The farmer had locked all his gates despite it being a public path so we had to climb three! Arriving at our b and b was a relief. Very cute cottage with a nice room.

The old couple who own it very kindly dropped us off this evening in the closest village called Clun. Add it to your list if you’re traveling this way, and particularly add The White Horse Inn which is one of the best community pubs I’ve been in. Such a great vibe - all ages, lots of chat, pool room and excellent food. Grant had Steak and Kidney Suet pudding and I had a steak and mushroom pie so nice traditional fare. Good beers brewed locally.

We are home and getting the blogs done before an early night. I’ve decided to give myself a day off tomorrow as I’m knackered and tomorrow is more of the same - less extreme but still big up and down. We will have a slow morning then I’ve got a taxi which will drop Grant at the start of the trail and me at Knighton. No hills! Bliss!Read more