Day 25 Llangollen to Llandegla

Thursday : Up 06:30, away 09:30. Today's walk was one of 3 parts - road and path beneath cliffs; road across 'the tops'; path over heath, Forest & farm land.

Began with retracing yesterday's steep minor road up from the Wern Isaf farm campsite to the foot of Castell Dinas Bran hill. Rejoined Offa's Dyke path here on the Panorama route I had left yesterday. Continued on this road for 1.5 miles, all the while dominated by towering cliffs on my right/east. Eventually forked right onto a hillside track. Soon after this I made a navigational error. I forked right onto a high narrow rocky path. The map indicated I was above Offa's Dyke path so I back tracked and followed the lower path beside a boundary fence. This was a mistake. Low trees, rough uneven ground and nettles made this very hard slow and painful going. After 30 minutes or so 4 walkers passed at speed above me on the higher route I should have stayed on. Others had clearly decided to abandon the lower path because there was a rough route up to the higher path - I took it. Going was far better and faster as a result.

Some way further on the path forked again. Signs indicated Offa's Dyke path to be the descending route. The map indicated the ascending path would lose less height and arrive at the same road loosing less height. Remembering my school games master Mr Jones adage "Never give up height if you can avoid it" I took the higher path. Again the map mislead me because my path increasingly diverged further and further east. Via a circular route that added 1/2 a mile it did eventually meet the road but it had done this with no loss of height so was probably worth it. I was passed by a pair of cyclists here on electric assist mountain bikes. They were pedalling furiously and going quite a pace despite the rough terrain.

1/2 a mile of minor road walking on top of felt like the end of the world. Only passed by one motorcycle.

Final part of walk started over heath. This was laid neatly with stone flagstones. I imagine it would be boggy early in the year. Soon after starting this section I was passed by two naked walkers, sereal! Sadly both 'real ale' type chaps not attractive ladies! Next was forest, then a couple of fields got me to the A525. From here it was a short walk to Llyn Rhys farm campsite. Good facilities for £11 including showers which had the novel idea of a large plastic box to put clothes in to keep dry while showering. Sadly no picnic bench to pitch beside.

Local pub The Crown closed in Dec 2019 but there was a community shop and café 1/2 a mile away that I walked to arriving 16:15. The café closed at 15:30 but the shop was still open so I stocked up.

12.5 miles from Llangollen to Llandegla completed at end of 25th day of walking and 17th on Offa's Dyke path.
Total miles so far : 262.5
Average speed : 1.6 mph
Weather sunshine and glorious. Another hot day.
Number of people passed : 14 (2 on bikes, 2 naked! ... both chaps sadly)
Objective tomorrow :Read more