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Walking the Offa's Dyke Path

Day Six & Seven: Trial by Exhaustion

One of the thousands of stiles

The hikers left Hay-on-Wye early in the morning to walk the 15 miles to Kington. None of them had slept very well that night and so they were all feeling sluggish. They had to face wind, mud, and all of the normal things they had seen before, but their added trial today was exhaustion.

They passed through two little villages on their way and Mary kept her hopes up that they would be able to buy a cappuccino in one of them, but this never happened. They did pass through magnificent farm paddocks, green rolling hills, and many little back roads. They saw some of the most spectacular sites on the trip so far on this section of the walk; it was worth pushing through their exhaustion. Unfortunately, Ernest developed a very achy ankle near the end of the day; it was most likely due to all of the repetitive motion over the five days of hiking. He was able to hobble off the hike to the hotel in Kington, but he was unsure if he would continue with the others on the last day of the trip. However, Ernest woke up the next morning, and due to Julia's superb nursing, his ankle was useable.

Gorgeous Wales

This was the last day of the hike and the most beautiful of the entire trip. The fab-four pushed on from Kington to Knighton another 14 miles. Ernest's ankle did remind him all day of its presence, but he was able to hobble on. Ibuprofen kept him walking nine hours this day. The trial today was by injury.

They were all so happy to arrive at the hotel in Knighton their final destination.

On arrival they had a cup of tea and a piece of cheesecake waiting for them. Mary was so happy the trip was over and of her greeting she kissed the waitress in her moment of joy. The highlight of every day had been taking a hot bath or shower.

Looking back on the long walk

This night was especially wonderful as they discarded their stinking and muddy hiking clothes, which they had been wearing for the last six days.

They celebrated the end of the trip with an awards ceremony at dinner. David won: "Leader and Navigator Award", Ernest won:

"Endurance through Extreme Pain Award", Mary won: "Cleanest Trousers Award" and Julia won: "Sign Spotter in the Distance Award". They drank lots of wine to their success of walking the first half of the Offa's Dyke Path. They had walked 81 miles in six days from:

Chepstow to Monmouth. 17 miles (27km). Monmouth to Pandy. 17 miles (27km). Pandy to Hay-on-Wye. 18 miles (29km). Hay-on-Wye to Kington. 15 miles (24km). Kington to Knighton. 14 miles (24km).

The end of the road

Pricing:

If you use Contours Walking Holidays it will cost £425 ($664.89) per person for the 7 nights, 6 days walking package. This includes accommodation and luggage transportation at each nights stopover.

It will cost between $564 to $4,015 to fly from San Francisco to London Heathrow airport.

It will cost £22.00 ($34.42) by bus from London to Chepstow and £30.10 ($47.09) Prestatyn to London.


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