Tomorrow is my tenth day of journey.
First of all I have to thank the weather because I haven’t seen the rain yet. It’s really cold though. I started the Offa’s Dyke Path 4 days ago, and I begin to smell like a sheep.
The Offa’s Dyke is a trial that follows the ancient border between England and Wales. So far I have hiked prevalently across mountains and hills, and this is perfect for me because I can avoid cities and traffic; this path will take me to South England. I have to admit that it is an interesting path, you can walk up and down hills along little villages and surprisingly across pastures. At the beginning I was confused because it was the first time that I was walking surrounded by sheep, cows and horses, but now I have started to enjoy it; although in the pastures where I get into, sheep suddenly start to run everywhere as I was a wolf.
My first day was from Prestatyn, and after the best sleep I had, I was confident and full of power; I got lost after 2 hours. I was jumping from a pasture to another and suddenly I lost the trial. It happened two times in a row, at the end I spent more than 2 hours to find the correct way.
The second and third days was better, there were just hills, 400/500 metres; should I consider them mountains? Anyway they were tough enough, go up and down three four times a day, and the most difficult is chat you go up and down without any hairpin turn, it’s like if you have to climb in a straight line the hill, and that’s devastating for my legs.
The fourth day was a nice walk along woods and fields towards the town of Llangollen. It was a tiring day, after consecutive days of camping and cold nights, I have decide to spend a night in a hostel just to take off the sheep smell that is over me, have a hot shower and a good laundry.
The weather is supposed to get worse, let’s see…
Matteo