Wild Eaadric, Day 2

I wake at 5am, the world outside still and with life just starting to rouse itself from slumber, the ground shod in a frosty damp that covers everything it touches.

I make my way to the bathroom, my feet bare now cold and wet inside the already cold and wet trainers, I climb back into the warmth of my bed, but not before having been doused with the condensation that now covers the inside of my tent.

7am arrives and I begin to start packing away my gear and carefully separate the now wet outer from the dryer interior, at this point think wet bin bag that sticks to everything that it touches. I carefully lay out the contents on a little patch of gravel where the sun has begun to shed its light upon the ground, I make use of the warm wet room, its radiator providing me with some much needed warmth and a handy dryer for my once wet socks.

Breakfast is a simple affair of tea and porridge mixed with hot chocolate powder inside the dry cabin of the site and set off into Bishops Castle, the sleepy Saturday morning streets slowly coming to life, I head down towards St John the Baptists Church and turn left on to Kerry Lane which is part of the 15 mile ancient track way, used for centuries by cattle drovers to take cattle from Wales to England.

After climbing for what seemed like an eternity I turn left and onto Moat Lane, now officially in Wales it would seem, I pass small hamlets of buildings and long forgotten Motte and Bailey Castles set above the fantastic countryside. The welcome warmth of the day making a much needed change from the weather I had suffered yesterday.

I never used to be a fan of road walking back in the day, but find them easy to amble along these day and tend to pass some of the quieter places and villages. I pass the ruins of Caer Din, hidden inside a field with no public access. A late prehistoric enclosed settlement, not likely a fort as such but more a defended place to live. I find it odd that on all my travels very few of these places have every really been explored in the archeological sense which seems a shame considering the amount of history waiting to be found there.

I opt to keep walking down the road and at the Dog and Duck cottage I turn left and head down the little quiet track towards Lower Edenhope, I head through a gate, the sheep now waiting for me and even allow me to pet them, a short climb and onto a track through an un-named woods where I take a break and soak up the sun for a short time, I relaise as I set off that I had somehow missed the footpath, thanks in full to who ever decided to clear fell the woodland here, leaving no trace of the footpath.

Still I wander fourth and through more woodland with a quick hop of a fence I am reconnected with Offa’s dyke, built by the King of Mercia in the 750s to keep Mercia and the kingdom of Powys separate, now a 170 mile walking route, I’m glad I joined here and didn’t have to walk straight up the incline behind me.

I am grateful that such places exist for people like myself to wander along these days, the link between the modern and old world is at this moment one, you can imagine the many men working hard to build the ditch and at one point I imagined that I heard the talking of men and clattering of metal as they worked.

I met another walker on this section, a chap wandering the Offa’s Dyke trail, we exchanged our pleasant if short greetings before taking our separate paths. A steep walk down the Dyke and then into Church Town, less of a town and more a church and 2 houses, before again walking up and out of this little tiny valley on what seemed to be an enormously steep section forcing me to take regular and much needed breaks, A mixture of pasture and high land forms the next few miles, pleasantries are exchanged with people as we pass and makes the day of sun all that better.

I come down towards Clun, the castle looming in the far off distance and taking an ever more romantic feature to head towards, the walk down in to Clun threaded through little tracks which resemble nothing more than muddy rivers until we hit the River Clun and keep it to our left as we walk along scenic footpaths across fields before coming upon the might castle.

Clun Castle started its life as a simple motte and bailey, that simple wooden keep surrounded by a ditch and wooden palisade around 1150 and within 20 years it had been converted to stone, Clun never grew into anything more than a simple village, but the now rugged ruins remains as a testament to the Normans hold over their new land.

I head into the shop and purchase lunch for tomorrow, a steak pie and pork pie followed by heading into the White Horse pub for a well earned Ploughman’s lunch and a pint of beer, I’m shown to my room afterwards where I hang out as much of my wet gear as I can before settling in for the night.

Bishops castle - Bishops Moat - Lower Edenhope - Church Town - Cefn - Clun.

14 miles in all.

Weather bright and Sunny, took plenty of time to sit, relax and soak up the rays.

Got lost x1.