Day 5 - Llangattock Lingeod to Llanthony

Beer drunk: 2 1/2 pints
Distance walked: 14km, Time taken: 4 1/2 hours,
Ascents: 614m, Descents: 526m

Slept a solid 10 hours.  Finally over the jet lag.

Since today is a Saturday, naturally the good weather we’ve been having has stopped.  This morning it was overcast and drizzling.  Still, it isn’t very cold - mid-teens I guess, so it was still OK walking weather.

The route today is through national park land, the Brecon Beacons, so navigation is much easier - and no cows!  The scenery on previous days was pretty but today it was spectacular.  I climbed up to the moorland on top of a ridge, with the majority of today’s (and tomorrow’s) walk along the ridge top. The views in all directions are amazing.  This is a very popular part of the track.  I encountered a good 2 dozen people going in the same direction as me and that’s not counting the others at my B&B. They left after me so I didn’t see them again.  I also was passed by about a dozen headed the other way.  In addition to Offa’s Dyke path, there are other shorter walks that go the same way.

One group of people who passed me were a dozen or so who are part of some club.  Two women in the group were talking about a mutual friend.  He is currently in Australia taking part in some sporting event. Of course, as they agreed amongst themselves, he is younger than they are - only 62 or 63 and much fitter.  I didn’t get to hear what sport he plays as by this time they had cruised past me!

When I arrived at Llanthony I pottered about the priory ruins and stopped at the pub there.  It is housed in what used to be the abbot's lodgings.  It was tiny and the place was heaving with day trippers.  I wedged myself into a corner and had a point of Dark Ages ale.

Today was a short day.  My options for this stretch of the path were 2 medium length days + 1 short day or 2 very long days.  I’ve opted for the former.  A drawback of this is the place I’m staying at is a little bit (actually a lot) lower in rating than what I’ve become used to.  It is at an old inn (Half Moon Inn).  My room is pleasant enough but with a low ceiling and wonky wooden floorboards. However, it is not ensuite. There are 11 rooms, with two toilets and three showers down the end of the hall to be shared amongst us all.

While my room is clean and tidy enough, the same cannot be said for the showers.  The tiles are old, cracked and dirty.  There was a mushroom growing in the dirty grout in one of them.  The floors are very noisy too.  A group of what sounds like a dozen elephants have just arrived to stay.  One elephant likes to sing in the shower.

While my room is not ensuite, I do have a hand basin in one corner.  When someone in an adjoining room uses theirs, mine gurgles.  I’m not expecting a good night’s sleep tonight.

I had dinner in the pub where I was staying.  I had venison (tough but tasty) with new potatoes (blah) and mixed steam vegetables (clearly they buy the same individual serves of microwave veg that I do). For dessert I had treacle pudding - needed more treacle.  Still, the people were friendly and the place was packed.  I drank the Butty Bach again.

In the end I did sleep soundly.  The other rooms were occupied by walkers too so we all were boring and went to bed early.