Day 7 - Hay-on-Wye to Kington

Beer drunk: 1 1/2 pints
Distance walked: 24km, Time taken: 6 1/2 hours
Ascents: 777m, Descents: 680m

Stopped at the local supermarket to buy something for lunch before heading off today. I was tired of the cheese & chutney sandwiches I was getting from my B&Bs. They all offered the choice of ham or tuna as well but I thought cheese is safe if it is to be carried around for hours. Unfortunately, being early on Monday there was little to be had in the supermarkets as the shelves hadn't been restocked yet with fresh food. I settled for a muesli bar, a chocolate bar and a rather tired apple.

The weather was slightly overcast with a very fine drizzle today. Not wet enough to bother putting on wet weather gear as you got hot enough walking that your body heat kept your clothes dry. I did met an American walking with an umbrella though!

There were no places to stop for lunch on the route today. About 1/3 of the way along there was a church which left out free coffee, tea and biscuits for walkers in the vestry. By this stage I was more interested in options for letting fluids out rather than putting more fluids in. Stopped briefly and got to chatting to the American with the umbrella. I ended up cutting our conversation short, which I think rather hurt his feelings, but I was worried he would suggest walking together and I was in urgent need of a bush to duck behind.

After saying to good-bye to the American I headed off to climb up to the top of another ridge with a common, similar to yesterday but smaller. The views up the top of these are superb but there are vanishing few trees and mainly low gorse bushes so not many options for a discreet pit stop.

Around early afternoon I arrived at the village of Gladestry which has a pub. Sadly Monday is their day off and it was shut. The village seemed very sad with at least half of the houses and shops up for sale. It is too close to Hay to be a convenient overnight stopping point but too far to be a convenient lunch point. I hope the pub survives.

I finally made it into Kington just before 4pm. I had planned to wander around the town a bit before heading to my B&B but as I passed it my landlady just arrived, saw me and waved me over. She was a very interesting person. About my age, she had worked in one of the local national parks until the politics had got too much. She took early retirement and now rented out 2 bedrooms in her house, the converted barn next door and a cottage down the road. She said she's never been so busy.

While I like her she did have a slight obsession with lavender. There were 4 pots of the stuff in my room, plus many sachets of dried lavender in the cupboards and in pillows on the bed. The ceiling was painted lavender and all the towels were in that shade. She had also managed to find toiletries and even tissues that were lavender scented. Now, I like purple but even I thought it all a bit much.

For dinner the seven of us ended up eating together again at the Burton Hotel as it was the only place in the village that was opened on a Monday. I had been eyeing off the Swan Inn as the menu sounded delicious. I even picked which dish I would have but it turns out the owners have had a dispute with their catering staff and the staff have all walked off the job!

At the Burton Hotel I had the steak and ale pie (take that cows!) which was very good, with standard veg. I had a pint of the Butty Bach with this. Prior to meeting up for dinner I stopped at the Royal Oak and had a half of the local Wye valley brewery HPA - too hoppy for me.

Forecast for tomorrow is rain all day with possible occasional heavy showers and flash flooding!