Wye Valley Walk: Our Last Day on the Wye Valley Walk, June 2

She Said:

June 2
We had a good sleep at The Old Vicarage, our B+B for 2 nights. (Before we arrived, we stopped in the local shop and bought a card and some candy for our hostess, Marilyn, as we had learned two B+B's previous that her brother (58) had died unexpectedly and she was at his funeral the day we were due to arrive. She was understandably shocked and tired, but a great hostess, nonetheless.)
I was pooped after yesterday's 12 miles and pooped just thinking about today's 12.25 miles.
But, it is our last day!
We had the option of arranging a pick-up at the end of the walk, or of having a taxi drive us to the car park at the top of the trail (the official end) and walking back to our B+B. We opted for the taxi up so we would not have to wait for the taxi (or have him wait for us) at the end. This also gave us free reign to take our time, or not. The end result is the same - we would complete 136 miles.

We had good fuel for the walk from our fully cooked Welsh breakfast. These fully cooked breakfasts are really powerful - eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, hash potatoes, toast, ham (thick bacon) and sausages. Juice and loads of coffee. We usually didn't eat fully cooked, as really, it is just too much. But this day, we celebrated the last day and stuffed ourselves!

(I have shin splints from the steep descent yesterday - hoping to power through today with minimal pain.)

We arrived at the car park and the small preserve maintained by the Welsh Forestry Commission. Pictures at the plaque. Very cloudy and gray. Heavy fog. The path to start is through a forest, and because of the dense fog, there are no long views. This caused us to really stop and look at the intricate short views - spider webs with dew, a conifer tree with branches laden with new cones, black slugs on the path, very well hydrated lichens and mosses. With this tiny beauty all around me, I had a sort of epiphany - to look, really look, at the little things and appreciate the joy that comes from that. I hope I can take that insight home with me.

In general, The Wye Valley Walk is much more rural and wild than other walks we've done - villages and hamlets are fewer and farther between, some days, there are none at all.

This is bog territory, so we had to take care to stay directly on the path or risk sinking up to our ankles. The source of the River Wye is beneath us.
There are several hydrology huts set up on this part of the walk - measuring the water doing who knows what.

We popped out of the forest and onto a dirt track used for road rallies (indicated by a week's old sign) and continued down the track past old mines - copper? tin?

The sun appeared (briefly.)

We passed what I thought was a peaceful, sleeping lamb, but when it didn't jump up and freak out as all other lambs had done when we came within 50 feet of them, we knew something was wrong. Sadly, the lamb was dead, and only just, as the mother was close by bleating for it to come and follow her. She stayed there, looking confused. We walked on and even from a half mile on, we looked back and could see her standing vigil.

A ways down the road, a farmer and his three little dogs were working and we stopped to tell him about the sheep, as it seemed his pastures and his herd. He thanked us and struck up a good conversation.
We have found the Welsh to be the most friendly people we have encountered on our travels - easily more friendly than the Brits, but also the Irish! They love to talk but are also truly interested in hearing about who we are and where we're from. Very nice people.

And, finally - a newt sighting! Not a crested newt, but a newt, nonetheless. This is cosmic, as I had been looking for newts the whole walk, and now, on our last day, one appeared. We watched it surf down its baby stream - little pebbles creating little waterfalls that the newt would glide down. So, I saw my newt.

On the path for the last couple of weeks, we have come across, here and there, farm storage sheds that look like they are (very) old wooden rail cars. Today, another one. They lend lots of character to the countryside as they rust and degrade.

We have also heard Cuckoo birds calling. I never did see one, but their call is loud and echoing.

The cutest dog (puppy) ever followed us for a while on the path and I swear if I could have fit him in my backpack I would have taken him home with me. R had to tell me to stop encouraging him so he would go home. Finally, R sent me ahead and had a bit of a talk with the puppy about getting lost and how bad that would be. He sat mournfully at the side of the path and since R forbade me to turn around to look at him, I don't know at what point he turned back.

Dead Animal Count - 2
1 lamb
1 crow

12.25 miles

He Said:

Yes, indeed, the last day of our walk. We have mixed feelings about the last day, but are also glad to be done after seeing so many things over the past 2 weeks (13 days of walking). We decided to do the last stage in reverse because the end of the walk, is itself an 8 mile walk from the nearest town. So, not wanting to have a 20 mile day, we arranged to have a taxi. In this case, we had it drive us to the end of the walk in the Hafren Forest in the morning, and then we would walk back to Llangurig over the course of the day. So, we were dropped off at the trail head at Rhyd-y-benwch in the Hafren Forest, then followed the boardwalks over the bog under the trees and along the small river Severn.

That reverse walk plan worked well because it gave us flexibility as to when to return to our B&B, as well as reducing the amount of climbing we needed to do.
And I do hope that the small and friendly dog that followed us found its way home; 1/4 mile away (we think).

Our photos:

the breakfast room in Llangurig