The next day was a rest day, so we spent the morning sitting in Emma's House reading, sorting out our bags and playing games. The views from the house were lovely - looking out over Prestigne and the valley to the hills of Powys.
After lunch we took Richard's advice and walked up the hill behind the house. At one point we took a (very slight) wrong turn and found an observation chair for... um... umpiring arboreal tennis?
Richard's map warned us that there might be some mud. He was right. Ankle deep clay. Lovely. Border Force are going to impound our boots when we get home.
At one point towards the end of the walk Robert and Helen picked a path and were ready to plunge downhill. Thomas disagreed and stood his ground until Robert and Helen realised he was right - we were 90 degrees out. Looks like Thomas has a real future in orienteering.
We popped into Prestigne to buy groceries - we're cooking for ourselves for the next few nights. Pretigne is a tiny village with at least three pubs and a whole range of Tudor and subsequent buildings. Looking down the street is a bit like playing 'spot the era'.
The next day we headed out to Knighton, a nearby town which is on Offa's Dyke. Offa's Dyke is a dyke and ditch, built by King Offa of the ancient kingdon of Mercia, which runs the length of the Welsh / English border. For something that is over 1,500 years old, a surprising amount is still visible. Because the ancient and current boundaries don't match up, walking along the dyke involves repeatedly crossing from Wales into England and back.
That's Thomas' paternal heritage in a nutshell.
We have been seeing a lot of robins, which is nicely festive, but they have been a bit camera shy. Until this little guy turned up while Thomas had the camera...
Thomas was dlightly underwhelmed by the dyke and decided that sufficiently determined Welsh raiders would have had no problems at all. Here he is demonstrating the approved method for rushing a Mercian outpost:
After our walk we had lunch in a park in Knighton, where Thomas combined a skate park and his new football (thanks Kristian and Eric!).
On our way back to Prestigne we stopped for one last dyke section, and got some of the best views of the day.
We dropped into the Radnorshire Arms in Prestigne for a pint on our return. The Inn building was once the home of Sir Christopher Hatton, who was a favourite of Elizabeth I. The beer / cider / lemonade were good.
That night we ate noodle soup in saucepans. Long story.
No comments:
Post a Comment