"Up The Dyke" Day 5 - July 17th 2002
Hay-on-Wye to Kington "Tubular Fells"
"Up The Dyke" Day 5 - July 17th 2002 Hay-on-Wye to Kington "Tubular Fells" |
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| Day | Date | Start | Finish | Approx. Miles | Hours | Accommodation |
| 4 | Wed. 17th July | Hay-on-Wye | Kington | 15 | 6¼ | Alan and Kath Williams, Tan House, Tanyard Lane, Bridge Street, Kington, Tel. 01544 230020 e-mail Kath@Alkath.fsnet.co.uk |
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of Offa's Dyke photographs for this day.
Again a completely useless
prize is offered if you can tell me why today's walk is called Tubular
Fells. Just mail me!
We had an excellent breakfast (the best of the trip so far) at Bob and Annette Crook's La Fosse Guest House and I was all ready to leave at 09:00 when a passer by told Noelene that the car had a puncture! Fortunately, there was a tyre repair place opposite and so, £12 lighter but all fixed, I was able to start on the 15 miles to Kington at about 09:30. The weather had been very bright before we left but the same dull cloud arrived as yesterday as soon as I hit the trail. It was still warm, though, and for the fourth day in a row I walked in shorts, something I 'd never done before.
The
walk began by crossing the Wye bridge and very nice the river looked at this
spot. Apparently, the Hay to Hereford railway used to run alongside the river
and it is supposedly possible to see the path it took. Maybe my imagination
isn't good enough, 'cos I saw nowt! I did see a rather super map of the whole
of The Path on a board and took a photo of it. I'll try to get a copy from the
ODA (Offa's Dyke Association in Knighton on Thursday). As I entered the field
beside the map a stile reminded me that there were only 123 miles to Prestatyn!
The Path followed the river for a while, partly along a wooded path and then
across fields. The walking was easy and the air was cool; very pleasant
conditions. I didn't find the supposed plank footbridge to cross a stream and
began to fear for my direction yet again but the busy traffic on the A438 made
me sure I was going in the right direction. After a while I left the main road
and began a steep climb, entering another woodland above Bettws Dingle and
eventually into the Dingle itself. One of the flat paths was very pleasantly
carpeted with decaying pine needles giving it a wonderfully springy
bounce.
I stopped for a drink and then began a 2½ mile trudge mainly along tarmaced roads of varying widths. I had walked about five miles and not seen another soul and I began to wonder if I was the only person walking The Path today. There were a few muddy paths and my boots actually got dirty (shock, horror!) but suddenly a new vista opened up with the village of Newchurch nestling in the bottom of a valley. I walked through it and saw that it is little more than a church with a farm and a few houses, albeit one of them, Great House, being rather splendid. the church too is quite attractive despite the corrugated sheeting on part of one side.
After passing through the village I started the climb up
Disgwylfa Hill and thought I'd seen a mirage - three more walkers, who quickly
disappeared over a ridge. I eventually spotted them again, apparently playing
some sort of game whereby two held a pole between and rotated through 360°
whilst the other took photos - very strange! They turned out to be Brian from
Wokingham, Chris from Margate and Sean from London. The fourth member of their
group had twisted an ankle on the walk over from Capel-y-ffin and had had to
retire. They were good guys and later Steph, who you'll meet in a minute, named
them The Three Stooges. They took my photo and I walked along with them
for a while and let Sean do the navigating. They also tried to sell me one of
their domain names (ergoldenjubilee.com). We came over a rise and there was
Hergest Ridge (pronounced Hargest with a hard g) one of the spectacular
features of today's walk.
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In Richard Carter's Mike Oldfield Discography he writes about Hergest Ridge: Hergest Ridge (the place behind the album name) - is a hilly ridge on the Welsh border which Mike was able to see from his house at the time of writing the album. He moved there after the success of Tubular Bells to escape the attention. The album cover, again done by Trevor Key, features a dog and a model glider. Mike Oldfield used to enjoy flying model gliders from the top of Hergest Ridge, which is probably why one features on the cover. The LP featured a close up picture of Bootleg's head (Bootleg being the dog) mostly in silhouette, with what is presumably the countryside surrounding Hergest Ridge behind him (it certainly looks very similar to the countryside in that area). Bootleg was one of two Irish Wolfhounds from The Manor. Wolfhounds from The Manor have since appeared on albums by other artists. The album was recorded mostly at The Manor, although Tom Newman seemed to recall (in an interview with David Porter) having done some sessions at Chipping Norton studios as well. The equipment used would have been much the same as that used for Tubular Bells. Tom also said that the album was mixed at Air Studios in London. The reclusive Oldfield gave an interview to Melody Maker in September 1974 where he talked about the album, comparing it with Tubular Bells: "Hergest Ridge, on the other hand, is smooth, uncluttered. There are no tube trains, very few car doors, lots of open countryside, smooth hills, a general feeling of smoothness and well-being and non-hysteria, just a much nicer environment. In fact, we went to Cornwall, and driving back we were listening to Hergest Ridge on the car stereo, and as far as relating the music to the countryside - I've only just thought of this approach - It wasn't like Cornwall at all. It was really like Herefordshire." "It's basically not more than six different tunes and the tunes are related, so the whole thing is related. Also, if you want to get anything out of it, you've got to really listen to it. There's lots of things hidden, things that may seem meaningless, but they do have a meaning, a musical meaning. And just the general texture is so comforting." I suggested that one of the things the critics found most difficult to accept about Hergest Ridge was this comforting effect, the romanticism of the tunes, in a world where music had to be agonising to be taken seriously." "Silly boys," he said, half to himself. "The problem of the world today is that there's not enough romance". |
The guys twisted my arm up my back so far that I was forced to
go into the Royal Oak at Gladestry with them. I was the first to order and, of
course, had a pint of bitter. They then ordered pints of lemonade and lime -
wimps! In the pub I met two other Path walkers, Harry and Steph from Derbyshire
who were going all the way to Prestatyn following a similar schedule to me. The
three wimps retired to a local bench to have their lunch and I began the climb
up Hergest Ridge. As I climbed a couple of school teachers with a dozen or so
young kids came down the track looking as though they were having a great time.
I continued climbing, stopped to look at the view and suddenly Steph and Harry
were with me so I walked with them for a while a took their photo too. They are
really experienced walkers, not a couple, but part of the same walking club and
seem to have done most of the main long distance paths.
The views from Hergest Ridge are spectacular all round. It felt
rather special being there (as if a piece of music from a 1970s rock musician
had turned it into a mystical place!) and it was a bit of a pull to descend.
Then, rather bizarrely we came across a group of monkey puzzle trees. Why on
earth they should have been planted in such a place was a real mystery. We
crossed the remnants of the former Kington horse racing track which, I guess
has been closed for very many years since it remains only an impression in the
landscape. I stopped by a rather pretty gorse bush in flower for my lunch and
let Harry and Steph carry on together with Kington, tonight's destination, just
below. I phoned Noelene but she was still in the bookshops in Hay and continued
down into the town, arriving at the war memorial (the end of today's walk and
tomorrow's start) at about 15:45. I made my way to the very nice Tan House
B&B on Tanyard by the side of the River Arrow and sat drinking tea and
chatting to Alan, mine host, for quite a while.
Later, Noelene and I walked into town, saw the Three Stooges and had an excellent meal at the Swan, the best dinner of the walk so far, superbly cooked by John Badley who deserves at least three ***. Harry and Steph were also in the restaurant and I hope that I'll be able to meet up with them again tomorrow. According to the guide, Thursday's trek from Kington to Knighton is the best of The Path and, at 13½ miles, considerably shorter than I've been doing over the last four days.
Day five was special in a number of ways; the combination of woodland, fields and moor, the friendly walkers that I met, the wonder of Hergest Ridge, the relatively easy walking and John Badley's excellent fish at The Swan. All in all a day wi' nowt to complain about, as we say in Lancashire.
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Grub: Tuna with tomato and coriander salsa |
Booze: Thomas Bewick Bitter from the Dunn Plowman Brewery, Kington - quite low alcohol (3.7%) but with a lovely flavour A very nice full bodied fruity French dry white wine (a sort of cross between a Viognier and a New Zealand Chardonnay) |
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