Friday, October 2nd, 2015
I slept really well that night. I woke up at 3:15am, but mind you, I went to bed at 7:50pm so that was already more than 7hours. Bit too early to get up, so turned around and woke up again at 6:am.
Breakfast at 7am and off towards the Path around 7:30 am. My packed lunch was given to me for free because I only had porridge for breakfast (as opposed to a full cooked one), and Ian was still apologizing for making me wait :). Very much appreciated. Getting into my boots that morning wasn’t as bad as I’d feared it could have been. My ankles were still bruised but they’d gotten better during the night. So while I did feel some discomfort I could lace up my boots. It did get progressively worse during the day’s hike though.
Walked the short distance to the true Path (about 100m) and started the descent into Bodfari proper. Walked past the pub I didn’t patronize the night before.
It was a glorious morning, the sun was out, with only a little bit of fog in the valley as I left Llety R Eos Ucha (still no idea what that means).
Then the ascending and descending started in the traversing of the Clwydian Hills. Moel-y-Parc, where the path stays shy of the summit; Pen-y-Cloddiau where the path does go to the top and where I enjoyed a mid-morning snack. The trail crosses one hill after another – of course with the obligatory descents between them – Moel Arthur, Moel Llys-y-Coed, Moel Dywyll. Moel Famau, with Jubilee Tower, was the highest point of the day. I’d had a good dream about Stefaan the night before, so I decided to scatter some of his ashes there. After a last push on the side of Moel Fenlli, the Path leveled out for most of the remainder till Clwyd Gate.
My accommodation for the night was quite a way off the path but The Druid Inn picks up their walker-guests from a pre-arranged point along the Path – very nice indeed. Around 4pm I rang that I’d reached the pick-up point and 5 minutes later my ride arrived. Checked into my room – where my bag was waiting for me – and checked internet. Yes! A connection good enough to have a skype call with Stephen :). Which is exactly what I did, the moment I got out of the shower. I then spent some time updating my blog; photos will have to wait till my rest day in Llangollen, given I have internet.
Enjoyed a well-deserved dinner, at least I thought it was well-deserved, in the pub, and then did some more writing about my day and organizing for the next one. Being above a pub my room wasn’t as quiet as the 2 previous ones.
With all the uphills and downhills this was a tough day for me, so I took it slowly with the necessary stops and breaks. The previous day I almost skipped over the breaks.
