Thu 13th May - Day 27, Kington to Newcastle (20 miles)

I gave myself a treat this morning, last night I had seen that a cafe in Kington opened at 07:30 so I came here for a cooked breakfast.

So it was a slightly delayed start today at 8 o'clock, I hadn't gone many metres when I heard a shout behind me, the cafe owner had noticed I had left my walking poles behind and he came out after me. That's the second time I have forgotten them!

It was another cloudy day but no mist as I left Kington going up the hill, the only disadvantage with having a cooked breakfast is that it makes very thirsty so I was drinking a lot more water than I normally do.

Similar to yesterday the route was up and down crossing valleys but it was very pleasant walking, for the most part actually on Offa's Dyke and no long grass so my feet didn't get wet as quick.

Offa's Dyke is an earth bank & ditch built about 750 AD by Offa, King of Mercia, along the border of his land with Wales.

It was over Rushock Hill and Herrock Hill then down into the first valley to cross Hindwell Brook.

Over the next hill and down to cross the River Lugg and up to Hawthorn Hill, at 407m this was the highest point of the morning, it was 12:30 so I stopped here for my lunch.

While I was here an American couple passed me, they had been in the guesthouse at Sedbury when I had a cooked breakfast, they were taking 13 days to complete the walk & were having their bags carried ahead for them. Their destination for the day was Knighton while I was 6 miles on.

I got into Knighton at 14:30 and did some shopping and looked round the Offa's Dyke Visitor Centre.
The Welsh name for Knighton is Tref-y-Clawdd which means "Town on the Dyke" and it is the only Town that stands right on Offa's Dyke.

Leaving Knighton it was straight up the hill again following the Dyke along the top reaching a height of 430m.

This last section was easy, not really dropping back down any and I finished the day at 18:00 at Springhill Farm, just south of Newcastle, which let backpackers use a field next to the house.

It had been cloudy all day up to the last hour when the sun did manage to put in an appearence for a while.

434 miles completed.