Robin’s Walk and AXA PPP Step Up Challenge
(AM) Buttington, Pool Quay, Four Crosses (PM) Buttington, HOPE, Beacon Rings, Offa’s Pool (400 miles...yeah) and Forden
100 miles Erith, 200 miles St James Park, 300 miles Corfe Castle and today 400 miles at Offa’s Pool. Amazing - less than 600 to go!
Today we went backwards from Welshpool, where we were staying, through Buttington to Four Crosses where we finished yesterday. Our super taxi Karen brought our freshly cut sandwiches and then took us back to Buttington to do the hilly section in the afternoon. Our scenery can be summarised as a stroll by the river Severn and Montgomery Canal in the morning, steep hill farmland rising rapidly over 1000 feet and then in to Pine Forest at the top and for the descent. Sensible walkers would have done the climb in the morning and the stroll by the river in the afternoon.....but we are still learning.
We were off to an early start and on our way by 8.15. At Buttington Offa’s Dyke is like a long mole hill rising a couple of feet above the ground after 1300 years of erosion. The walk by the River Severn is less dramatic than some of the scenery we have seen so Rob can actually claim to be bored by it. A little more interest along the Montgomery canal where the ingredients of garlic and nettle soup are in abundance. We know we are looking at garlic flowers when we crush the flower and smell it.
We walk along and after about four miles take a rest by a bridge on the canal. As it starts to rain Rob is going to change in to his wet gear so I say I will go ahead and then take a rest while Rob catches up. My foot is in stinging pain and I am taking ibuprofen and gritting my teeth so trying to get as many rests along the way as I can. Rob tells me I must stop at the next bridge where we turn off. I march off and look back after a while and see no Rob. I go further and then very faintly I hear a voice in the distance shouting.....eeeeen. I wonder if it is Rob and try phoning him.....no answer. So I walk back a while and the Leeeeen shout gets louder. Now he tells me we should have turned off at the bridge we were on. We get back on track after a grin and a wince.
We meet a couple of Dutch walkers doing Knighton to Prestatyn having done the other half from Chepstow a couple of years ago. They do not know they are also lost off the path also so we help them back on track. Amides Daravscharten from Amsterdam and Andries Harshagen from Waardenburg in Holland are regular walkers and Andries completed the Hadrians Wall in 2005. We keep bumping in to them for the next six miles.We are walking along by the Severn again and hear Curlews with their distinctive call. We pass a sign offering big mugs of tea for 85 p and it sounds like an offer too good to miss.
We meet Graham and Wendy who serve us tea on the lawn. First a couple of hens approach Rob asking for food. Then Graham joins us and tells us all about his house. 
Before that he also mentions he has seen 37 species of birds in his garden in one day in June, that otters nest nearby and recently they had mink in the garden. They have Little, Barn and Tawny Owls and Sedge and Garden Warblers and in the Severn he fishes for trout, barbell, pike, roach and salmon. He tells us the story of how he bought the Boathouse next door having beat the price down to £249k and told by the Estate Agents what a bargain he had got. As he moved in the postman told him that the people in Upper House next door were moving out. Thinking this a great opportunity to offer them his removal boxes if they need them he pops in. Their sale had just fallen through that day for £300k so Graham offers them £290k and does the deal. He calls his Estate Agent to tell him to put the Boathouse up for sale and the Estate Agent true to form asks him how much he will drop his price to sell the Boathouse. Typical! Anyway he sold it for same and moved in to Upper House. So if you want a welcome cup of tea and a chat about local knowledge Graham and Wendy are your hosts at the Upper House.
After lunch we start our ascent to HOPE. This reminds us of what all the walking is about ...raising hope for people with MS. This is a tough ascent and we go up what seems like vertically over 1000 feet in no time at all. On the way we have to go through a field of bullocks who once again take interest in us. 
Trust us, the ‘make yourself big’ ploy does not fool them. They pursued us and at one point a grey spotted big fella charged towards Rob with its back legs kicking like a bronco. You have never seen us both move so fast to the next style. 
When we get to the top the views are stunning all around. We are out of breath and the effort is etched in our faces. We notice new wild flowers we have not seen yet and I pick a particularly pretty one to take back to Karen (later she takes it and notices its lovely fragrance...something we had missed). 
We bump in to the beautiful people from Pangbourne Berkshire and Norway who are doing the Knighton to Prestatyn section as our Dutch colleagues were earlier. Also at the top we see what we think are buzzards circling the high pines in wind currents and as they drop being chased away by crows.
The descent through the forest is enjoyable and we punctuate it with crossing 400 miles at Offa’s pond. At the end of the day well exhausted but satisfied with our efforts. Having gone this far we have to see this through now and walk step by step to the end.
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