Robin’s Walk and AXA PPP Step Up ChallengeNewcastle on Clun, Llanfair Hill, Cwm-Sanaham, Panpunton Hill, Knighton, Dolley Green and Discoed.
Today we smash through 100 miles of Offa’s Dyke Walk half way down Cwm-Sanaham hill on the descent in to Knighton.
But before that a tale of coincidences. Last night we stayed at the Crown in Newcastle on Clun where we were looked after like royalty by Debbie and Lyndsie. In the lounge around supper Rob and I start talking to another walker Neil and Susanne. The first coincidence is they live in Warrington where I had been campaigning for David Mowat for three days the week before. They know of David who is now the MP for Warrington South. As boys do Rob Neil and I quickly get to football and find out he is a Wolves fan and as you know Rob is a Liverpool fan and I am Arsenal. As we reminisce I report that I went to the last game of the season match between Wolves and Liverpool at Molyneux in 1976. I was at Liverpool University and regularly used to go to the Kop to watch matches and a friend drove us down to be in the Liverpool section. Wolves needed to win to stay up and Liverpool needed a draw to win the league. Keegan scored and Liverpool won the league. 
Turns out Neil listened to the game on the radio as he could not get a ticket but the coincidence is that Rob also went to that game and was in the Liverpool section. So we now discover that 12 years before we met in Cleveland Ohio USA and our friendship began in 1988 we were within a few yards of each other at the same football match. Later in the evening I read out the Capello England squad for the world cup and reported that all 11 Wolves players expecting to make the starting team in June had been picked for England!
Here is some more imagery revealed to me as we began our walk out of Newcastle on Clun this morning. Rob had tickets to the 1974 Cup Final at Wembley when he was at Oxford and needed to get from Oxford to London. Even then his charitable efforts were in place and he agreed to hitch to London but dressed ‘subfusc’. This is all the garb Oxford students wear when going in to exams with mortar board and gown and sash in fact the full regalia. He stands at the start of the M40 trying to hitch a lift and has no success for an hour or so.Very understandable as most people would think how weird is that and where did he escape from? Getting the smarts he found a piece of cardboard on which he inscribed ‘FOR CHARITY’ in big letters following which he got a lift almost immediately. We continue in dialogue about whether he would be willing to walk subfusc from Coast to Coast as I point out this would get us noticed and get some reaction!
We start up towards Springfield Farm with a 600 ft steep climb. After yesterday the steep climb seems gentle but all things are relative and the thighs, knees and ankles creak at the early morning exertion. We look back on Newcastle on Clun in the valley with its houses for the mortal coil while we are on this earth and the Gothic Church at the end of the village with its graveyard facing upwards on an incline for when its all over. Laid out like some sort of scenic conveyor belt.Rob is assaulted by a tree which reaches in to his camera bag and flings his camera twenty yards away. The lens is covered in mud and the camera stops working fully. We are worried as we really want to capture the pictures along the way. Just like tapping the telly seemed to help the valves work in the old days after a few switchings on and offs and cleaning the lens it comes back to life.
At the highest point of Offa’s Dyke (1408 feet) we meet the Clun Peramblers doing a 6.5 mile circular walk around the top along a Shropshire Walk. We walk along with them for a while and talk about the beauty of the countryside they are walking in and what a wonderful place to live. They all agree and as you will see from the pictures this is stunning countryside. Just after we leave them I turn to Rob and as the sun shone and we were on a flattish bit I say ‘at times like this it really feels like a great idea for us to have decided to take this on’. Rob records it on his machine and is now waiting for the moment when I will express another view.
As seems to be par for the course for this walk we descend and descend until we see a VERY STEEP hill and we know this must be for us. Up we go to 1357 feet to the top of Cwm-Sanaham hill. It is a tough tough climb but when we get to the top the views are even more stunning. We sit for a while and just take it all in. 
Every way you look is just breathtaking and all you can hear are sheep and birds around you. As we start the descent we see Knighton come in to view and half way down the hill we cross 100 miles of Offa’s Dyke. 
On the last leg into Descoed we meet several people walking the dyke the other way. Firstly there is Ed and Kathy from Lancaster Pennsylvania, Amish country. They have walked coast to coast and Hadrian's wall - why come to the UK to walk when you come from such a beautiful part of the world. We reflect that we are lucky to live in the UK where we take public footpaths etc for granted. In the US you cant walk across someone else's land. 
Shortly behind them is John from Milton Keynes struggling up Furrows Hill carrying the biggest bag we have seen. He is walking Offa's and camping carrying a 35lb back pack!. We feel humble and embarrassed with our tiny hold alls. 
And just behind John is Anthony walking with his father from Abergavenny and they too are carrying huge packs and camping. Anthony's walking stick is a pole from Peru where he climbed Machupichu. We think of the Knighton switchbacks that they have in front of them are watch them in admiration walk up the hill.Only about 80 to go now. Feels a great achievement so far and another notch on our 1000miles4hope stick.
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