Day 71
Llandegla to Moel Arthur: 10 miles
Scene of the day: From the Jubilee Tower over Everything
Reason: Was the best view I've had in a while
I woke up in my Orient-Express themed bedroom, and found that unfortunately my shoes were still wet from yesterday. As luck would have it - it totally didn't matter because they would have gotten wet within 5 minutes anyway.
The B and B folks drove me back to the trail from wherever in the world their converted train station was, and we again set a time to meet at the end of my day's hike - at the hill top ring fort of Moel Arthur. And I got out of the car and directly into the pouring rain with ever diminishing visibility. All the things you want when you're climbing through a for real mountain range.
Through the Moels
So I trudged with my head down against the blowing wind - around and over Moel y Plas (440m), around Moel Llanfair (447m), around Moel Gyw (467m), and past Gyrn and Moel Eithinen (434m), until I found myself at the bottom of Foel Fenlli, with a Welshman stopping to tell me that although he was travelling in a circle and going over the top, I was following Offa's Dyke and thus should go around via very complicated directions I hoped I understood. While I don't always like having unrequested directions given to me like I don't know what I'm doing - because he was clearly Welsh I allowed it. I'm fairly certain he was just making conversation and wasn't actually telling me what to do.
As it turns out, his directions were helpful because there were arrows pointing in like, every direction whenever there was a trail crossing - a supremely unhelpful waymarker tells you to go everywhere. Although I didn't see the mountain top fort, I did avoid a stiffer climb than I wanted to do that day - and I'd already been rollercoastering for like 6 miles, I was fine not getting to the top this time.
Dropping into the next valley, there was of course a tin garden shed that doubled as a cafe. There was also a parking lot, and a zillion people. The weather had eased up over the last hour, and it seems like this particular part of the path is fairy popular.
And to my mind it's with good reason. Though maybe it was just that the sun decided to peek through and illuminate mountains covered in purple, green and yellow trailing behind me and stretching out in front of me, with rolling green hills to my left and right, the winding hike to the top of Moel Famau (554m) seemed really very pleasant. It wasn't an easy hike (though I did take pride in the fact that I was clearly having an easier time of it than 95% of the other people around me - excluding the 5% trail runners), but the path weaving back and forth toward the highest built structure in northeast Wales was really charming.
That structure is the Jubilee Tower - originally a giant stone base supporting only a single obelisk in 'the Egyptian style' built in the early 19th century to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of King George III. Unfortunately the obelisk was blown over within only a few decades - but the platform has been somewhat refurbished (still not in great shape) and there are great views from the top of Moel Famau - the highest point in the Clwydian Range.
Which brings me to a very strange realization - for some reason, the whole walking along multiple mountains in one day is starting to seem kind of easy to me. I don't know if it's that I'm in better shape, or if it's that on Offa's Dyke you're largely going forward rather than sideways (on the Wales Coast Path there was a lot of weaving around coasts), but what looks like a daunting prospect on my map hasn't ended up nearly as hard as I thought it would be. In fact the whole day was downright pleasant.
Except of course, for the fact that my shoes were wet, and now, being on top of a mountain, cold. Ignoring the cold part, I decided that given the extreme amount of wind and tiny bit of sun that was happening, now would be a good time to take my shoes and socks off and (weighed down of course) to see if it would be at all possible for them to dry off, even in the slightest bit while I had lunch.
My bare feet got me a few looks, but in the end who really cares, because it actually worked a little. I continued on my way with relatively dry feet, against a wind that was becoming nearly impossible to negotiate, and made the steep downhill descent way trickier than it needed to be.
But ultimately I made it to Moel Arthur - the hill with the 2000+ year old fort ringing it's top third. An hour early for my ride, I decided to take off my shoes, sit on the conveniently placed bench, and watch the world go by. Or rather, watch the world decidedly not go by because literally not a single thing happened besides a sheep scratching itself on a sign post.
Eventually, back I went to Eyarth Station - where trains no longer go by because not only did they close the station - they tore up the track, just to make sure. Nothing going by seems to be something of a theme up here in this part of Wales. I like it.
