Day 73
Rhuallt to Prestatyn: 8 miles
Achievement of the Day: I finished the Offa's Dyke Path!
Reason: I'm back in North Wales - two legs down, one to go. . .
So, really, the main focus of today was the fact that the coastline kept getting closer and closer and closer.
Of course, before that happened, the first thing I did was walk a mile out of my way in the wrong direction because I was distracted by people fixing a water main in the road. Basically, my super-kindly host dropped me back off at the trail first thing in the morning (after I'd spent my breakfast admiring her love of cross-stitch in the breakfast room). And she'd told me the first part of the walk was basically straight up. And this was confirmed by the map I had.
So you would think it would have dawned on me when I found myself wandering along a pleasant road, most definitely not headed in a vertical direction, that I had done something wrong. And it did. Eventually.
At a certain point the above hit me, and I stopped and looked at the map. And walked back, thinking I just missed the turn. I hadn't just missed the turn, I'd walked like 20 minutes past it - it had been right around the corner from where I was dropped off, and right across the street from where I'd been transfixed by whatever the water people were doing and hence hadn't noticed the absolutely gigantic signpost yelling 'turn here!!!' at me.
With my head down in shame, I turned there, and immediately went straight up a hillside, just like I'd been told.
As I went further up, I had good views back towards the hills, and forward towards the sea - but I couldn't really make out exactly where I was supposed to be going - the path seemed kind of not obvious to me. But as I made my way forward, it really wasn't all that complicated. A few little hills, a few turns, one friendly dog trying to squeeze through the bars in front of his converted-church house, one giant herd of bullocks, one giant field full of rams, and one tiny stretch of road with cars flying at me later, and I found myself on the outskirts of Prestatyn.
Here there were some remnants of an old mill, indicative of the industrial history of the area - as well as a tiny miner's cottage on a hill. Although they didn't know much about him - they know that when he died (by falling down a mine shaft) he'd been living in this teeny tiny cottage with his wife and nine children. Which made me wonder whether he got pushed.
Anyway, as I got closer to the seaside resort-town of Prestatyn, I started to realize something - that I hadn't been around a town any larger than Kington or Knighton in like, 3 weeks. And Kington and Knighton aren't exactly thriving metropolises. But then again, neither, really, is Prestatyn - but suddenly I felt like there were people and cars everywhere, and I was in awe of the shops and the fact that I kept passing ATMs. Apparently I'd turned into a country bumpkin during my time in the Welsh borderlands, as I might as well have been walking through the streets with my mouth opened looking up in awe at all the excitement. Really something considering I used to live in London, New York, and Washington DC, but Prestatyn was quite the jolt back to reality after the quiet of Offa's Dyke.
One great thing about society, in particular British society, is a Marks and Spencer food hall, which Prestatyn conveniently boasts. I first learned about their pre-packaged food when I interned in London a lifetime ago and had it for lunch every day - and I know I'm probably overdoing it a bit since this is pretty ridiculous for anyone who lives here - but pre-packaged little salads with edamame and shrimp in them in cube-ish containers are like the best thing in the entire world. The entire. World. It was in this state that I wandered into an M and S food store and proceeded to wander around and pretty much just gape at the bottled smoothies for a while. I bought the aforementioned edamame salad, and went back outside to actually finish the hike before I decided I was going to live in the food hall for the rest of my life.
I meandered past an interesting silver statue just outside the train station, and then followed the neat little Offa's Dyke circular markers the rest of the way. And then there it was - the end of the road, in the form of a giant silver statue with three twisty legs and a circle on it, that marks the start/end of the path. The most dedicated people will go in the water to go from coast to coast - but I was really looking forward to this whole edamame salad thing, and so sat down and tried to eat that while the wind made it's best effort to blow the entire thing down the beach.
What can I say, yes, I devoted a few weeks to walking the Offa's Dyke Path. But I really don't think you understand just how much I like edamame. Eating them was just as much a celebration for me as anything else was going to be. I may have festively yelled 'Edamame!' just to make an occasion of it.
Also, there's the matter of my still having like another 300+ miles to go. And in that 300+ miles, the likelihood of me finding more edamame is small, so I figured I should celebrate when I could.
Seriously though - the Offa's Dyke Path really surprised me. It was at times challenging, but always manageable - and the scenery and general quaintness of it were really wonderful. I've heard the few people I know who that was definitely the best word to describe it. What a great surprise!
