Olchon Cottage to Hay-on-Wye
Friday 7th July 2006
Walked 13 miles including 10 miles of Offa's Dyke Path
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
We had a pleasant breakfast at Olchon Cottage; it had been an excellent B&B. We didn't ever see Mr Pritchard but he was obviously there in the background and Mrs Pritchard was lovely. We left around 9am and the first challenge was getting back onto the ridge of Hatterall Hill. We walked back up the road to Great Turnant and then up what we assumed to be the path up to the ridge above Black Darren. It was raining slightly, but we knew we would be too hot if we put our waterproofs on whilst we were climbing, so we didn't bother. The path was very overgrown so we had to do our 'intrepid explorer' bit through the bracken, but the actual climb wasn't anything like as bad as we'd feared. We got pretty damp forcing our way through the bracken (and stung by nettles) but at the top of the ridge it was cold so we were happy to put up on waterproof jackets. I soon put on overtrousers too - and I wished I had gloves!
The ridge seemed to go on and on for ever (it would have been better if it hadn't been so cold). We passed the trig point at 610 metres then climbed slowly to the summit, the highest point of the walk altogether at 703 metres. Parts of the path were quite badly eroded and paving slabs had been laid in places (since the guidebook was written); this was helpful and not too intrusive.
Richard found a sheltered place for lunch in a slight gully (thankfully we'd asked for a packed lunch at Olchon Cottage; we'd already eaten the chocolate biscuits for energy and we enjoyed the sandwiches and fruit now). Shortly afterwards we started to descend and the path became more sheltered and also more interesting, with views back to 'The Cat's Back' ridge, the Olchon Valley and the Honddu Valley on the other side, and forward to Hay Bluff.
We decided to take the official route round to the east of Hay Bluff rather than via the Bluff itself and our descent was very enjoyable. We began to get spectacular views back to Hay Bluff and the rest of the Black Mountains as well as to the Hay Valley in front of us. We walked over a lovely turfy common - and the sun came out! We stopped on convenient stones for a drink of orange juice (the end of the packed lunch!) then we continued down to Hay-on-Wye.
We reached Hay-on-Wye around 4pm; 'Hay' has the same origins as the word 'hedge' and would have had some defensive overtones. Hay-on-Wye is packed with second hand bookshops of every specialism, though most are not the antique book shops I'd expected. We bought some new walking socks for Helen instead! We had a cup of tea at The Granary, a lovely vegetarian restaurant. We were rather disappointed to discover that they are closed in the evening - it would have been a good place for a meal.
We walked back across the border, since Fernleigh (our B&B) is actually in Cusop which is in Herefordshire (i.e. England), whereas Hay-on-Wye is in Powys (Wales). When we arrived, Mr and Mrs Hughes were just having their meal, and our tea, promised for 10 minutes later, took rather a lot longer to arrive. However Mrs Hughes was very friendly, telling us about her grandchildren and a forthcoming trip to a Buckingham Palace garden party with one of them. And we met the dog, 'Woody' (as in Toy Story). We went back into Hay-on-Wye and managed to get a table at 'The Famous Old Black Lion', a 17th Century Coaching Inn with excellent reviews from the Daily Telegraph and the Independent ('One of the top ten food inns in the UK'). We had a delicious meal.
