Julie and I will be hiking from John O’Groats to Land’s End in the UK during the northern summer of 2022. The journey of nearly 2,000 kilometres will take about two and a half months, a week or two longer than when I hiked the other direction in 2010. We will stay in B&B’s, hostels and pubs, so will not be carrying camping gear, though we will each have an emergency bivvy sack just in case we can’t find somewhere to stay.

John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 051 - Pandy to Monmouth

Day: 051

Date: Thursday, 21 July 2022

Start:  Pandy (after bus from Abergavenny)

Finish:  Monmouth

Daily Kilometres:  27

GPX Track:  Click here and here for Julie’s Strava & Photos of our walk and her run

Total Kilometres:  1426

Weather:  Mild to warm and partly sunny.

Accommodation:  Hotel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pastries/muffins

  Lunch:  Egg & cress sandwich/Coronation chicken sandwich

  Dinner:  Kebab, salad & chips, Caramel cheesecake.

Aches:  Dave - sore shoulder (but getting better).  Julie - nothing.

Highlight:  We reached the fabulous White Castle ruin at 9:40am, just at the right time for our breakfast break, and had the large castle ruin, dating from the 11th century, and its manicured grass grounds to ourselves in the morning sun.  Perfect!

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We caught the 7:00am (high-speed!) bus from Abergavenny back to Pandy, where we finished yesterday, and were walking eastwards on the Offa’s Dyke Path by 7:20am on a beautiful mild sunny morning.


Apart from the historic and interesting White Castle (see above), there was nothing particularly remarkable about today’s walking.  For the most part, our trail crossed beautiful, undulating and peaceful rural landscapes on easy walking field paths and country lanes.  There were pastures, grain crops, a local day-hiker who joined us for a couple of kilometres and talked non-stop, a couple of cheerful “Scouse” lads walking the Offa’s Dyke Path home to Liverpool, the “dangerous” bridge we crossed rather than take a recommended (but long) detour, and the perfectly-placed picnic table for lunch.  In the latter’s case, we had already decided, hours earlier, that we would look for somewhere to stop for lunch around 1:00pm.  As if on cue, on the edge of a mown grain field in the middle of nowhere, and for no obvious reason, a picnic table appeared exactly at 1:00pm.


As a break from the field paths and lanes, the last 5 kilometres passed through pleasant shady woodland on a warm afternoon, before entering the busy town of Monmouth.  We found our accommodation at 3:15pm and checked in.  After studying her Garmin app, Julie decided she hadn’t done enough for the day and went for a 5km run around the town!  Dave, sensibly, decided to recover in front of the World Athletics Championships replay on TV.


Another great day.
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