Day 11: Hillforts and tired legs

Start: Llandegla

End: Bodfari

Distance: 17 miles

I knew I had a long day ahead of me, so emerged from my tent early and packed up quickly. Conditions were dry and surprisingly warm compared with previous days. Today I would continue through the Clwydian hills, the narrow range dividing industrial Deeside from rural Denbighshire. There was a series of hills to climb as the route passed through a string of hillforts crowning the major summits.

The morning was full of obstacles, making my progress frustratingly slow. Gates that were ever so slightly too narrow to fit both me and my large pack through. Never ending series of styles at field boundaries, each one higher than the last. And of course, cows. A large group of them gathered at the entrance to the field where the path ran, they stood in an intimidating large group in front of the gate. I pretended to open the gate to assess their reaction, they didn't move. Not only did I not want to walk through all these cows, I also didn't think the farmer would be happy if I let them loose out of the field. I weighed up my options, one thing was clear, on a 17 mile hilly day - I did not want a lengthy detour. I decided to climb the fence at the edge of the field to sneak around the back of the cows. The fences were either barbed wire which is difficult to climb or electric, which is even worse. I found a patch of fence that I thought was safe and as soon as I made contact it zapped me with an electric shock. I jumped around to recover and flopped over, resting on my bag while I regained my energy to attempt another option. I flung my bag over the barbed wire fence and cautiously climbed over after it, luckily not creating any holes in my clothes. The cows continued to bask in the sun, unaware of the chaos I was causing to enter their field.

After this I managed to pick up the pace as I reached higher ground where there were less obstacles and the route was more straightforward. The inclines grew steeper as I ascended Moel Famau, where the iconic Jubilee Tower stood. The route then undulated gently until there was another large hill. And then another. The afternoon's miles blended into a blurry haze in my physically exhausted state. The heat made the miles a little tougher, the summer seemed to have arrived without warning and there was no time for me to adapt to these higher temperatures.

Come late afternoon, Bodfari, the town where I'm staying, came into view. It was such a welcome sight but still felt very far to reach. I bumped into a couple that were staying at the same campsite I was heading to, on a week long caravan holiday. We chatted all the way to the campsite and this really made those final miles go a little quicker. As I arrived at the campsite, we were greeted by the lady that owns the site who I'd chatted to on the phone yesterday. She smiled and said to the couple I arrived with, "Picked up a stray on your way?" I laughed and she welcomed me saying, "You must be Amy!" I did feel like a stray, wandering around on my own, sleeping in a different place each night and making friends with anyone willing to talk to me. The campsite was lovely and full of friendly welcoming people that I had enjoyable chats with. Although today was tough, completing this distance coupled with the elevation gain made it very rewarding. Tomorrow will be my final day of this phase. I can already see the sea from camp, so it would just take one final push to get there.