A not very exciting 10 mile trek across the Severn flood plain, but much improved by the Montgomery Canal.

Date walked: 18th August 2021

Distance:  10.5  miles

Maps used:  OS Explorer 216 (Welshpool and Montgomery) and 240

Guide used: Walking Offa’s Dyke Path by Mike Dunn published by Cicerone in 2016

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It had been my first night in my little Terra Nova tent for a very long time and I hadn’t slept well.

A combination of the noise from the nearby road and passing trains, the cramped feeling of my mummy-style (but perfectly warm) sleeping bag which made my usual movements much more difficult, and, I suppose, the unfamiliarity of the whole business probably explains my struggle. I was glad that I had packed a small gas stove as I felt much better after a brew (Ginger Green Tea, always, highly recommended).

Putting the tent away was a lot easier than putting it up and by 9 o clock (quite late really, considering) I was packed and heading off having wished my solicitor friend a good walk (see centre of pic).

Can’t remember his name now

The Path crosses Buttington Bridge (a slightly hairy experience as there was lots of traffic and no footpath)….

I hadn’t intended to take this pic but I had thought the path went under it and not over it

… and then immediately heads off north by the quiet River Severn.

The Severn meanders hugely around here but the path takes a more direct route, sometimes by its banks and sometimes wading through the surrounding fields.

A pleasant wade through a field of barley

After less than a mile it rather unpleasantly takes the side of the busy A483 for several hundred yards.

You’d have thought that this could have been avoided

Even more unpleasant was the fact that by this time I had a pain in my right knee, so I paused to take some Ibuprofen. Bugger. I had a serious left knee problem  a few year’s back that ended up with an Arthroscopy and I really didn’t want to go through that again. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

After this short road section the path climbed away from it to join the canal path of the Montgomery Canal, which was far more preferable a companion although the rumble of the road was still quite intrusive.

The guide says that the canal (constructed at the end of the C18th) was first used almost exclusively to transport lime from limekilns at Llanymynech to fertilise the fields of the upper Severn Valley.

After less than a mile, just after passing the hamlet of Pool Quay, the path leaves the canal, re-crosses the A483 and heads for the Severn once more, taking a raised flood embankment.

This is quite dull terrain on the top of the Tirymynach Embankment, the views made slightly more interesting for a while by the Criggion quarry over to the right.

I was glad of any distraction as my knee was still hurting despite being medicated. Boo hoo. Getting a little worried now.

This is a sparsely populated area, the path occasionally passing by properties, one of which was offering cake. I have to admit that, shunning the cake,  I helped myself to several of their juicy plums that were overhanging the path.

After passing by the hamlet of Rhyd-esgyn the path heads away from the Severn again, crossing what the guide describes as ” a curious and almost completely redundant iron contraption”.

I couldn’t fathom its purpose either.

I remember pausing after this to apply Ibuprofen gel to my still painful painful knee. Now I’m getting quite worried.

Not far from here I was re-united with the Dyke itself, the path taking the top of it to pass through some tall hedges….

….. and open fields.

After crossing the B 4393 the guide says that you “unexpectedly arrive in the yard of a milk processing plant” (well, if you had read the guide beforehand I guess you would expect it).

No one I saw was wearing a face mask

The path then passes through the rather urban-feeling village of Four Crosses. At the Golden Lion pub (closed), I had a bit of a rest on a roadside bench and massaged my knee. Didn’t make any difference.

At the far side of the village an underpass passes under the A483 and the path takes a quiet road for about a mile to reach the towpath of the Montgomery Canal again at Pont-y-Person.

Note the 50th anniversary sock on the top of the Finger Post.

The last few miles of the  day’s walk by the canal couldn’t (apart from the knee) have been nicer.  Canal path walking is always such a treat. This section was unnavigable but the sleepy families of swans….

… and the somewhat decrepit bridges….

…. more than made up for the absence of gently chugging narrow boats.

A fine stone-built house with an intriguing wooden beam attached was a reminder of the canal’s previous life.

The canal passes over the wide River Vyrnwy by viaduct…..

… before being cut through by a road and then carrying on as if nothing had happened.

The swans had clearly had a good season…..

… but something quite catastrophic had befallen at least one on the canal side.

Swan poo? But its such a huge amount.

Whether used or not, lock gates are often the best preserved features of  canals and here was no exception.

There are two locks just outside Llanymynech which, the guide says “mark the end-on  junction of the Ellesmere and Montgomeryshire canals.” The canal is as narrow as any I have seen here; the boats must have been slim indeed to have passed through.

They are called the Carreghofa locks; (do read this link its a great little history) a lower one….

…. and an upper one

The village of Llynymynech was just a half a mile hobble from here. The Bradford Arms, where I was booked in for the night, was,  thankfully, easy to find right in the middle of the village. I’d arrived at about 3 o clock but the pub was open and I was shown to my cosy room, glad to have completed the day and to have time to rest. But whether I would be fit to walk the next day weighed rather heavily on my mind.

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