Friday 26 August.
A bright sunny day today, as you will see in the photographs below. We left our B&B, Yesterday's Hotel early, abput 9:40 am as we knew it was going to be a long day.
We initially walked beside the west bank of the Severn for about 2 to 3 km before passing the (Newtown?) sewage works, at which point the Montgomery canal started and the Severn way then followed the towpath of the canal rather than following the river Severn. It did this all the way into Welshpool a distance of 25 km or 15 miles.
Although the walk was totally flat between locks, where there was a slight descent, the combination of pack weight, distance and heat made it an exhausting day. Perhaps we are getting old!
By latching on to the Montgomery canal the Severn Way was committed to close proximity to two roads. Nearer Newtown the A483 and later, approaching Welshpool, the A458. The traffic noise was quite unpleasant at times.
In recent times new roads have been given precedence over the older canals and so continuous passage along the canal, by water, is no possible. Towpath walkers have to perform a number of busy road crossings.
We've added a few photos to give you an idea of what we saw on our way. Path conditon was good, no machetes needed, at least for towpath walkers. Trying to navigate the canal itself would be something else again. The southern end was completely impassable but things got clearer going north.
We saw men out trimming vegetation at the southern end , nearer Newtown. We appreciate there help. It would be good if their colleagues to the north, just entering Welshpool, could follow their example and do a bit of trimming.
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