Saturday 27 August.
We stayed at the Westwood Hotel in Welshpool. We last stayed there 6 years ago whilst walking the Offa' s Dyke path. A friendly place with a good breakfast. However to reach it you have to cross a very busy road. All the town roads in Welshpool seemed ridiculously busy to us. However it should be noted we've now been away from the UK for 41 years.
We set off at 9:40 am in cool, overcast weather. We retraced our steps to the Montgomery Canal and headed north. The next picture is a canal view showing two sightseeing barges. Note the clear reflections in the water. There was little wind.
The next picture is of a giant fungus we saw beside the canal. The piece of paper in the photograph is standard width toilet paper, to help you guage the enormous size of the fungus.
In the next photo you can see two adult swans with seven cygnets. We did wonder if they were relatives of the ones we saw whilst walking Offa's Dyke 6 years ago.
Further along we passed a tilt bridge over the canal. We can't remember seeing such a bridge on the Leeds/Liverpool Canal last year.
The next view, through a farm gate, gives you an idea of the sort of misty morning we set off in.
The noise from the road near the canal, A483, was quite intrusive, and for a short time the road, towpath and canal were running side by side, as in the next picture below.
The next two photographs are for the biologists amongst you. The first shows a small section of hedge, by the canal, that was covered with cobwebs, but why just the small section.
The next picture shows the red and green mats of algae which at time covered large area of the canal surface.
We eventually left the canal heading NE, across country together following the Offa's Dyke path. The National Trail status of the Offa's Dyke path meant the path markings and maintenance were very good.
The next photo shows a distant view of the Breidden Hills,whilst in the fields near the path we are now starting to see the odd paddock of sweet corn here and there.
Having left the canal, the path headed NE and largely followed the stop bank either side of the Severn river. The river was much more docile than it appeared in the earlier days of our walk.
Eventually the Offa's Dyke path and the Severn Way path parted company. It was clear by now that the large hill on the horizon was actually being gradually removed from the landscape by a huge quarry works.
We passed a brick bridge over the Severn, which was there during the second world war and we've also attached a picture of the concrete pill box at the N end of the bridge built to protect it.
There were quite a lot of cattle on the path today and a few came over to inspect us.
The next photo shows a bend in the Severn where Japanese Knot weed seems to have become established. There was a lot on the Montgomery Canal yesterday.
The final photograph was taken above a small water way leading into the Severn. It seems to be an example of taking health and safety warnings to extremes.
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