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A and E tours Charity Walks

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Pendragon:
A and E Tours was a term coined by a woman called Cath that we met in Chepstow last May.  Elaine Smithson Steward of the Conwy Cruising Club and I walked from Chepstow to Prestatyn along Offa's Dyke a total of 177 miles.  Although it was hard going it was also good fun.  It rained constantly for the first 4 days I kid you not, we had planned to camp but due to the weather this was nigh on impossible and so we improvised and managed to take refuge in barns (bin sheds if I'm honest) and a pensioners flat bless him......I'll tell you that story later. 
We also organised a sponsored walk for locals from Prestatyn to Conwy which was 27 miles.  In total we raised £3,761.90 for the Conwy Poppy Appeal.

These walks are made possible by pledges of £30 given by local businesses and pubs.  Without their help we couldn't go.  We camp all the way with the exception of maybe one or two B and Bs.

This years walk is 186 miles along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path and it wil take us 2 weeks.  We leave for Amroth on the 6th June (DDay) and arrive in St Dogmaels on the 21st June (Armed Forces Day)  This stretch of the Wales Coastal Path is reported to be the most picturesque.  We just hope the weather is better than last year  8) We thought we would be arriving home with trench foot as opposed to a sun tan.

In addition we have organised a sponsored walk for everyone else called the Port to Port.  This walk starts on the 22nd June 9am at Porth Penrhyn Bangor and finishes approximately 20 miles later On Conwy Quay. The main coordinator for this walk is Clare Roberts landlady of the LA.  Anyone can join in at any stage of this trek.  Sponsor forms are available at the Liverpool Arms Conwy and the Conwy Legion.

We have set up a Virgin giving page and a facebook page too.  Links for both are at the bottom of this page.

All money raised this year will be split equally between the Poppy Appeal and the RNLI.

https://www.facebook.com/ConwyPoppyHonourWalk2013

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=angieparry

Pendragon:
Day 1 Offa's Dykle walk

Day 1- Conwy to Sedbury
 
The plan was to meet Godfrey down at the Liverpool Arms in Conwy at 8.30am, so we were up early packing last minute bits and bobs into our huge rucksacks.  We had a coffee with Clare and a photo of our departure and off we went to start our 2 week Poppy Honour Walk across the entire length of Offa's Dyke which is 177 miles and we were really excited.
 
We had arranged with Graham the owner of The Rickyard Bunk house in Monmouth to drop off the big rucksacks with him until we arrived there on the Saturday having walked from the start point at Sedbury Cliffs 17 miles away but unfortunately when we arrived he wasn't in.  Now my idea of a Bunk House is it's a kind of Youth Hostel where lots of people all stay and for this reason I didn't want to leave all our belongings in the door way, we looked around but Graham was nowhere to be seen and so we left our bags in his conservatory with a note explaining who we were.
 
We got back into Godfreys car with just our day bags, sleeping bags, roll mats and all the gear we would need for the 17 mile trek the next day and we set off for Sedbury where the Chairman of the Sedbury Legion had given us permission to stay in the scout hut situated in the grounds.  We arrived around 3pm only to find the Legion was shut too, not to worry we had the number of the Scout leader and we knew they had the key to the hut.  This is when we met Linda and her mother Thelma (Chairwoman of the Womens section of the Legion) what lovely people they were too.  We dumped the bags and headed for the only pub in the village which was a bit posh if I'm honest.  We got talking to a Scotish lady called Cath at the bar and she gave us a lift into Chepstow, where there were lots more pubs.....bonus.
 
Cath was a really nice and we had a couple of pints with her in a pub where she had once been Landlady a few years earlier.  She kept forgetting our names and so she said it was easier to remember if she called us A and E hehe and here the phrase was coined The A and E tours which is exactly how the rest of the trek panned out.
 
We returned to Sedbury British Legion about half 7 that night, we had a great welcome, a few more pints and raised £65 before leaving for the Scout hut where we set out our beds slightly worse for wear but still looking forward to the morning when we started the trek.

Pendragon:
Day 2 Sedbury to Monmouth 17 miles.
 
Elaine was awake with the larks and raring to go, I however was slightly hung over and desperate for an extra half hour in bed and so I decided to ignore her quiet calls of "Ang, Ang it's time to get up" but I needn't have bothered as the next thing she was stamping about in her heavy boots on the wooden flooring and thrusting a coffee under my nose, now I know I should be grateful......but I wasn't and I was even less impressed when through bleary eyes I looked at my phone and realised it was only 7.30am, those that know me know I do not do mornings lol.  Reluctantly I dragged my sorry ass out of my sleeping bag and after 3 fags and lots more coffee packed up my stuff and we headed off to Sedbury Cliffs for the start of the walk to Monmouth.
 
It started to rain as we made our way up to Sedbury Cliffs but we weren't bothered a little rain never hurt anyone and we had our wets with us.  It was a hard trog up and down all those hills .  Three hours later we found shelter in a bus stop in the middle of nowhere and decided to make lunch......Lainy made a cupasoup on our little camping stove and I began to boil water for an Oxo, across the road a farmer pulled up to see to his flock of sheep as me and Lainy bickered in the bus stop, we could see him laughing.  I'm very clumsy and as I went to get the little pan of boiling water off the camping stove, knocked it over nearly causing Lainy 3rd degree burns (luckily she has quick reflexes and was unharmed hehe) but that meant my chance of lunch was dashed,  the farmer laughed even more and jokingly I said "I don't suppose your going to the next village are you" "Yes, why do you want a lift" he said....he didn't have to ask me twice as I began packing up my rucksack and telling Lainy to get a move on.  She looked at me indignantly and said "don't rush me I haven't finished my cupasoup yet!!" now it hadn't stopped raining since the morning and although we had shower proof clothing on they weren't p#ssing down with rain proof you understand and so I turned to her and said "Just get in the car" lol.  She followed with the hot camping stove wrapped in a tea towel.
 
The farmer took us a couple of miles down the road where we met up with the way markers for the Offa's Dyke once more.  Again we treked up and down hills for the next 8 miles.  We arrived in Brockweir soaking wet with shoulders aching as even the day bags we carried along with sleeping bags and mats were heavy although they remained dry thankfully as we had wrapped them in bin bags before setting off.  First stop was the Brockweir Inn where we had lunch and for the first time I had a coffee and Lainy had a J2O.  We didn't speak much as we were absolutely knackered.  We kept looking at each other and laughing....I think it was exhaustion that did it hehe but at least we remained in good humour.
 
We arrived in Monmouth around 6pm but couldn't remember where the Rickyard Bunk House was so we found the nearest British Legion for help, it was still raining and our shoulders were burning with the weight of out day bags.  We had just ordered a taxi and a pint when Graham from the Rickyard phoned me and was really miffed we had left our bags in "His private quarters and not in the Bunk House" so riddled with guilt we bought him a box of Maltesers to soften him up.
 
Even the taxi driver had a hard time finding the Rickyard but we eventually found it out in the sticks.  Graham came to meet us, he reminded me of Basil Faulty and after apologising profusely we were forgiven.  We soon realised on arrival that we had no food and nowhere to buy any, so seen as Graham was alright with us we decided to say nothing of the peace offering and ate the Maltesers ourselves lol.
 
The Bunk house was fantastic, a huge chalet type place with showers, large living area, separate kitchen and room to sleep 20+ people, it cost us £16 a night but he didn't charge us for heating bless him and so we dried all our clothes and packed up our large rucksacks ready for the morning.  They were ridiculously heavy and we tried desperately to dump stuff but it's not as if we'de packed unnecessary clothing, hair dryers and stuff, we needed everything in the bags.  There was nothing for it we'd have to carry the bags!!  It was a shower and bed early ready for the next day.
The p[ictures are not necessarily in order sorry.

hollins:



--- Quote ---
This years walk is 186 miles along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path and it wil take us 2 weeks.  We leave for Amroth on the 6th June (DDay) and arrive in St Dogmaels on the 21st June (Armed Forces Day)  This stretch of the Wales Coastal Path is reported to be the most picturesque. 

--- End quote ---





Hi Pendragon. There are some photos on this link of what will be your first days walk from Amroth. I hope you get better weather this time.
Good Luck.

http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,33.msg51385.html#msg51385

Pendragon:
Thanks Hollins x

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