30. Kington. Up and down in more ways than one.

Well.  The walk to Knighton (day before yesterday) was lovely, I did it the easy way along lanes rather than climb high,  and have since had cause to regret that..............more later.

The campsite in Knighton was delightful and I set up my tent and ambled into town along the river and enjoyed a good solid pub meal.  Then yesterday, my first "proper" day, I walked to Kington.  I'd been somewhat concerned to have no less than 6 separate Foot Issues but none apparantly serious so set off without too  much concern.  Its a wonderful walk and there came a moment when suddenly I was on top of the world with nothing but sky, hills, space, and birds and sheep and trees - and it was glorious.  All the minor preoccupations of the way so far - route finding, wondering whether it would rain, sudden realisations that I was walking actually on the Dyke, a slightly bigger concern about a developing Foot Issue no 7 (a blister, which I stopped to attend to twice during the day), leaving arrows for the family group that was following me, making myself walk slowly...............all forgotten in the moment.

And I arrived in Kington, via wonderful woods, open moorland, wide open spaces, forgotten corners of woodland, amicable chats with other walkers (there's a bit of an Offa's Dyke camaradie) - fit and well and although ready to stop, knew that if needed I could have kept going.  Fabulous!  Until I took off my socks and saw that Foot Issue no 7 is a massive open blister, far bigger than any of the available over the counter dressings.  Morale plummeted.  I can't go home after 3 days!

This morning brought the thought that I can go home, sort out the next phase of dealing with the flood damage, and bring the bike and do, say, some of the more urban sections, eg Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, by bike, then drop that off at home and come back and walk the rest of the Dyke and then carry on, and so still do it all, under my own steam, but in sections and maybe not consecutively.  Better than going home with my tail between my legs.  Some consolation anyway.

A visit to the nurse in Kington leaves me more optimistic, she thinks a couple of days off will make a difference.  We'll see. 

Well, I didnt really expect it all to go smoothly, but blisters!  Oh dear!  And the boots were good, and fit well, and had been walked in.  One possibility is that I had put the orthotics under the insole - maybe something as simple as that, coupled with walking on the road with the weight of the pack, could just do it???