Bredwardine to Hay on Wye

What a joy to have our accomodation right on the Wye Valley Walk, so out the door and up the hill! Yep, up the hill for at least two kilometres! Actually most of the day felt like up the hill. But what a beautiful walk. Time and time again we said 'How beautiful!' As usual, when climbing, Graham is out in front setting a cracking pace. When Allan and myself arrived at the top (well what we thought was the top) there was Graham and Ammie sitting, waiting, or maybe recovering.

Once we began to walk across the hill the views were incredible

Today is the first day where we have found strategically placed seats for us to sit and take in the view and some more photos

Graham had trouble getting Allan to move off this one.

Here we come again, up another hill.

We walked through a lovely flat area with lots of bluebells and ferns. We haven't seen many big clusters of bluebells for a few days so this was a nice surprise, before entering a difficult descent which was really muddy in parts. We had to carefully choose every step. Just when I thought I was safely down, one of my poles broke. Now I had to walk even more carefully. The view through the trees was some comfort after that slip and slide.

Once again the Wye comes into view, this time with a fly fisherman casting again and again. It is such a graceful action but we still haven't witnessed a successful catch.

Some of the trees are huge.

Some are just beautiful. The Hawthorn trees are starting to bloom and the contrast with the green countryside is lovely.

Sometimes style is needed to negotiate the stiles

We were very pleased to find this small bridge intact. Our guide book said that it was out of use with no alternative suggested. We were spared wet feet.

A few more fields to walk through, this one with a herd of young cattle. They were all standing still, quietly chewing on grass. One was on the opposite side of the field, right where we were to walk. It began to approach Graham and Ammie and then the others came across and started to surround them.

But all was well. The herd just started running down the field, kicking up their heels as they ran, much to Graham and Ammie's relief.

Just a couple more canola fields and Hay on Wye comes into view. The challenge now is to keep walking into town to find our accomodation, 'Seven Stars'.

But reception doesn't open until 4pm. We have to stay on our feet for another hour. A cup of tea and cake at one of the many coffee shops was just the refresher we needed.

At least we didn't have to walk that far! Today's walk, including a short walk around town, was 18 kilometres. It was a tough walk, with so much up hill walking, but it was a most beautiful walk. So much beauty captured in each scene - green and yellow, sometimes brown fields, magnificent trees, gorgeous houses dotted across the landscape, churches popping up from behind the trees, distant hills (our final destination) and of course, The River Wye. This truly is a lovely Valley to walk in.

This photo expresses exactly how we felt at the end of the day. Tomorrow is a rest day!!

After dinner we slowly walk to the Castle. The evening light was lovely.

The clock in this tower, which sits in the centre of town, chimes every half hour, such a lovely sound. And now to bed..