Rat Race Run Britannia - Week 2, day 2 - Monmouth to Hay-on-Wye

Into the mountains

Distance: 54.66km (total so far 498.08km)
Total climb: 1374m (total so far 10,660m)
Steps: 68,617(total so far 610,126)

Also:

Number of wild horses: 25 or so
Number of beers drunk: 1

Monmouth to Pandy

This was a day of two parts - the morning was fields and farmland, climbing gently up from the river at Monmouth to the edge of the Black Mountains at Pandy.


The climbs, at least in the morning, were more moderate than yesterday's,  and it was a pleasant run and walk through to the amazing location for pitstop 1 at White Castle.


Em had her massage bed set up right in the middle of the castle walls, and that was a very weird sight! Fortunately, I didn't require her services on that occasion and it was on to the next part of the morning footpaths - this part of the Wales borders is a very beautiful place.


The hill vaguely looming in the background of that shot was going to be the afternoon's problem! But, before then, we completed our morning section and the lunch pitstop where I met up with Andy was, appropriately enough, at Pandy village hall.


Pandy to Hay-on-Wye

This was going to be our first mountain section, and we were warned to ensure that we had all our safety kit with us. The weather was good for us, but we both knew how fast the weather can change on mountain sections - and, as we'd been told before, your safety kit and waterproofs aren't necessarily for when you are moving, they're for if you have to stop.

We had also been told that no-one was to solo this afternoon section, so Andy and I made a team with Ash and we set up uphill. It was a solid climb without being a Cornwall-level precipitous one, and after an hour or so of climbing we were properly up on the high moor.


The day was a little hazy, but the views were still impressive. We stopped to take photos at what turned out to be the first of four trig points we would pass that day.


Once on top, we basically followed the moor along the watershed, ever higher as we moved north. Like Exmoor, this moor also had local inhabitants.


We jogged and walked a couple of hours along what felt like the roof the world, until we were only 7km from the finish and starting to wonder where the last feedstation was!


The answer was about 200m steeply down, but we managed it with a bit of care. Ash was quite a bit faster than us, and so took off for Hay on Wye - which had nothing to do with the fact we'd been promised a beer on Rat Race when we finished! We followed in a slightly more cautious fashion - the last 5km to Hay on Wye was quite steeply down over an uneven path and our feet were telling us that this wasn't their favourite end to the day. Still, when we got there, the pint was very much appreciated.

Song of the day: "Up where we belong" by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.






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