A Wild West Walk and a Border March Weatherman Walking

One of the nicest things about walking is that you can go

at your own pace - to explore, stop and see places properly.

To enjoy fresh air and fresh coffee.

I love places with the countryside right on their doorstep,

like Montgomery, one of Wales' hidden gems.

Are you ready?

In this programme, I've got another two fascinating walks,

and one of them is bordering on being a bit of a march.

And we'll be marching in the Welsh Marches,

along the Wales-England border,

following a section of the Offa's Dyke Path, ending in Montgomery.

But our first walk is way out west, in North Pembrokeshire.

This is the Pembrokeshire Coast Path,

a long-distance trail established over 40 years ago.

It's got beautiful beaches and stunning views along its whole length

that make it the best walk in Britain, if not Europe.

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path runs for 186 miles,

from St Dogmaels in the north to Amroth in the south.

It passes 58 beaches, 14 harbours and crosses 400 stiles.

If you're feeling fit and want to do the whole thing in one go,

it should take you between ten and 15 days,

but we're going to do one section, starting here in Trefin.

I need a guide to help show me the way.

Gwenno Dafydd spent her teenage years in this area,

before moving away to college and becoming an all-round performer.

Actress, singer, comedian, radio and TV presenter - you name it, Gwenno's done it.

Everything, that is, apart from walking with a weatherman - until today.

-Shw' mae, Gwenno?

-Derek!

-How are you? Are you ready for this.

-Come on!

-Are you ready for it?

-You're bonkers!

Ha-ha! Let's go!

We're kicking off in Trefin,

about halfway between Fishguard and St Davids.

Just out of the village,

we pass a ruined old flour mill, before heading for Abercastle.

From Abermawr Beach we take a short detour to Melin Tregwynt,

a working woollen mill,

then back to the coastal path, ending at Pwll Deri youth hostel.

Ten and a half miles - time it right

and you can catch the coastal bus back to the start.

'I do like a good ruin, me. They've usually got a good story to tell.

'This old mill gave its name to Aberfelin Bay.

'They say it was in use for 500 years, before it finally closed in 1918.'

A poem written almost 100 years ago about this old mill,

by the arch druid Crwys,

is one of the most famous poems in the Welsh language.

The first two lines are quite well-known in the Welsh language

and they go,

"Nid yw'r felin heno'n malu Yn Nhrefin ym min y mor"

Translated to English it means,

"The mill is no longer working in Trefin by the side of the sea."

-Sounds much better in Welsh than English.

-Of course.

The mill has been closed for many years, but the poetry lives on.

-In my heart, at least.

-Let's get going.

-Come on, then.

-Just look at this, Gwenno. It's fantastic, isn't it?

-Yeah.

We've only just come a few yards from the mill and the village and,

already, wonderful views.

'If we were walking the entire length of the coastal path,

'they say all the ups and downs

'would be equivalent to hiking up and down Everest.

-'I can see what they mean.'

-Burning up the calories, Derek.

-Burning up the calories.

-Just look how clear the water is.

It's totally translucent, isn't it?

The craggy cliffs are nowhere as dramatic as they are on this wild

and unspoilt section of the path, between Trefin and Strumble Head,

across the bay.

We're going to take a little detour now.

-We're going to go and see Carreg something.

-Samson's Rock.

That's the one.

Apparently, Samson was a local saint, who actually lifted the rock

with his little finger and his little finger is buried over there, apparently.

-What happened to the rest of him?

-God knows.

I've seen something like this before in North Wales.

-A burial chamber - a cromlech.

-Yes, absolutely.

This one is a neolithic burial chamber, 5,000 years old.

It's 15 foot long and nine foot across.

It's just amazing.

It is amazing. Just look at the size of these stones.

Try lifting that with your little finger. See how far you get.

-I think it's moving, just a little bit.

-Ooh, Derek!

He must have been a strong man, Mr Samson.

The way it stands in splendid isolation overlooking the bay

makes Samson's Rock one of the most magnificent

megalithic tombs in Wales.

Well worth a visit, I'd say.

Tourism and farming are what pay the wages round here these days,

but the village of Abercastle has reminders

of important industries of the past.

-This is gorgeous, Gwenno.

-Yes, isn't it?

There's loads of little bays like this

around the North Pembrokeshire coast.

This little inlet here is called Abercastle

and it used to be used for shipping grain and also lime.

Up there, you'll see it's an old grain storehouse or granary.

Both fishing and lime production were important here for centuries.

Limestone was brought by ship from South Pembrokeshire and then

processed locally in lime kilns like this one,

right next to the path.

They baked the lime until it cooked and it was a nice, fine powder

and then they spread the powder on the fields

as a sort of soil improver.

Another thing they used to do was make paint out of it

and paint the houses, as well.

They're quite prolific around North Pembrokeshire.

There's lots of lime kilns everywhere.

This has got to be one of the best, best views ever. Look at that.

-What do you think?

-That's amazing, isn't it? Lovely.

Come over here.

I know it doesn't look like much,

but this is actually an iron age promontory fort

and it's called Castell Coch

and you've got two ditches, two embankments

and then you get to the centre of the fort

and there's a zig-zag entrance,

so it's quite complex and difficult to get into.

You'd easily miss it, wouldn't you, just walking past here,

because it's overgrown with bracken?

It doesn't look like anything, really, does it?

This here, this vista in front of us, that's where I grew up,

really, in that area there.

As we head off towards the pebbly beach of Abermawr, it's difficult

to imagine how different this view might have been had a certain

Victorian engineer gone ahead with his ambitious plans for the place.

You know, here could have been so different,

because Isembard Kingdom Brunel wanted to make this

the terminus for the Great Western Railway

and for all the transatlantic liners

to come from here to go over to America.

But...they ran out of money and it never happened.

Thank goodness, because otherwise they would have spoiled this.

It's absolutely beautiful. A peaceful haven for walkers.

It seems a shame to tear ourselves away from the coast,

but we're off for a brief detour inland to see a woollen mill

which has reinvented Welsh woollens for 21st-Century fashion.

Here we are, Melin Tregwynt - Tregwynt Woollen Mill.

I worked here as an 11-year-old child in the shop.

We used to have loads of American tourists coming here

and they'd be sitting on the grass here and eating their ice creams.

'There's been a mill here since the 17th century,

'when local farmers brought their fleeces to be spun into yarn

'and woven into fine Welsh wool blankets.'

Come and have a look in here.

I wasn't expecting this.

What were you expecting, little old ladies with spindles?

Yeah, working away on their spinning machines.

I'm not quite that old,

but I'm going to say this was exactly the same then.

-It hasn't changed much?

-It hasn't changed at all.

The machines are exactly the same.

This is how I learned to talk and to speak, you see.

-Talk over the noise of the machines.

-That's why I'm so loud!

The 1980s recession saw many of the Welsh mills close,

but Melin Tregwynt was lucky.

New designs have kept the mill busy,

supplying customers all over the world.

They did a great cup of coffee, didn't they? Fair play.

Yeah, lovely Welsh cakes, as well.

Yeah, back on track now - Abermawr back to Aberbach.

Back to the coastal path,

and it wouldn't be a proper seaside stroll

without a tall tale of the sea.

There's a well-known story about a mermaid that was washed ashore.

She was caught by a local farmer,

who took her up to a farm over that ridge, called Tresysyllt.

And, basically, she said, "Please, let me go free, because otherwise

"I will put a curse on this farm and no-one will be born here."

And he kept her and, apparently,

no child was born there for hundreds of years.

Sounds a bit fishy to me.

-Come on.

-Uch!

I love the sound of just boots on stones.

It's a nice sound, isn't it?

And the sound of the ocean just crashing against those pebbles

is wonderful, isn't it?

I bet you can come here on a fine, hot summer's day

and there's nobody else here.

No, nobody.

You've got the whole beach to yourself.

'It's in these quieter,

'remote and wild places that you really sense the spell of old

'Pembrokeshire, described in the Welsh folk tales, the Mabinogion,

'as "gwlad hyd a lledrith", the ancient land of mystery and enchantment.'

'We now head up our final climb of the day,

'onto the windswept top of Pen Bwlch Du headland.'

From the summit,

you can see the stunning location of Pwllderi Youth Hostel,

which will be the end of our walk.

Well, this is quite a magical place for me, really.

Beyond that chapel, over there, is Ty Harmwni,

where my parents still live.

That's a lovely name.

Yeah, it means, house of harmony.

This is where I used to come running.

I used to go spud picking.

The gypsies used to come over, specifically, from Ireland

to pick potatoes.

If I was lucky, I could maybe pick 40 bags a day.

And they would pick 100 bags a day.

They were extremely hard-working people.

So, many fond memories from this area?

Oh, absolutely, it's...my special place.

Come on, nearly there.

On the home straight, now, are we?

Yeah, there's a little bit up the road here.

So, what's this stone memorial here?

Well, this is a monument to Dewi Emrys, who was a local poet.

Dewi Emrys wrote a huge, extensive poem

about all the inhabitants of Pencaer,

which is this area, and it was in the local dialect.

These are the first two lines, here.

"A thina'r meddilie sy'n dwad i chi,

"pan fo chi'n ishte uwchben Pwllderi."

What does that mean?

"These are the thoughts that come to you

"when you're actually sitting above Pwllderi."

He was encapsulating all the news about the local inhabitants

and what they used to get up to.

But, he had a bit of a problem with alcohol

and he sold his crown,

the one he won in Swansea in the Eisteddfod,

for alcohol, which is very sad, really.

It is a bit sad, but he was a very good poet.

He was a brilliant poet and a minister.

Well, Derek, we've got to the end of our journey.

Here we are in Pwllderi and this is where I got married.

-Really?

-Yeah.

I always said when I was growing up that this place meant so much to me

that I would never get married

unless I could get married in Pwllderi.

I made enquiries about coming here, and we were very lucky,

they allowed us to get a licence

and we were the first people to get married here.

It was... Oh, a magical day.

-You couldn't have chosen a better place?

-No, no.

Well, this is the end of our walk,

and thanks to Gwenno,

I've been reminded of the wild and rugged beauty

of the North Pembrokeshire coast.

This really is the place to switch off, escape the crowds

and get away from it all.

If you fancy trying one of the walks from the series, go to

bbc.co.uk/weathermanwalking and take a look at our interactive website.

It has everything you need,

from detailed route information for each walk,

as well as photographs we took along the way,

and walking maps for you to print off and follow.

For the next walk in this programme,

we head to the border country for a hike on the dyke.

Apparently, some crazy, fit people manage it in just four days.

More sensible folk take about two weeks,

but most do it in short sections, in day trips,

taking months, if not years, to tick off the whole thing.

I'm talking about the 40-year-old Offa's Dyke Path.

177 miles in length, this long-distance footpath

crosses the Welsh English border more than 20 times,

from the banks of the Severn near Chepstow, to Prestatyn,

on the shores of the Irish Sea.

As a taster, we'll be doing the bit in the middle,

a linear, eight-mile chunk of the path,

starting in the Shropshire hills at the tiny hamlet of Churchtown.

A few steep ups and downs over the rolling hills takes us

to the arable low lands, along the English-Welsh border.

Through the Lymore Estate,

ending in the picturesque town of Montgomery.

And all I need now is a guide to show me the way.

Writer and photographer Jim Saunders, who comes from Knighton,

the halfway point on the path, spent 12 years as the Path Officer.

He's published a book of his photographs of the path

and is still closely involved, as a volunteer

and official photographer for the Offa's Dyke Association.

-Morning, Jim.

-Hello, Derek.

-Lovely day.

-It's not bad, is it going to stay like this?

Hopefully, fingers crossed.

-Which way is the start of the walk?

-Just up here.

So, we're on the Offa's Dyke Path, Jim,

what makes it so special, what's it's appeal, do think?

Well, one part of its appeal, you can see just by looking around you here,

is the fantastic countryside.

The whole way along, 177 miles,

only really goes through two substantial towns

and they're at the end.

In between, it's just fantastic countryside.

But the key feature that it's got

that only Hadrian's Wall can compete with, is the Dyke, of course.

So, in places today, not only will we be walking through history,

but we'll be walking right on top of it.

A great, big, earthwork embankment,

Britain's biggest archaeological monument,

built in the 8th century by King Offa.

We've just come off the path for a moment here,

so we can look at a really good section of the Dyke.

You can see the classic profile, like this,

a bank of earth, with a ditch on this side.

We're looking north, now, the ditch is on the West,

or if you like, the Welsh side.

Some archaeologists argue that because the ditch is on that side,

it was a defensive earthwork.

Imagine Mercians standing on top of the dyke,

Welshmen coming from over here and scrambling up,

while the Mercians are throwing stones at them.

The ditch makes it more difficult.

It would have been much bigger when it was first built.

The ditch would have been much deeper and the bank higher.

But, even so, for 1,200 years old, it's not looking bad, is it?

As we huff and puff up this steep climb,

across the valley

we can clearly see the line of the Dyke between the trees.

It doesn't go around the hills, it goes straight over them,

and so do we.

Well, it's a bit flatter now, Jim, and, uh, wonderful views.

Yes, we're getting up high enough to really get the views,

and I think we'll get even better shortly.

There's a nice bit of late May Blossom, here.

Most of it's over, but just look at that.

This is the hawthorn tree.

Hawthorn tree, May Blossom, the fruit is the haw.

There's a good piece of Dyke in the next field

that we can see ahead of us, now.

Oh, yeah.

You can see the profile quite clearly.

It's not the Great Wall of China,

but it's still really quite impressive, isn't it?

The key thing you have to remember is that there's 80 miles of this.

It's only when you walk the path

you get the feel of the length and size of the whole thing.

It is quite amazing how it plunges like a rollercoaster,

straight down and back up these steep, rolling hills.

As something dug and built by hand 1,200 years ago,

I'm beginning to appreciate that it is a remarkable feat of engineering,

and must have been jolly hard work to build.

So, this King Offa, who built this huge mound, which goes

on for miles, tell me a bit about him, who was he exactly?

Right, Offa is the Saxon King of the Kingdom of Mercia,

which was roughly over there, what's now the Midlands of England.

Of course, the mere fact that he could build something like this

tells you that he was a powerful bloke with lots of resources.

King Offa built this dyke to keep the Welsh out

or the other way round?

Maybe to keep the Welsh out, or certainly, at the very least,

to mark the edge of his kingdom.

So that everybody knew, "This is my patch, I'm in charge around here."

So, it's goodbye, England and hello, Wales, croeso i Gymru.

Yes, this is the border, Wales that way,

we've just come out of England.

This is actually the Kerry Ridgeway.

Certainly hundreds of years old, possibly thousands,

an old drovers road, so they would have bought livestock here

into England, to the markets.

-Cattle and sheep, that kind of thing?

-Yes, that's right.

We're going to continue north now, along Offa's Dyke,

further into Wales.

Lovely view, Jim, we can see for miles.

Yeah, yeah, and that's the way we're going, as well,

down into the valley of the Severn.

But it is a beautiful day, a beautiful, clear day.

And here we've got a badger sett. See this pile of spoil here?

That's freshly dug out.

They've been here for a while,

there's several holes.

They wreak havoc with the dyke, I'm afraid.

It's very difficult to do anything about it,

because although the monument is protected,

the badgers are also protected.

So, you've got a conflict of legislation there.

I mean, I've got nothing against them, as such,

but they do cause problems.

Right, shall we carry on?

We'll have to keep going, yes, got a way to go yet.

Well, the view just gets better and better, Jim. Just look at that!

Yes, this is beautiful, isn't it?

So, what are we looking at here? What hill is that?

That's Corndon Hill,

and to the right of that you've got the Stiperstones,

with the little lumps on top, which is a national nature reserve

and an area of heather moorland.

One of those lumps is called the Devil's Chair.

It's so nice, Jim, I've got to take a photograph.

That's a good idea. I think I will, as well. You first.

You never know, this might end up on the website or even on Wales Today.

Oh, yes, well, let's hope so.

We've had a lot of visual experiences today,

here's a smelly one for you, just have a smell of that.

What is it, honeysuckle?

Wild honeysuckle, yeah.

It's one of my favourite plants.

Mmm, smells lovely.

You'll have to take my word for that.

WELSH MALE VOICE CHOIR SING

Cwm Chapel here, is a reminder that we are still, indeed, in Wales.

But, like many other Welsh chapels these days,

it's been converted into a house.

So, there's no chance of popping in for some hymns and arias.

Look, Jim, walkers welcome. Shall we take a look?

Oh, right, yes.

A rather imposing, Gothic-style country house,

Mellington Hall is now a hotel.

It's claim to fame is that the beautiful gardens here

were originally designed by landscape gardener and architect

Joseph Paxton, best known for designing the Crystal Palace.

Well, I wasn't expecting this, Jim.

It's very grand, more than a cafe for walkers.

It is, it's rather splendid, isn't it?

And a very impressive bit of Victorian architecture.

I'm a bit of a fan of Victorian,

but 30 to 40 years ago, this would have been deeply unfashionable,

and some people would have described it as ugly,

but it's been well restored and it's in a fantastic location.

It would be nice to pop in for a cup of tea,

but we've got to get to Montgomery before sunset.

We must press on.

I think that's where I'll stay when we come here next.

Aah.

As we leave the estate,

it strikes me how different this area feels

to other places I've visited in Wales.

As the border criss-crosses our route,

it weaves together the past and the present,

giving this place a unique character.

And as we pass old mills

and a motte-and-bailey castle just over the hedge,

I'm left wondering what might be around the next corner.

Well, there's an old petrol station here, Jim.

I bet they don't sell super unleaded.

No, whatever they do sell it's four shillings and threepence.

And there's a pub and hotel here, the Blue Bell.

Yes, it's a bit of a traditional stopping off point, this,

the Blue Bell at Brompton crossroads is one of the staging posts,

if you like, along the Offa's Dyke Path.

Now, I can see how the the pub got it's name,

but I've no idea why they want freedom for Brompton.

Having left the hills behind, the path now takes us right alongside

a part of the dyke that's also the present day Welsh-English border.

Ah, now, there's our destination over there,

you can see Montgomery Castle in the patch of sun,

which is where we're going to finish up.

Not too far to go, then?

No, it's not too far.

Looks like a bit of parkland here, Jim.

Yes, there's some nice specimen trees,

a couple of beeches over there.

This is the Lymore Estate.

This walk has a bit of everything, doesn't it?

You know, up and down, we've passed some lovely farm land,

now, look at this, beautiful parkland.

That's one of the things people who've walked the path say,

that it's beautiful scenery, but also a great variety of it.

-Bit a history, as well.

-Plenty of history, yes.

"TEST MATCH SPECIAL" THEME

Lymore Estate may no longer have its stately home,

the half-timbered mansion was demolished in 1931,

but it does have a historic cricket ground,

where the youngsters of Montgomery Cricket Club swing the willow today.

There was a bit of a fashion in the 19th century

for big landowners to have a private cricket club,

where their friends could come and play.

But this is quite a special one,

firstly, because it goes back to the 1840s,

there are records of matches that far back,

but also cos in 1882, England actually came here to play Montgomery.

An England XI played a Montgomery 22.

22, how on earth did they get away with so many players?

I don't know how, but they did win, so...

Well, I'm not surprised.

The cunning Welsh did it again.

Yes.

Montgomery, at last, and what a lovely place it is.

Lots of beautiful old buildings.

So, why aren't there more tourists here?

Jim, I've been to Welshpool before,

but this is the first time I've been to Montgomery

and I suspect a lot of people haven't come here, have they?

No, it's, it's quite a well-kept secret, really,

or maybe not anymore,

but it's a beautiful, quiet, little country town.

Exquisitely preserved,

partly because, in the Industrial Revolution,

the canal and the railway went to Welshpool and Newtown.

So, they bypassed Montgomery

and it's been in a bit of a time capsule ever since, really.

Looks a bit steep up there.

It is, but then again, that's why the castle's up there.

Actually, the name of the town, Montgomery,

doesn't sound very Welsh, does it?

It doesn't, no.

The reason for that is that it's actually French.

The first Norman Earl was Roger de Montgomerie,

and he named it after his home town, which was Montgomerie in France.

So, maybe we should be pronouncing the town in a French accent,

Montgomerie!

Mmm, yeah.

'This must have been a great place for a defensive fortress,

'perched on a high crag above the enemy.

'I'm glad to say that, today, it's a peaceful and tranquil retreat,

'with stunning views north towards the River Severn

'and a fitting climax to our walk.'

Jim, I wasn't expecting a view as special as this.

It's awesome!

It's not bad, is it?

It's a bit better than that.

I think I may have to take a photograph.

I think you should.

'Well, if the other 169 miles are as varied and interesting

'as the eight miles we've just walked,

'I can't wait to get to grips with some more of the Offa's Dyke path.

'Now, where was that nice coffee shop?'

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