Getting fit for hill walking in Wales

[pwa]

In August my wife and I walked about two thirds of the Offa's Dyke Path. We started near Chepstow and finished near Welshpool, walking between 14 and 18 miles a day.

We stayed at B@Bs, so no camping gear, but we still had to carry all our spare clothing, food and water, so the hilly route was tough on the feet. Going up was fine, but descending became a real trial for the feet. We have very good, well fitting Scarpa boots, but on steep descents we found our toes began to feel crammed into the ends of the boots.

No blisters, though. We wore two pairs of socks. A pair of very thin liners and a pair of slightly padded summer thickness hiking socks.

The legs were super stiff in the evenings, but after a minute or two of walking the next day they were fine. And they became less prone to stiffness as the days went by.

Cycling does not make you a strong walker, and I'm sure walking does not make you a strong cyclist. But a good heart and lungs is common to both activities and I found the breathing easy. Even with sweat dripping from the tip of my nose my pulse rate was fine.

[Tangled Metal]

CMD Arete is a great route up the Ben. That's the way I did it. Worth taking your time to take a good route up hills especially if you're only likely to do it once.

[Cyril Haearn]

I do use a single pole, +1
No blisters but some muscles after the first walking day, didn't bother to read the map and had to re-ascend 200 m
The miniature railway at West Shore Llandudno was closed (weather!) so I will have to go back
The walk over Penmaenbach to Conwy is one of my favourites

It rained once, so I went looking for books in Bangor
There was a *Belgian Shop* there, but it closed on 24.12.17, just did not have enough custom

[Cyril Haearn]

Answering my own question, another dormant hobby of mine: ascending towers! Just been up a church spire, 544 steps, 123 m vertical, rested a few times but did not get exhausted so I am quite fit even with a cold
Nothing to stop one paying once and going up and down several times, I think I shall try that