W4 - Llangattock Lingoed to Long Town

It's one of those first world things, that one just assumes everywhere has Broadband. Well in deepest Gloucestershire they don't !!! Hence no blog written after the walk - I took solace in 3 pints of Otter Ale and a great Lamb and Leek pie at the Crown Inn 😉

Summary
We are deep in sheep and cattle country. A patch work quilt of hedgerows, trees and lush green fields. Not that we could spend a lot of time sight seeing because we had 14 miles to cover plus a rather large climb on to the ridge. Its easy to forget this is a rugged country - we met a sheep farmer who lost over 100 lambs due to a snow storm on 2nd March this year. Andrea fell immediately in love with his collie 😊 The views from the ridge were superb - we could even see the Severn Estuary.



Longer version 
The Old Rectory B&B was excellent (apart from the smallest TV in history) and the pub down the road fantastic. So we set off full through horses and passed a do-it-up project: it wasn't the only one. 

As you probably can tell, it was onward and upward, passed the village of Pandy and up on to the moor. Six months ago, the place was covered in up to 5 feet of snow: multiple communities were cut off. But now, its beautiful - yes the 1,200 foot climb was a bit tough but it was worth it because you could see for 20 miles. In fact given I could just make out the Severn Estuary maybe as far as 30 miles. The moor's heather was in bloom whilst the signs were in stone - wood just won't survive for long in such a bleak environment.  

Naturally there is no accommodation on the moor, which by the way is the boundary of England and Wales, so we had to walk down to Long Town and the Crown Inn. Long Town was important in the past due to it being a strong hold of the Lacey family. Alas the Lacey's lost the lot after they upset King John. The place is now a ribbon development village with the Crown Inn. It was a relatively short day - we arrived at 3pm and had a nap, after finding out that their was no Internet. 


Heather and Broom in flower

Direction stones look a bit like a gravestone but they survive

Amazing views towards Hereford


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