The original plan was to get to Prestatyn around 3pm, check into our hotel for showers and to abandon our backpacks then finish the trail bagless and in flip flops and ready to pour obnoxious quantities of prosecco into our chops. However, this would mean tackling various hills in heat unbefitting of North Wales so we figured we’d just get there as soon as we could.

The alarm went off at 4.30am and we got our shit together for the last time. The sky was perfectly clear, none of that glorious mist of yesterday giving us a bit of a head start before the air turned to lava. Sweat was gushing from us by 7am. Fuck me, today was going to be hard work. I mean, if it weren’t for the heat it might have been fine, sure there were some epic hills but they weren’t going to kill us. Well, depending on which body part you asked anyway.

We were largely just weaving through farmland today. The highlight was a gorgeous red setter on a farm who ran up to us as we crossed over a stile. He was amazing! He demanded pets and we obliged and Tarrant had to drag me away as he leant against my legs. It’s probably too hot to be draped in a panting ball of red fur anyway. I reluctantly carried on.

We could see Prestatyn for ages as we walked which is just a bit of a tease really. It’s an uneventful day though finishing with a big descent into the town then an easy, flat walk to the end marker. A few people actually congratulated us too which pleased Tarrant. Years of running marathons has conditioned her to expect to cross a finish line to adulation before being wrapped in foil and handed a medal.

That’s it then. Completed it, mate. We killed a bit of time before check in, shovelling footlong sandwiches into our chops at Subway. I actually crave this shit when I hike. It also turns out we booked a room above a pub again so we didn’t even have to shuffle far to find a lovely bottle of prosecco to celebrate our achievement. Fuck it, we’d earned it! 1114 miles walked, three National Trails back to back. So what if we weren’t carrying on to John O Groats? We’d smashed out the bottom half and we deserved a nice sit down.

We got quite pissed tonight. We had dinner and cocktails, drank more prosecco, then moved onto the rum when a fellow Royal Mail human and her daughter popped in. Thank fuck the furthest we had to walk tomorrow was the train station.

STATS
Day: 90
Day on LEJOG: 49
Day on Offa’s Dyke Path: 13
Distance walked today:  12.3 miles
Total walked so far: 1114.17 miles
Weather: Too hot.
Coldest temp last night: 14.13°C inside / 10.38°C outside
Trigs bagged: 0
Trigs to date: 59
“Have you read ‘The Salt Path?'” (Running Total): 11
Tick tally: Tarrant 3 ; Claire 4

Jump to “Useful shit to know…”

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Bodfari, Sir Ddinbych (Denbighshire) to Prestatyn, Sir Ddinbych (Denbighshire), Wales

Stayed at: Halcyon Quest Hotel, Prestatyn

Useful shit to know…

• There’s nothing between Bodfari and Prestatyn but it’s less than 12.5 miles.
• Once you’re in Prestatyn there are shops, pubs, cafés and public toilets.

BUDGET for one person (based on two sharing)
Accommodation, Halcyon & Quest: £27.50
Subway: £7.28
Dinner at Torello Lounge: £15.93
Booze: £35.36
Red Bull: £2.15
Pharmacy: £4.54
Grand Total: £92.76