Day Two: Monmouth to Pandy

Distance: 18.5 miles (some of them definitely country miles)
Ascent: 500m
Weather: hot, hot ,hot (again)
Squirrels: about three (one of which was eating a cheese and pickle sandwich)
Buzzards: loads, there were about 8 circling overhead at one point.

Another warm night, but we slept well after yesterday's exercise and had a decent breakfast before setting off about 9 o'clock, stopping to buy lunch at M&S (going up in the world here.)

The path heads out of Monmouth town over an old fortified bridge with gatehouse towers and then through posh suburbs out into pretty fields lined with trees and flowers. The path wanders through an oldy-worldy named Kingswood for about a mile or so and then out onto more fields, over little rolling hills.

Fields were a big part of today's walk, mostly pasture, corn, oilseed rape and a newly furrowed potato field which we couldn't quite bring ourselves to walk across the middle of. A couple of fields had some rather giddy cows in them running around - thankfully keeping their distance - while the vultures buzzards circled overhead. There are a lot of buzzards around here, and we spotted another bird of prey which had much pointier wings with white patches and a forked tail - just identified as a red kite! We also saw some very small blue butterflies, a black butterfly, dragonflies and a funny coloured beetle. Between the fields were country lanes with high hedgerows and not a lot of breeze.

We had quite a long lunch stop at White Castle where they have picnic tables and Bluetooth (as there was nothing much doing in Llantillio Llancrosenny, the pub is now someone's house) then explored the battlements and keep, before heading off down the lane.

The afternoon brought more fields, more sheep, more cows, more flowers and more lanes, and more rolling hills. Also, there was a big orchard of cider apples, which may have influenced Rob's drinking choice tonight. We went through Llangattock Lingoed where the pub (The Hunter's Moon) is closed on Mondays.

Eventually we dropped down into Pandy and walked along the banks of a pretty river to the Allt Yr Ynys Hotel (quite posh but very disappointing shower) where we have been well fed and are now ensconced in a lounge with cider (Rob) and Carlsberg (me).