Outside, the rain hit the windows in driving gusts, rattling their panes. Inside the Ackhill schoolhouse in Dolley Green in Wales there was a plate of beef sandwiches on the table.
Minutes earlier, the schoolhouse, used by the local Baptist Church and its pastor John Thomas, had been but a shrouded sight in the distance on the Offa’s Dyke Path on the Welsh/English border.
“Are you alright for hot water, or anything else?” inquired the pastor, kindly; before offering sanctuary and sandwiches. He gave directions to the kettle in the kitchen, before he disappeared off on his chores.
The Offa's Dyke, a 180 mile route that runs from south of Chepstow to Prestaty in North Wales, is one of the gems of Welsh walking, along with the Wales Coast Path - an 870-mile walkers' paradise, which celebrates its second birthday this week. It is the only route in the world that borders an entire country. *
Church hospitality is the norm along part of the Offa’s Dyke. In Newchurch, a sign on the gate of St Mary’s Church invites passersby to take their ease for a while and come in for tea or coffee.
Hospitality
A table at the back of the church holds mugs and cups, plastic containers contain fresh water for the kettle, and there are cordial juices and biscuits. For walkers wanting to sit outside, there is a garden bench among the gravestones.
In Gladestry, closer to Kington, more hospitality is offered – this time in a church that is first recorded as “Ecclesia de Clandestr” in 1291 when the Normans spread their influence into the Welsh Marches.
The church’s roof dates from the 15th century, with corbels supporting arch-braced tie beams, king-posts and close-set collars and braces – a beautiful sight that offers never-ending occasions for repair and renewal.
An arcade of three bays with responds and thin-moulded capitals on octagonal piers runs on the north wall, along with two corbels displaying the carved heads of a man and a woman – believed to be the church’s original benefactors.
Parishioners sigh at mention of the church’s population of bats, who produce an acid-like urine that discolours its few faded carpets, and pew cushions. “But they are protected so what can we do? We used to try and do something with the cushions, but people gave up eventually,” says one woman.
The Offa's Dyke Path, it was believed, was built by the notoriously brutish King Offa of Mercia during his reign between 757 and 796 to protect his kingdom from Celtic marauders, rather than being a Welsh bid to resist domination from outside.*
Now, however, archaeologists have dated excavations along part of the dyke near the Shropshire border to the early part of the sixth century – a “tremendously exciting” discovery, they said.
Walkers on the Wales Coast Path - a mixture of pre-existing trails and new routes - brought over £30m into local communities in the year to September 2013 - often places seen rarely by outsiders.*
However, the Wales Coast Path was not universally popular with landowners before its creation. Indeed, some still refuse to allow walkers across their lands, causing the odd detour.
Steady traffic
Work began seven years ago; more than 130 miles of new path have been established, along with improvements to 330 miles of existing routes, much of which runs along the Welsh coast – one of the world's most beautiful places, according to Lonely Planet.
Walkers offer steady traffic for bed-and-breakfasts in the small villages dotted along the countryside, help to fill seats on local buses, and bring business to restaurants.
The Wales Coast Path is an example to other countries, particularly Ireland which has countryside to match, even if far too much of it can only be glimpsed from the road.
* This article was amended on Friday, May 2nd, 2014