Offa's Dyke Path - Index of Posts

Back in January of this year I walked my final section of the Offa's Dyke Path, which I had been walking in sections since January 2012, and this post is an index to all my blog posts on the subject.  As on previous long distance paths, I adopted a section walking approach using a combination a trains, buses and occasionally taxis to allow me to walk 2, 3 or 4 days of the path at a time.  I also deviated from the route in various places, either to climb extra hills, take a short-cut or to reach transport home; therefore these are reflected in the distance and ascent figures below.

Moel Arthur from the south

The first section I walked was from Prestatyn on the North Wales coast to the village of Llandegla over two days, including a lovely traverse of the Clwydian Range in January 2012.  Here are my posts on each day:

• Day 1: Prestatyn to Bodfari - 21km, 680m ascent
• Day 2: Bodfari to Llandegla - 28km, 1280m ascent

One of the first sections of the Offa's Dyke that I encountered

Then in early March 2012, I walked my second section of the trail from from Llandegla to Welshpool over three days, which included my first section of the Offa's Dyke itself.  Here are my daily posts:

• Day 3: Llandegla to Trevor - 21.5km, 750m ascent
• Day 4: Trevor to Llanymynech - 30.5km, 980m ascent
• Day 5: Llanymynech to Welshpool - 20km, negligible ascent

Beacon Ring hill fort from the SW

Next it was a two day section from Welshpool to Knighton, including Beacon Ring and The Switchbacks, in early March 2013:

• Day 6: Welshpool to Mellington Hall Campsite - 24km, 670m ascent
• Day 7: Mellington Hall Campsite to Knighton - 24.5km, 1250m ascent

Hatterrall Hill

Easter 2013 saw me walk in the snow from Knighton to Pandy, via Kington, Hergest Ridge and the Black Mountains, and then on over Ysgyryd Fawr to Abergavenny station:

• Day 8: Knighton to Kington - 22km, 730m ascent
• Day 9: Kington to Hay-on-Wye - 24.5km, 900m ascent
• Day 10: Hay-on-Wye to Pandy - 27km, 800m ascent
• Day 10a: Pandy to Abergavenny - 12km, 410m ascent

Chepstow Castle

Finally this January I returned to Abergavenny and walked from near Pandy to Sudbury Cliffs over two and a half days.  This was a mainly stormy weekend, but it was bright and sunny when I finished the path at Sedbury Cliffs.  Here are my posts on the three days:

• Day 11: Near Pandy to Monmouth - 26km, 460m ascent
• Day 12: Monmouth to Chepstow - 28.5km, 1120m ascent
• Day 13: Chepstow to Sedbury Cliffs - 6.5km, 150m ascent

The Offa's Dyke Path was the second National Trail that I've walked (the first was the Pennine Way) and I found it to be an enjoyable long distance path to walk with plenty of variety.

An Easter Backpack: Knighton to Abergavenny

Well the weekend went pretty much as planned, other than a shorter day today, and I'm now on a train home. For much of the time I was walking through snow, which was quite deep in some places. The snow made for some long tiring days, the longest of which was 11 hours over the Black Mountains from Hay-on-Wye to Pandy, but it was an enjoyable trip nonetheless. Posts on the individual days will follow soon, but in the meantime here's a photo from yesterday afternoon when the sun was shining!


N.B. 03/06/13 - Dates of posts on individual days have now been updated to the actual dates of the walk

Offa's Dyke Path - Day 8: Knighton to Kington

Friday 29th March 2013

A long walk through deep snow on the English/Welsh border with excellent views

Distance: 22km; Ascent: 730m; Dry but mostly overcast with a bitter wind; Solo

See tracked route in new window

My original plans for an Easter backpack in the wild mid-Wales hills were shelved due to the recent heavy snowfall and the prolonged cold weather as I decided I didn't fancy three nights wild camping in the snow. So instead I decided to return to the Offa's Dyke Path for a few days, which meant could stay in the warm overnight.

Knighton Clock Tower

Knighton in the snow

I stepped off the train at Knighton to find several inches of snow still lying on the platform; this was a sign of things to come! Walking through the town was easy due to the roads and pavements having been cleared of snow, but I was soon ascending through some very wintry woods. As I gained height the depth of soft snow increased to around a foot, but luckily there was a clear trail of footprints to follow.

Snow on the edge of Knigton Golf Course

Gate half-buried by snow

I continued southwards along the Offa's Dyke Path, where the snow lay so deep that it was possible to easily step over the gates - well it was certainly easier to do that rather than trying to open the gates, which would have probably required a snow shovel to achieve!

Looking south along the Offa's Dyke Path near Rhos-y-merich

A good trail through the snow brought me to the road at Rhos-y-meirch, which had been completely cleared of snow.  A short road walk followed, before rejoining the Offa's Dyke through some deep snow.  Soon I reached the road again where I chatted to a family who had been sledging on the nearby hill.

Obelisk north of Hawthorn Hill

I then passed within a few hundred metres of an obelisk, which commemorated Sir Richard Green-Price according to my Offa's Dyke Path guidebook.  Soon I stopped for lunch in the shelter provided by a small forestry plantation, before continuing on up Hawthorn Hill.  Here the snow depth varied considerably with much of the dyke almost completely clear of snow, whereas in some places it had drifted so much that entire fences and gates were engulfed with only small section poking up above the snow!

Offa's Dyke on Hawthorn Hill

Snow drifts covering a fence on Hawthorn Hill

There were reasonable prints in the deep snow to follow on the descent from Hawthorn Hill.  There were also at least a couple of sets of ski tracks too - clearly some people had been out ski touring up here recently!  After crossing the road at Dolley Green, the path ascended yet another hill before entering the shelter of Granner Wood, where snow lay heavily on the trees.

Snowy tree in Granner Wood

A pleasant descent then followed to reach the English border just south of Ditchyeld Bridge, only a few kilometres north of Kington, which lay beyond a small group of hills.  A reasonable path made for an easy snowy ascent up onto Herrock Hill Common.

Looking SW from Herrock Hill Common

Here I headed east for around a kilometre in a bitterly cold wind, following the Offa's Dyke over Rushock Hill; again here the wind had blown much of the snow off the top of the dyke.

Offa's Dyke on Rushock Hill

I was glad to leave the dyke and escape the bitter wind as I began to descend towards Kington.  After crossing several fields, I entered Kington Golf Course on Bradnor Hill - I doubted that there had been much golf played here in recent weeks!

Kington golf course on Bradnor Hill

My original plan was to detour up to the summit of Bradnor Hill around a kilometre from the Offa's Dyke Path, but I was quite exhausted from having spent the day walking through the snow that I instead opted to descend straight to Kington and the warm, friendly surroundings of The Royal Oak pub, where I stayed for the night.  It had been a good day and after a pizza and a couple of pints of Wye Valley beer, I was ready for an early night at shortly after 9pm! 

N.B. 03/06/13 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 29/03/13 (from 09/04/13) 

Easter Backpack Plans: Knighton to Abergavenny along the Offa's Dyke Path

I'm currently sat on a train to Knighton, from where I'll shortly be starting to walk south on the Offa's Dyke Path for 3-4 days. The plan at present is to walk to Kington today and then onto Hay-on-Wye tomorrow. Then ideally on Sunday I'll walk over the Black Mountains to Pandy, but I'll wait and see what the snow conditions are before finalising my onward route from Hay-on-Wye. All being well I should arrive into Abergavenny sometime on Monday.

Offa's Dyke Path - Day 7: Mellington Hall Campsite to Knighton

Sunday 3rd March 2013

An early start for a tough day's walking crossing the many switchbacks in the Shropshire Hills

Distance: 24.5km; Ascent: 1250m; Overcast, cold with a bitter wind; Solo

See tracked route in new window

I woke up at 4am this morning due to the cold and looking in the porch, my thermometer read -1°C.  After opening the porch for an abortive attempt to make a cup of tea (I'd pretty much run out of gas!), the temperature in the porch dropped to -5°C!  Whilst I had planned to have an early start today due to the very limited choice of trains home from Knighton, 4am was somewhat earlier than I had planned!  Therefore after donning an extra layer, and spending 15 minutes or so by the warm heater in the toilet block, I went back to sleep for a little bit!

I packed my tent up just before dawn and set off walking around 6:40am. It was still bitterly cold with a hard frost on the ground as I continued southwards along Offa's Dyke. A short section of road walking followed before I returned to the fields for the first of many ascents today; this time up to the old drovers' road of the Kerry Ridgeway, which also marked the return to England and Shropshire (and the vast majority of today's lay on the English side of the border).

A frosty Offa's Dyke just south of Mellington Hall

Crossing the border back into England and Shropshire

After a descent, another ascent and a further descent I reached the small hamlet of Churchtown, which was very quiet at this early hour of the morning! On the south side of the valley I joined the Shropshire Way, which ran concurrently with the Offa's Dyke Path for a couple of kilometres. It was still quite cold, with frost still on the ground, due to the sun not having broken through the clouds; however despite occassional glimpses of blue sky it remained cold and overcast all day.

Junction with the Shropshire Way

After a further descent followed quickly by a re-ascent I reached a signpost that informed me I was now half-way along the Offa's Dyke Path :-) It had taken me 6.5 days walking to reach here from Prestatyn (over three seperate trips) and I was intending to take a further 6.5 days to reach Chepstow from here (although I don't currently know when I'm going to walk these sections!) Shortly after passing this signpost, I came to a handy water tap by the side of the path, provided by Severn Trent Water, so I stopped here for a bit of a rest.

The half-way point of the Offa's Dyke Path :-)

A handy water tap provided by Severn Trent Water

By now it had begun to warm up ever so slightly as most of the frost had melted, although it remained cold. I crossed the Clun valley before beginning the longest ascent of the day up Llanfair Hill to the south. The first kilometre or so was the steepest and, after passing some very excitable dogs at Springhill Farm, I then had a gentle road walk for the next kilometre with good views of the dyke.

Offa's Dyke on Llanfair Hill

I turned off the road onto a pleasant byway, and it made a nice change to be walking on a decent track for once (and it would certainly help with my aim of making it to Knighton by 2pm!) Following the dyke this track took me over Llanfair Hill, and I had a quick detour to visit the trigpoint nearby. On the exposed high ground, the wind chill was quite noticeable and, whilst the views were good, I was glad to drop down into more sheltered terrain!

Trigpoint on Llanfair Hill

Clearly this was sheep farming country as all the fields were full of them as I descended down towards Selley Cross. Just one more ascent lay before me, and after ascending some very steep ground I reached the trigpoint on the summit of Cwm-sanaham Hill, from where there were good views.

Trigpoint on Cwm-sanaham Hill

Looking SE from Cwm-sanaham Hill

After stopping for a quick lunch a short distance to the east of the trigpoint, I followed Offa's Dyke ESE towards Panpunton Hill with good views down to Knighton and the Teme valley.

Viewpoint over Knighton

A shortish steep descent brought me to the road, railway and the River Teme. The riverside walk into Knighton was pleasant and this time upon crossing the border there was actually a sign welcoming me to Wales!

Crossing the border into Wales on the way into Knighton

On the way into town I passed the Offa's Dyke Centre, which would have been nice to visit but unfortunately it is closed on Sundays at this time of year and anyway I didn't have long until my train. I walked through the centre of Knighton past the clock tower to arrive at the station around quarter past two, i.e. in plenty of time for my train at 14:22, which was just as well as the next one wasn't for 4 hours! It had been a good couple of days of walking and it was nice to be out backpacking again :-)

Knighton Clock Tower

N.B. 02/06/13 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 03/03/13 (from 08/03/13).  Links to trigpoints visited have also been added.

Offa's Dyke Path - Day 6: Welshpool To Mellington Hall Campsite

Saturday 2nd March 2013

A pleasant ascent of Beacon Ring hill fort followed by a relatively flat walk south following Offa's Dyke across farmland

Distance: 24km; Ascent: 670m; Warm and sunny with little wind; Solo

See tracked route in new window

It had been a number of months since my last backpack so I was keen to get out on a weekend walk. As it had been pretty much exactly a year since my last walk on the Offa's Dyke Path I decided to return to it. Therefore this morning I jumped on a train to Shrewsbury, where I picked up a few provisions before taking another train on to Welshpool.

It was sunny and warm for the time of year as I set off walking from the station at around 10am. The footpath I had planned to follow seemed less than obvious from the road so I instead followed the B4381 & B4388 roads for an extra kilometre. Then I was able to cut a corner using a public footpath before eventually rejoining the Offa's Dyke Path.

Back on the Offa's Dyke Path

Welshpool from Long Mountain

A steep ascent through fields followed as I began to tackle the only significant ascent of the day. After a kilometre or so the angle eased and I soon entered the woods past a large radio mast. A few hundred metres further on I left the woods and found a sunny bench with a view down to Welshpool. It seemed rude not to stop here, so I had a slightly early lunch of wraps and Pyrenean mountain cheese!

A handy bench for lunch on the edge of Beacon Ring

After feeling suitably refreshed I headed deep into the woods, in the enclosure of the Beacon Ring Hill Fort, in search of the highest point of the hill. Soon I found the trigpoint and the nearby summit of Long Mountain - Beacon Ring (Marilyn).

Trigpoint on Beacon Ring

It seemed strange having a trigpoint completely surrounded by trees, but apparently they were planted in 1953 to celebrate the Queen's coronation, which would presumably have been some years after the trigpoint was built. This site is well worth looking at on satellite images as the beech and conifer trees were clearly planted in a specific pattern so that "ER" is spelt when viewed from above, as shown in the Google Maps image below:

View Larger Map

Heading southwards back out of the woods, I rejoined the Offa's Dyke Path and gently descended to the SW before heading into the woods of the Leighton Estate; here I met my first other walkers of the day.

Beacon Ring hill fort from the SW

Small lake in Leighton Woods

On the edge of the village of Forden I picked up the Offa's Dyke itself for a few hundred metres before returning to the road.  After almost a kilometre of road walking I turned off down a farm lane to pick up the dyke again for the remainder of the day's walking.

Handy sign!

Offa's Dyke near Forden

This was carved into several of the signposts

Tree just north of the Camlad

After crossing the Camlad river, the dyke marked the England/Wales border for the next few kilometres with the path often switching sides, and every time I crossed into England there was a sign welcoming me to Shropshire.

Crossing back into Shropshire

On the edge of Lymore Park

I choose not to detour from the Offa's Dyke Path to visit Montgomery due to lack of time, and instead continued southwards along the edge of Lymore Park to eventually reach Brompton Crossroads and The Blue Bell complete with some rusting old petrol pumps outside.

Old petrol pumps outside The Blue Bell

My overnight halt lay a further kilometre or so along the trail, so I continued southwards through the pleasant Mellington Wood, where there were carpets of snowdrops next to the dyke.

Snowdrops next to Offa's Dyke in Mellington Wood

Heading through Mellington Wood

Soon afterwards a track crossed the dyke, with a sign inviting walkers to visit the restaurant at Mellington Hall.  After detouring southwards for a few hundred metres to investigate the start of tomorrow's route, I returned to this track and followed it to the Mellington Hall campsite where I had arranged to pitch my tent for the night.  I arrived at the campsite around 5:15pm and found the reception closed, but I eventually managed to find the camping area and set up my tent in the last light of the day; I was the only person camping that night, presumably due to the time of year.  I had an early start planned for tomorrow so after dinner I left my camping fee outside reception, returned to my tent, had a wee dram and went to bed shortly after 9pm after a good day's walk.

N.B. 02/06/13 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 02/03/13 (from 07/03/13) 

Back to the Offa's Dyke Path

It's been pretty much a year since my previous walk on the Offa's Dyke Path, so on Saturday morning I shall be catching a train to Welshpool with the intention of spending a couple of days walking southwards to Knighton.  My plan is to walk as far as the campsite at Mellington Hall on Saturday (22.5km, 580m), and then continue to Knighton on Sunday (22.5km, 1010m).

The following Social Hiking map shows my planned route (in pink), which should get overlaid with my progress (in orange) assuming that I remember to switch my SPOT on!  There'll also be a blog post for each day when I get round to it!

See map on Social Hiking site or full size in a new window
 

The Long Mynd

Saturday 9th February 

A pleasant wander in the Shropshire Hills meeting some new faces 

Distance: 21.5km; Ascent: 890m; Overcast but mainly dry; with Carl, Nina, Fiona, Kate, Richard & Sarah

See tracked route in new window

Last night whilst I was trying to decide between the Shropshire Hills and the South Pennines for my walk today, a couple of tweets from Nina and Carl invited along on their walk up the Long Mynd - therefore I decided to head to Shropshire!  And it had also been almost a year since my previous visit to the area, back in March last year, so I was very happy to return.

After the hour and fifteen minute train journey I arrived in Church Stretton just before 11am, which meant I had a couple of hours to kill before meeting up with everyone else.  I reckoned I would just about have enough time for a quick round of Hope Bowdler Hill and Caer Caradoc Hill, so I set off following the B4371 east out of town. 

Looking south from the Gaer Stone

After a little over a kilometre of road walking, I picked up a footpath that ascended steeply to the Gaer Stone on the south-westernmost edge of Hope Bowdler Hill.  There were good views from here southwards towards a bit of a cloud inversion around Wenlock Edge.  A further kilometre or so of pleasant ridge walking brought me to the summit cairn of Hope Bowdler Hill (HuMP), from where there were good views north towards Caer Caradoc and The Lawley.

Caer Caradoc & The Lawley from Hope Bowdler Hill

Conscious of the time, I didn't linger here and headed across to climb up the steep slopes of Caer Caradoc by way of a faint path.  After reaching the ridge I turned right and was soon on the summit rocks of Caer Caradoc Hill (Marilyn), where I briefly stopped for lunch.

Looking across to the Long Mynd from Caer Caradoc

Descending the south-west ridge back towards Church Stretton, I had good views over to this afternoon's objective: The Long Mynd, which currently was capped in cloud.  The descent down from Three Fingers Rock was unpleasantly steep, but I was soon back down at valley level.  Pleasant footpaths took me over the railway line and through the recreation ground to reach the end of Carding Mill Valley.

One of the many nice looking big houses in Church Stretton

As I was walking along the road up the valley, Carl, Fiona and Nina drove past and soon we were all at the car park where we met up with Kate, Richard and Sarah.  After some introductions we set off walking up Carding Mill Valley at around 1:15pm on a good track.

Heading up Carding Mill Valley

There were a reasonable number of other people out walking here today so I assume it must get pretty busy during the summer!  After crossing the stream in Light Spout Hollow we ascended up the final section of Mott's Road to reach the large summit plateau of The Long Mynd.

Looking down Mott's Road

A couple of kilometres of misty walking along a broad path brought us to the Pole Bank trigpoint, which marks the summit of The Long Mynd (Marilyn, Dewey).  Here we had a bit of a break, whilst enjoying the unrivalled views of the inside of a cloud ;)

Summit of the Long Mynd

On the summit of the Long Mynd (photo courtesy of Carl)

Heading south we passed the lonely Pole Cottage before forking left away from the road to pick up the broad ridge heading towards Round Hill.  Around here we started to drop out of the clouds and we got some excellent views of cloud inversions which my photos don't really do justice to.

Looking east from Round Hill

Looking down into Ashes Hollow

We continued on a broad grassy path, which brought us down to the small village of Little Stretton.  Sadly the pub was closed so instead we followed the road northwards back to Church Stretton.  In the town centre it was time for the parting of ways, as I headed off to the station whilst everyone else walked back to the Carding Mill Valley carpark.  It had been a good days hillwalking and it was very nice to meet everyone :)

Update 18/02/13 - Here's a link to my Social Hiking map from the walk, which I forgot to include in the original post.

N.B. 02/06/13 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 09/02/13 (from 17/02/13)