The Offa’s Dyke Path was the fourth of 15 national trails to be established in England and Wales, with a further four in Scotland. The first of these trails, the Pennine Way, was opened in 1965 but it was not until 1971 that Lord Hunt, of Everest fame, officially opened the Offa’s Dyke Path.
The path was originally the responsibility of the Countryside Commission, but as the path crosses the English/Welsh border many times, two-thirds being in Wales and one third in England, the responsibility for it passed to the Countryside Council for Wales in 1991. It is managed and maintained by the Offa’s Dyke Path Management Service based in Knighton, with the close co-operation of the local authorities through whose land it passes.
Strangely, the distance covered by the path is a matter for conjecture.
HOW DIFFICULT IS THE OFFA’S DYKE PATH?
Do not be deceived into thinking this is an easy walk. Although the tourist brochure in Prestatyn declares, ‘this now famous walk meanders up the High Street and climbs the magnificent Prestatyn Hillside... then wanders its way along the spectacular Clwydian Range and from then on down to Chepstow’, this is like leaving out six of the seven ages of man!
A level of fitness and walking competence is required for most sections of the Offa’s Dyke Path. It’s 177 miles end to end and assuming you have two weeks available this will require an average of nearly 15 miles a day based on 12 days of walking plus a day to get to the start and a day to get home. This will entail about five to seven hours’ walking every day. On at least three days you will probably have to walk 17 miles; quite a tall order. Add to this the fact that there are some 650 stiles to be crossed, an average of over three per mile (considerably more when walking across farmland), and you are going to feel a certain amount of tiredness at the end of the walking day. Are you up to it?
There are three severe and testing sections, two of which involve exposed crossings well away from human habitation. The first is the crossing of the Clwydian Range (pp86-92) from Bodfari to Clwyd Gate which involves several climbs and descents as well as some incomparable ridge walking. On a fine day you will romp it but in bad weather it can be a severe test of endurance. Luckily there are a number of escape routes which will enable you to arrange a pick-up, possibly by your B&B host for the night.
The second challenging section is along Hatterrall Ridge in the Black Mountains (see pp174-86) between Hay-on-Wye and Pandy. It’s a distance of 17-and-a-half miles (28km) through exposed country, the highest point being 703m (2307ft), and can take at least 9hrs 30mins. There is little shelter and few escape routes although the journey could be broken at Capel-y-Ffin or Llanthony. You will need to think carefully about how you are going to tackle this arduous crossing. The last of the three – the so-called ‘Switchbacks’ (see north and south of Knighton – falls into a different category: while most of the ups and downs on this section are par for the course, others, particularly north of the town, will pose a considerable challenge for many Dyke walkers.
That said, anyone possessing basic outdoor competence should find themselves coping perfectly well even with these challenging sections but don’t underestimate any part of the route; it is not a doddle.
Route finding
The trail is generally waymarked with scrupulous attention to detail with only a few areas where more work is needed to avoid ambiguity in route-finding. The path was devised and initiated by a band of devotees who were at pains to ensure that those who came after them could find their way. The waymark throughout is the acorn symbol of the Countryside Commission (sometimes, such as around Hay-on-Wye, upside down), supplemented with finger posts and guide posts which are frequently engraved, often in English and Welsh, and many stiles have the symbol of a coin of Offa’s reign. Occasionally you’ll come across older engraved stone markers, and more recent variations include the ‘tombstone’ markers on the Hatterrall Ridge. Arrows indicating the direction of the trail are usually – but not always – marked ‘Offa’s Dyke’, which helps to distinguish them from other waymarked trails sharing a similar route.
Aided by the waymarks and following the trail maps in this book, the walker is unlikely to get lost. A word of advice is not to make assumptions. If the broad inviting path ahead of you looks the obvious route, it does not necessarily follow that it is your route. Look for the waymark, especially where the path changes direction, and take particular care when crossing fields if the trail exit is not entirely clear.
It isn’t safe to assume the path follows the line of the Dyke in every case. There are places where the right of way diverges from the line of the Dyke; this is true over Baker’s Hill between Castle Mill and Racecourse Common (map 24, p115) and on Hawthorn Hill between Knighton and Dolley Green (map 49, p154). Check the trail maps regularly.
Finally, keep your eyes open when walking through towns, where waymarking can be somewhat haphazard; the area east of Chepstow is particularly poor in this respect.
A full survey of the route was being undertaken by the National Trails officer in summer 2007, with a view to preparing a three-year plan to bring the trail into line with new National Trail standards for both England and Wales.
HOW LONG DO YOU NEED?
This is the great imponderable. Can the path be walked from end to end in a fortnight’s holiday? The answer is yes, definitely, but a lot will depend on your travelling time. If you have just 14 days but need two of those for the journey to and from the trail, you’ll have to get a move on and it won’t leave you much time to stop and stare. No time to visit Chirk Castle, see Llangollen, go into Montgomery, call in at the Offa’s Dyke Centre in Knighton, shop for second-hand books in Hay-on-Wye, have a pint at the Boat Inn at Redbrook or a cup of tea at Bishop’s Castle. This is good country and it deserves more than a hurried glance.
The walk will be much more enjoyable if you can spare a full 14 days walking, plus a day or two for travelling to and from home, so if your fortnight’s holiday incorporates three weekends, you’re in luck. If not, you could reasonably leave out one or two of the less inspiring sections without losing any of the essential character of the route. Prestatyn to Bodfari (pp79-86), Castle Mill to Llanymynech (pp112-18) and the section along the Severn plain (pp121-5) are all contenders for omission if you’re in a hurry, as is the very last section of the walk, beyond Chepstow (p215).
If you can’t spare the time to walk from end to end in one go you could undertake the walk over several shorter trips, gradually accumulating the miles until the great day comes when you have completed it in its entirety. Another option is simply to sample the highlights of the route on day walks and weekend trips; see p33 for a list of recommended sections.
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