Offa's Dyke

Knighton to Cwm (Offa's Dyke Cottages)

September 12, 2024

Todays route is considered to be the most difficult day of the tour.  The climbs are all brutally steep and the descents are even more treacherous as the trail is wet and slick.  Muddy, wet grass is just a killer.  The route was 14.5 miles with 3,894 feet of climb and it took us 6 hr and 24 minutes so the average pace was 33:45 minutes/miles.  This compares to the 25 minutes/mile pace we have been making. 

Breakfast was a little slow this morning and so we didn't get away as early as we would have liked but it was sunny and the wind was not howling.  It was only 11 C which is about 6 degrees colder than average.  We were hoping to escape the rain today but we still got rained on and even caught about 20 minutes of sleet/hail.  Luckily when the sleet hammered down we  were taking a break under a huge tree.

The day was punctuated with a lot of climb over styles.  I was really getting tired of them at they are so steep and my stiff old bones just didn't like the really large steps over the top railing.  However there were a lot of the gates which allow one person through at a time.  The one pictured above had 250 really steep stairs behind it (Ken counted).  

If we weren't going through gates or climbing styles we were walking along the top of the dyke.  It was very pronounced and I was just amazed at what an amazing piece of civil engineering work it was. The amount of material which had been moved without any mechanized equipment is incredible. 

Tonight we are at Offa's Dyke Cottages.  It is the most amazing B&B out in the country.  The four of us are the only guests.  We were served a fabulous supper of baked salmon.  I feel very lucky to have been booked in.

Terry