Offa's Dyke 

Bodfari to Prestatyn

September 18 2024

This morning our taxi was waiting to pick us up from the hotel and ferry us back down to the Dyke Path where we had been picked up last night.  Judy was not going to walk with us this morning so she stayed with the taxi who transferred the luggage up to Prestatyn.  

Naturally the trail headed straight up and it was really steep.  I had thought it was going to be a sunny day but instead we had a dark gray cloud cover and 100% humidity.  Naturally we took a wrong turn half way up the first hill and wound up walking around the hill side looking for the trail.  Ken had his Garmin out and we were back on track. 

Lost notwithstanding we made pretty good time for the first big lump in the route and within a couple of hours we were 4 miles into the trail.  This put us at the top of the first big hill and we were facing a really steep down hill.  Fortunately the trail had a lot of turns, and the path had dried considerably so the down hill wasn't so bad.  

The second big hill was right in front of us and we powered up it over the next hour which put us at lunch time so we sat down to eat the snacks we have been accumulating in our pack. By now the sun has burned off the heavy gray clouds and we have a bright blue sky. 

After the second big hill we ran into what seemed like and endless bunch of stiles.  Some were easy and some were really high and hard to get you foot over.  There were places were you climbed over one crossed the road and climbed a second one.  Then there were the stone ones where there was about four stone steps and a really high stone you had to clear to get over the top.  All these stiles just killed our pace. 

By now we could see Prestatyn and we were hot to get in but there was what seemed like a lot of miles, hills and stiles to climb.  So by the time we got down to the Nova center (kind of a community rec center) which is right on the ocean and the end of the Offa's Dyke trail, we were tired but happy.  Putting the last stamp on my Offa's Dyke passport was great. 

Off to the airport and home in the morning.  

Another great adventure in the books. 

Terry 

Offa's Dyke

Clwyd Gate to Bodfari

September 17, 2024

After a great breakfast in the Druid Inn we were driven back to our pick up point from the previous evening.  While in the car I asked what the history of the Druid Inn was as it was filled which interesting photos and really old looking antiques.  Turns out the Inn was built in 1747 and has been added to several times but has been in continuous service as an inn from when it opened in 1747 (Wow 277 years).

The trail started up almost straight up and continued straight up for almost 6 miles to the Jubilee Tower.  It was built in 1810 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of George III.  It has been semi restored but is missing its top section.  It is the highest point on the Clwydian range of mountains.  As we climbed the hill you could see it for at least five miles off.  The view from the top of the tower is unbelievable.  We had the perfect day for it as well with a temperature of 65F and with a very light breeze out of the SW.  

Even though it was the highest point didn't mean that everything was down hill from there. We had a lot of really steep downhills followed by a lot of really steep up hills.  The mountains here are really tricky as well as everyone of them has at least 5 or 6 false summits.  So just as you think this one is done you come over a crest to see yet another steep stretch in front of you. 

At about the 7.5 mile mark we came to the Byngaer Moel Arthur Hill fort. It is a bronze age fort and can be seen for miles.  The dirt earth work crowns the hill.  The trail originally went up to the fort but has been diverted around the hill fort due to erosion of the trail. 

At the 9 mile mark Ken had a vertigo attack and found he was having trouble balancing.  As long as he kept his head up he was fine but we had a lot of hills to decent and a lot of them were really steep (30%).  How he made it is a mystery to me.  After a couple of miles his vertigo dissipated, but it was pretty scary. 

We managed to stumble down to the pick up point at 12.26 miles with 2690 feet of elevation gain.  The taxi picked us up and whisked us off to a very nice hotel.  

A great day but every one is really beat.  

Terry 

 

 Offa's Dyke 

Llangollen to Clwyd Gate

September 16, 2024

 

Last night Judy found a sporting goods store in Llangollen which opened at 9:00 am this morning.  As a bit of background to this Judy's hiking boots blew out on her on day one of this trip and she has been walking in tennis shoes this whole time.  I cannot believe what a trouper she is. Her feet were wet and cold but never complained for one second.  So Judy was off at 9:00 am sharp to get new hiking boots. This enabled us to have second and third coffees at the Squirrel B&B.  Dave from the Squirrel was driving our luggage ahead to Clwyd's Gate and he said jump in and we rode with him up to Llandegla.  This put us 8.3 miles up the road and passed the biggest hill.  It also gave us an easy day of only 6.2 miles to the pick up spot.  

It was by far the nicest weather of the trip today with just a hint of a breeze and temperatures close to 70 F.  The views along the path were spectacular.  Judy was dancing around in her new shoes and there was a real joyous mood.  Such a contrast from the other day slogging down muddy paths in the pouring rain and howling wind.  

We stopped at a bench which over looked the valley below and ate some snacks for our lunch.  Nobody was hungry as we had had such a huge breakfast at the Squirrel not that long ago.  The view and the sun were just so great.  

It wasn't long before we got to the pickup spot and I phoned the Druid Inn to come pick us up.  Sam answered on the first ring and promised to be there in 10 minutes.  She whipped us up to the Druid and we sat in the patio out front enjoying a pint and the sun.

The Druid Inn is a quaint little inn out in the country so we will eat here tonight.  A lot of people poo poo English food, but I have to say that we have eaten like kings on this trip.  The food has been spectacular everywhere we have been.  Maybe its Welsh food which has been so good.  

A shorter day but a great day and the weather for the next couple look good.  

Terry 

 

 Offa's Dyke

Oswestry to Llangollen

September 15 2024

When we got on the road this morning the rain was coming down pretty steady, and the wind was whipping the trees around.  Fortunately most of the time we were in quite heavily wooded country so it wasn't too bad.  As we left the town of Oswestry the sign said  Trefonen so who knows.

As we climbed steadily we entered Race Course Woods which last nights host said was very beautiful and it was.  Unfortunately we took a wrong turn some where in the maze of trails in the large walking park and wound up putting on about and extra half mile of tramping in the rain.  When we go to the top of Race Course Woods hill we came to the ruins of the old stadium for the race course.  It was built in the early 1800's but was only open for a few years until the lower class's horses started winning and then it was shut down (that is what the sign said).  

It was a fairly steep down hill from the race course. Even the road was 17% so you can imagine how steep the trail was.  The steep wet grass and muddy trail made the going slow,  So between the rain, wind, and steep trail no bodies spirits were very high.  So I made a remark about how nice it was that the rain had turned to a heavy drizzle from the pouring rain.  This was meet with a bunch of growls and remarks that I should be called Mr Happy. 

We got down about the 9 mile mark and found that there was a diversion where some work was being done on the trail and we had to make the detour.  We could see that it was only about 50 feet of work and I am sure we could have walked past it however it was barricaded so we has to take the 1.5 mile detour to mark what was no more than 100 meters.  

After a bunch of ups and down and following some really high dyke path where the dyke was a good 30 feet high we came down to a busy road.  Ken's knee was done and Judy was cold, wet and tired.  There was bus stop there but no bus on Sunday.  Ken wanted to go to Chirk which was about 2 miles in the wrong direction and hopefully find a taxi.  I looked on my Here We Go app and saw that it was about 1.5 miles to Pontfadog.  The Swan Inn showed up on the app so even if we could not get a taxi it would at least be in the right direction.  So off the trail and down the busy road with no shoulders.  

We trouped into the Swan in a pretty bedraggled bunch.  The lady behind the bar said she would look for a taxi for us but didn't hold too much hope.  So while she looked for a taxi we sat and drank our beers.  About 20 minutes later she cam out and said no taxis but if we didn't mind squeezing into her little car she would drive us over the hill to the Squirrel B&B where we are staying.  It was only 3.3 miles and a really steep and bumpy back road.   We were delighted. She was off work in a few minutes and we piled into her little car and we were off.  She saved us. 

Over all we wound up with about 13 miles and 1755 feet of elevation.

Terry 

Offa's Dyke 

Welshpool to Oswestry

September 14, 2024

The overnight B&B we stayed in was this exceptional old English home which had been built in 1861 and had been in the current owners family for over 125 years.  It would have been great to just hang around to enjoy the wonderful hospitality but we were off to our next trek down to Nant Gloyw B&B.

We ferried down to the start of the walk from the B&B which made for a great start to the day.  The walk today followed the Montgomery Canal which was constructed in the late 1800's and was in service to 1944. To day it is a wildlife preserve and walking path.  This made the trail very level and was a nice gravel path.  This made for good time and we trucked right along.  It was surprising how well painted and maintained the canal structures were.  

The total route to day was 14.5 miles but when we got to mile 12.0 we came to the town of Llandmynech where there was a pub.  After a pint we decided that the only sensible thing to do was to take a taxi the last couple of miles.  There was two ridiculously steep climbs between us and our destination.  The taxi ride only took a few minutes and deposited us at the meeting place where were meet by tonight's host. He whisked us up to tonight's lodging an couple of minutes.  

Today the toatl route was 11.73 miles with only 213 feet of elevation gain.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a good wind which was at our backs.  

Terry 

 

 Offa's Dyke

Cwm to Welshpool

September 13, 2024

Today the weather was absolutely perfect.  A little cool to start but I warmed up quickly and was soon pulling my coat off.  Not a hint of a breeze and a lovely sunny day.  The trail was nice and level so we made good time.  There was quite a bit of the trail down a single lane gravel road and quite a bit was through cornfields.  This was a great change from all the sheep pastures we have been traversing.  I guess I just wasn't ready for how much sheep manure there is in a sheep pasture.  

The flat roads and corn fields didn't produce the astounding panorama vistas we have been seeing but making good time was great as well.  The flat route didn't last all that long and by mile 5 we were climbing up some incredibly steep hills.  I didn't even think that dirt and rocks would stay on such a steep slopes.  After a couple of hundred feet of climb the trail leveled out and we walked along though this beautiful treed forest.  In the forest there was a place where they were raising pheasants.  There were literally hundreds of them running all over through the forest and down the road.  I guess they were free range pheasants.  

At the top of the big hill of the day was the Iron Hill Fort.  It was first constructed in 600 BC and used continuously through 50 AD.  You can see the huge earth works from a couple of miles off.  It was then used by several different armies throughout history.  It has never been excavated and is currently a nature reserve for birds and other wildlife.  The center of the fort is covered with thick growth of trees and underbrush.  As you walk around the fort there is a 15 foot deep moat and 40 foot high earthen walls. The immensity of the earthworks are astounding. 

After we left the fort we only had a couple of miles down hill to the pick up point. We were suppose to call the lodgings to let them know we close and to the pick up point however their phone didn't work.  So I contacted the travel agency and they provided an alternate number which did work.  When we arrived at the pick up point we only had to wait about ten minutes and the car arrived and wisked us off the the lodgings. Tynllwyn Farms where we are staying is a lovely old English home in the country.  

Todays walk was 14.35 miles with climb of 1558 feet.  

What a great day

Terry 

 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