Offa's Dyke

Kington to Knighton

September 11, 2024

Unbelievable we got a sunny day.  Kind of cool and really really windy but sunny.  Most ot the day the wind was blowing at 20 mph but there had to be gusts which exceeded 50 mph.  You couldn't hang on to your hat and there were times when it was hard to walk in a straight line. 

The country side was absolutely gorgeous.  The depth of the valleys is 800 feet from the top of the surrounding hills.  So when you finally reach a summit the views are totally astounding.  The patchwork of all the different pastures and green patches are really terrific.  

The route to day had three of these huge climbs from about 300 ft to over 1100 feet elevation.  To day was also the first time we were actually able to see the Offa's dyke earth work.  It ranged from a ridge of earth works which were 6-10 feet high and 15 feet wide at the base to 40 feet high and 80 feet wide at the base.  I tried to capture this on the camera but the pictures just do not do the immensity of the earthworks justice.  Kind of hard to imagine standing at the base with my broad sword in hand and charging up this 40 foot embankment to attack a row of soldiers with pike poles.  

The weather held very well and we only had a few moments of rain the entire day.  The only sprinkles we had lasted only a few moments.  Not surprising as the clouds were just flying past in the wind.  

Today marks the half way mark on our journey.  It has been really interesting and a very unique adventure.  It has also proven to be a lot more challenging than I had imagined.  We wound up with a total distance of 14.1 miles with a total climb of 3051 feet 

Terry