A Walk along Offa's Dyke

Four members of Audlem Rambling Society (ARS) have just walked the 177 mile Offa's Dyke National Trail which runs from Sedbury Cliffs near Chepstow to Prestatyn in North Wales.

The walk is not the longest of the National Trails but does wind its way through some beautiful English and Welsh countryside and for about 70 miles of its length follows the original earthwork of the Dyke which in many places is remarkably well preserved.

The Dyke was built by the Anglo-Saxon King Offa who reigned in the late 8th century. It is thought that work started on the fortification in 785 AD and took about 5 years to complete, using around 1000 labourers, and it required the moving of approximately 9 million cubic metres of earth.

Its primary purpose was to mark the border with the then Britons (now the Welsh) in order to resolve a long running conflict. However not many people realise that it had a secondary purpose, namely to stop upstart English villages like the ancient Parish of Aldelime, transferring their allegiance over the border to gain cheaper health benefits.

I walked the trail along with Christine Johnson, John Cooke and Chris Roche and we certainly did not break any records as it took nearly a year to complete the path! We commenced last September when we based ourselves at Hay-on-Wye for a week and walked from Sedbury Cliffs to Knighton.

HighlightsHighlights of this section included the Wye Valley, with glorious views of Chepstow Castle and Tintern Abbey, a traverse of the Black Mountains, and some brilliant scenery and hill walking through the Welsh Marches around Kington and up to Knighton.

This year we have completed the walk mainly on day trips from Audlem and again there have been many fascinating experiences. Highlights have included the town of Montgomery, the crossing of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the desolation of World's End and the traverse of the Clwydian Hills when we were accompanied by other members of Audlem Rambling Society for the day.

Discounting one very short day which allowed us time to explore the bookshops of Hay-on-Wye the walk took us 17 days and we averaged a comfortable 10 miles per day and only got slightly lost a couple of times! We climbed a total of 30,313feet along the length of the walk (that's higher than Mount Everest!) and apart from thick cloud on the Black Mountains and another day of continuous rain we were extremely lucky with the weather.

Special mention should be made of John Cooke who completed the walk at the age of 73 and on many days left us standing as he strode out in front.

Finally to summarise the walk I would like to quote a former president of the Offa's Dyke Association, Lord Sandford, who described the trail thus, "Not the oldest, not the longest, but the best."

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