Offas Dyke: In the Time of Covid

Offa’s Dyke runs along the border between England and Wales. It naturally falls into 5 stages, all different and equally interesting and challenging. In 2022, I walked south to north, from Chepstow to Prestatyn, taking 12 days.

The Path was opened in 1971 by Sir John Hunt, leader of the successful 1952 Everest Expedition. For over a third of its 177 miles, it closely follows the earthworks of Offa’s Dyke.

The southern section

The walk follows the course of the River Wye from its mouth in the Severn Estuary past lush water meadows and limestone cliffs as far as Monmouth. It then crosses farming country to reach the Black Mountains and the long 10 mile ridgeway to Hay, where the great bend in the Wye is joined again briefly, before embarking on one of the toughest sections of the walk, the Shropshire Hills, where the Dyke tracks over hill and dale and the Dyke is at its most evident.

The northern section

There is a flat easy section across the Severn floodplain that follows canals, towpaths, and river banks until the land rises again at Llanymynech.  where the finale of the Eglwyseg Mountain north of Llangollen and the grand finale of the whole of the Clwydian Range from Llandegla to Prestatyn

Reflections

In June, Offa’s Dyke is a joyous river of bird song, a green abundance of meadows and woodlands, of magnificent, ancient, oak, ash and lime trees in new leaf. Walking allows you to sense the generations that have settled, farmed and fought over this land; how places harbour the memories of the people that named, cherished, pillaged, lived and died here.

There is little tarmaced road and most of the way is along tracks and grassy paths.  None of it is dangerous or demanding, but for me it was still a challenge, not least because I contracted Covid at the start of my trip. Some days were long, and some were steep and tiring, but I enjoyed every bit of it and highly recommend it.

Published 20 Oct 2022, 108 pages, ISBN 9781912460519