Offa’s Dyke Day 5: Trefonen to Buttington
An account of walking the 177 mile long-distance trekking route between Prestatyn and Chepstow, along the Welsh-English border, in 12 days.
Day 4 of this walk can be found here.
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We were out and walking by 8.30 in the morning, in a effort to avoid the worst of the heat. The only difference between the BBC and Met Office forecasts were whether the cloud would burn off at 9am or 10am! As it was, the weather stayed pleasantly overcast until about 11.00am. We thought we’d set off early, but we were stay-a-beds compared to the two American gentlemen in their sixties that we met. They had got six miles or so under their belt by 10.15am! Mind you, one of them paused his Apple watch for the time it took to talk to us, so they were obviously taking pace pretty seriously.
We met very few walkers today. I don’t know whether the sun had put them off, but we probably encountered less than ten people in total. It has been striking how many fewer walkers there are tackling the Offa’s Dyke path than there were when we walked Hadrian’s Wall two years ago. It’s especially noticeable when you consider that we walked Hadrian’s Wall early in the season. We set off two or three weeks before the trail officially opened and we still saw far more people every day that we have doing the Dyke path. As our Hadrian’s wall walk was just before Easter, we even saw a Christian group walking it with a full sized cross!
The lack of other walkers is even more surprising when you consider there are a number of other marked trails which run alongside/overlap with Offa’s Dyke. So far we’ve seen Oswald’s Trail, Lights Out Trefonen World War One Centenary Trail, The Severn Way, Clwydian Way, Glandwyr’s Way and several others.
What has also surprised us is how few of the other walkers are from the UK. It seems that somewhere between a third and a half of the walkers doing the whole route are non UK natives, who predominantly have travelled here just to do the path. I guess it’s an example of us not valuing what is in our own back-yard!
We also met a couple on a canal path today who were caravaning and tandem bicycling touring and planning to explore the region on their bike, which looked like good fun.
Today started with a hill which at the top had a horn to honk for ice cream, and then down the other side, we met up with the dyke again. Up and down another hill took us to the canal at Llanymynech. (Which I think was what the Americans were trying to describe as, “That place that sounds like you clearing your throat.”!) We met the canal there and discovered a young swan who had taken up residence practically on the tow-path. His mate was in the canal beside us looking concerned, but he seemed to be able to get up and move, he had just decided not to. We saw an abandoned swan’s nest with eggs a couple of hundred yards further down the path and assumed it was theirs. Let’s hope it was just inexperience which meant they didn’t have cygnets this time round and they’ll try again next year.
The route after that was pretty flat, following either the Montgomery canal (currently navigable only by canoes, but being restored) or the Dyke, which is now serving a second purpose as a flood defence for various rivers including the Severn. David, the B&B owner who picked us up at Buttington pointed out that a mile or so of the dyke at Welshpool had been under flood water as recently as six weeks ago.
The only other excitements of the day were firstly, me almost standing on a mouse about the size of the top joint of my thumb, on top of the first hill we encountered (I’m afraid it ran away before I could get my phone out to take a picture). The second excitement was when I got a piece of rusty barbed wire stuck into my foot and caught on the toe strap of my walking sandal, so I couldn’t pull it out. Yes, I have cleaned the wound and I’m keeping a close eye on it!
Tynllwyn Farm B&B cooked us a delicious three course dinner and we sat in the lounge chatting to a group of three retired gentlemen, who met at primary school. They seem to have walked most of the long distance paths in the UK and it was fascinating hearing where they’ve been and their plans to rewalk the Pennine Way, fifty years after they first did so. I certainly hope I’m up to walking it age sixty-seven!
Day 6 of this walk can be found here.
We are raising money for The Teenage Cancer Trust during the walk. If you would like to donate, we’d be very grateful.
Our trip was organised by Celtic Trails Walking Holidays, who I have so far been very impressed by. I have received nothing from them for this endorsement. #celtictrails #shareyoursteps
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