Offa’s Dyke Day 7: Cwm to Knighton
An account of walking the 177 mile long-distance trekking route between Prestatyn and Chepstow, along the Welsh-English border, in 12 days.
Day 6 of this walk can be found here.
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Today was the hardest day so far; we’re both very glad we finished it (mostly) unscathed. It wasn’t particularly long — only 14.7 miles, but it was just constantly up and down, steeply, all day. We passed the mid point of Offa’s Dyke, although their numbers are wrong. We have walked far more than 88.5 miles since leaving Prestatyn. When we hit the mid point marker, we had walked 99 miles and by the end of day seven, we had done 107.25 miles! The total length of the trail according to our guide book is 177, but I think we will be well over that number too.
The weather was a contributor to the difficulty. It was incredibly hot — up to 29 degrees centigrade and really humid. We had two heavy rain showers, luckily both happened when we were next to trees to shelter under, as neither I nor Damian had packed any rainwear! We also saw a lightning storm nearby whilst approaching the highest trig point on today’s route and had an brief emergency masterclass of what we should do, if hit by a storm, on top of a hill. In brief; lie down and throw your walking poles away!
We saw our first red kite of the walk today, at about the level of the highest point on Offa’s Dyke. We also saw a buzzard shortly afterwards, so it was obviously a good place for raptors. There were beautiful stretches of the dyke which were covered by meadow flowers, including these gorgeous harebells, along with cow parsley, dandelions and foxgloves. After a wheatfield with poppies in it yesterday, we really are being spoiled.
There was a beautiful old church at Churchtown — a tiny little valley which we dropped into and immediately climbed back out of, although we did go and visit the church on the way past. I particularly liked their apology sign which said that they were sorry for the state of the church, but there were three different species of bat nesting at the moment, so they couldn’t clear up as much as the would have liked. It was lovely — cool, calm beautiful and calming. I was also taken by a poster in the porch advertising volunteering days for young people in churchyards to learn about local history and how to make churchyards wildlife havens. Sign me up please, even if I’m not 14–18.
We met very few walkers today; two ladies from Adelaide who have wanted to walk this route for ages, a man who was hiding behind a tree and a couple who were deliberately setting off very late, having down some miles first thing, as they were walking with their elderly jack russell.
We made it to Knighton and sorted out some confusion as the pub had our room booked under the name Connor, which does not belong to either of us! We’ve also made ourselves much more socially acceptable members of society by doing some washing. We were approaching our laundry being able to walk the next stretch on its own!
We’re having a rest day tomorrow in Knighton. Our current itinerary includes a late breakfast, visiting the Offa’s Dyke Centre, visiting an observatory specialising in near miss objects from space and having a sports massage. There may also be some sitting by the river with possibly a paddle, if things are as hot as today.
Day 8 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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