Offa’s Dyke Day 9: Knighton to Kington

Rachel Thomas
3 min readJul 27, 2019

An account of walking the 177 mile long-distance trekking route between Prestatyn and Chepstow, along the Welsh-English border, in 12 days.

Day 8 of this walk can be found here.

We left the George and Dragon with a mob of cyclists who were setting off to the ride the sixty or so miles to Aberystwyth. Mainly ladies, in beautiful black and cerise cycling tops, they were taking it easy by splitting the journey from Stratford Upon Avon to Aberystwyth in two. The keen group had done it all in a single day!

The route from Knighton to Kington was a very pleasant walk. Fourteen miles of springy moorland grass, with a few bits where you had to push your way through bracken and a little bit of road work. There were enough hills to feel that you were walking something challenging, but nothing too steep or severe.

We saw a second red kite soaring around on thermals. We also passed a very disgruntled looking cat, on the way into Kington, which was wearing an inflatable collar to stop it messing with something. At the base of a valley, when we were walking along the hill-top, we saw what I originally thought was a horse show, but turned out to be some sort of buggy racing — I think with trotting horses, although I couldn’t get close enough to check.

Notably today, we saw a monument raised by his constituents to an MP in the 1880s. It’s obviously from a time when politicians were more respected than they are now!

We made really good time today and surprised our B&B host by being and hour earlier than expected. She was still tumble drying the towels from the previous guests! We’re off to The Stagg Inn for dinner tonight, which is reputedly very nice and has either just gained or just lost a Michelin star, so I wait to be impressed!

Day 10 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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Rachel Thomas

Vet, likes all things animal. On a grown up gap year, travelling, exploring and discovering. Loves to find & share new things. LARP & science @rachel.wildwinter