Tales from Offas Dyke

Offas Dyke

 Montgomery-Newcastle on Clun            Jan 9^th 2000

      This walk was the second outing of the New Year and a new century. I decided on Offas Dyke in order to break myself in gently to my re-discovered pastime of fell walking. It's so difficult knowing what to start with, not knowing your capabilities and levels of fitness, so I thought something which is low level and not too taxing would give me an opportunity to discover my strengths and weaknesses.

       The walk required two vehicles with it being a linear walk. I set off with a friend called Barry about 8.30am on Sunday 9^th January 2009, the weather being sunny but cool was perfect for walking. We drove down to Newcastle on Clun and left my car on the grass verge by the church. We then took Barry’s car up to the cross roads on the A489 at Brompton Bridge, about 10 miles back along Offa’s Dyke and about 3 miles south of Montgomery.

        By the time we had set the cars up it was 11.00 am when we actually started the walk. We set off down the B4385 for about quarter of a mile until we came to the gatehouse of Mellington Hall. Here we made our first mistake following the drive too the Hall rather then the track following the Dyke.

It seems Barry’s and my map reading was a little rusty, after jumping over the fence we started following the Dyke southwards. The Dyke is a most impressive structure built by King Offa of Mercia around 1,000 years ago. The structure followed the Welsh border from North to South and has survived the passage of time in quite substantial sections. Its original purpose was to act as a deterrent to the constant border attacks by the Welsh and to make it very difficult for the Welsh to drive live stock back across the border after a raid. The Dyke stands about twenty feet high with a ditch dug along its Western side, it follows the high ground were possible giving excellent views to the West, on most of its route. One can only assume this was to allow the early Saxon defenders, plenty of warning when their Celtic brothers, the Welsh, decided to commence a raid.

        We followed the Dyke for about one and a half miles until we came to a narrow lane, after climbing for about half a mile we rejoined the Dyke track. The terrain started to climb quite steeply making us both realise just how unfit the Christmas excesses had made us. Following the track we crossed the Pantglas road and made our way down into a pretty little wooded valley. Here we crossed a small brook, before heading up Edenhope hill. After crossing the road near the top we found ourselves over looking Churchtown. This small hamlet is at the top of a very steep wooded valley, and in the winter sun, looked very pretty indeed. We decided to have lunch at this stage, so we found an old wooden style to sit on and spent the next half-hour discovering how much walking each of us had done.

         In the distance, the sound of some kind of hunt going on, the sound of dogs barking, horns screeching and Welsh men shouting at the tops of their voices, painted some ancient image of the old Welsh Celtic armies on the rampage heading to commit rape and pillage on the unsuspecting Saxon settlements.

We decided to try and get across the valley as quickly as possible, with the hope we could avoid the rampage of the hunt. The climb down the valley was quite steep but at least it was dry. As we passed the church and crossed the road the hunt was obviously just coming to an end, there must have been at least a dozen or so landrovers heading down the valley. We then started our way up the hill on the other side transcending peacefully through the woods, when out of the blue we met a small craggy looking Welshman carrying what could only be described as an elephant gun. The gun was actually larger then he, If any poor creature had managed to wonder into the sights of this contraption, I should think it would be blasted from hear to eternity with the remains spread across the Four Corners of the earth.

         After climbing out of the valley of darkness and back into open country we then passed Middle Kuck, crossing rolling countryside to Hergan. From Hergan we followed a small ridge into another valley before climbing up the western side of Craig Hill. The climb across Craig Hill was made a little difficult because the fields were very muddy and we were quite tired by now. However coming off Craig Hill we could see Newcastle on Clun church and also the roof of my car.

Offas Dyke Newcastle on Clun- Knighton  30/01/00

     This was the second stage of Offas Dyke. This time I was not only accompanied by Barry, I was also joined by two other guys Andy, and Dave.

      We set the cars up for a linear walk, one at Knighton and one at Newcastle on Clun. From the latter we set off across the valley, the weather was overcast but dry, although it was becoming very windy.

       Today also gave me the chance to try out a new Berghuas rucksack and waterproofs, I had also bought a new berghaus fleece and noticed a terrific difference straight away. “I had at last arrived in the new century as far as equipment was concerned”

        After crossing the river Clun, we headed up hill over Weston Hill to Springhill farm. From here we followed the road for about a mile until we arrived at Llanfair Hill. The dyke across Llanfair Hill was particularly impressive, stretching for about two or three miles at its full height. It was also very exposed and we had difficulty walking against very strong cross winds. However the views all round was very good, and I was really enjoying the walk. Dave, had set off at a terrific pace over this stretch, and Barry was finding it hard to keep up. However this was later to be Daves undoing.

        When we reached Garbett Hall we crossed the head of a small valley too the foot of Cym-sanaham Hill, here we climbed out of the valley up Cym-sanaham Hill. The climb was very steep and Dave had strangely slowed down dramatically. We climbed up onto the top of the ridge, which gave us some of the most wonderful views of the day, the whole of the Knighton valley seemed to unfold before us. After this the ridge descended slightly and the path took us above a very steep valley and through some very pretty woods. Once we left the woods we decided to have lunch. We could see some deserted farm buildings just below us, so we headed for these buildings as we thought it would give us a little shelter from the weather. Although it was dry and bright the wind was still very strong, so it was nice to eat our lunch in the shelter of these buildings. We chattered amongst ourselves albeit Dave remained very quiet. After lunch we headed along the ridge towards Knighton and were very surprised to see Knighton ahead of us as it was still very early in the afternoon.

        After dropping down off the ridge we followed the river into Knighton to the Offas Dyke centre. We then decided to do a small extra part of the Dyke to round the day off. Although it must be noted Dave was reluctant to take part as he said he had a headache. After chucking him a couple of aspirin we set off through the town until we arrived at the bottom of Ffried Hill, we then climbed up the hill passed the golf course. Andy and I had to keep waiting for Barry and Dave, as they both seemed to be struggling. How ironic considering the dirty looks Dave was giving us earlier on in the day. It’s quite obvious that he wasn’t quite as fit as he thought. After about a mile and a half walking across fields we reached a small road and then returned to Knighton following the small road.