Author Topic: Offa's Dyke 2017  (Read 10478 times)

rural roamer

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Re: Offa's Dyke 2017
« Reply #45 on: 19:49:44, 19/06/17 »
I may have moaned a bit about the weather but I'm glad we're not doing it in this heat! Overall the weather was pretty good. 2 days of continual mostly heavy rain, a few days with a few blustery showers and the rest was ideal walking temperature, it was just that it was extremely windy. I don't expect to walk for 12 days though and not get any rain, especially in Wales!


B&Bs were all good really, can't think of a bad one, a mixture of farms, pubs and B&Bs. Worryingly most are run by shall we say "older" people and several talked about retiring soon. There were already areas where it was difficult to find somewhere. One of our favourites though was Castle Hill House in Kington which has only been open a few months and is owned by a young couple, probably in their early 30s, which was refreshing.


Before we started I was expecting the Hay-on-Wye to Pandy day to be the hardest but I found it quite easy. Perhaps because for me a steepish climb first then the ridge and then a long descent suits me better than continual ups and downs.  The day from Cwm to Knighton with the "switchbacks"was much tougher(also very wet and muddy).  And strangely Pandy to Monmouth seemed much more difficult than I thought it would be and I wondered why. Our mileage was similar to the day before, and I thought height gain would be less but was actually just very slightly more.  But a lot of the day was walking through long grass so I think that was probably a factor. Thankfully theres no stiles now on that section, they are all gates. According to our B&B in Pandy there used to be 76 stiles on that section and they changed them to gates a few years back! Perhaps they're the stiles you remember sussamb?!  ;D


Overall a pleasant walk with mainly rolling hills and a few "higher" sections. Certainly not easy and I think there may have been a few people doing it that thought it would be easier.  On the Pennine Way last year everyone we met was experienced and well prepared.  On Offas Dyke there were quite a few who had booked through package companies, were taking a lot longer than us maybe only walking 8-10 miles a day and/or walking just half of it, usually to/from Knighton which can fit nicely into a week. I'm not knocking that but when the weather turned bad they struggled. More than one couple mentioned being up on the
Black mountain ridge in the mist,rain and wind never having experienced anything like it before and being out of their depth.


Most still seem to walk S to N as we only met one other walker going our way and she was doing some of it as part of JOGLE. Most days we only met 3 or 4 lots coming the other way so it doesn't seem that popular. It's extremely well marked and difficult to get lost in most places. We had the Trailblazer guidebook and rarely had to refer to the GPS.
« Last Edit: 19:53:09, 19/06/17 by rural roamer »

sussamb

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Re: Offa's Dyke 2017
« Reply #46 on: 20:01:22, 19/06/17 »
Thankfully theres no stiles now on that section, they are all gates. According to our B&B in Pandy there used to be 76 stiles on that section and they changed them to gates a few years back! Perhaps they're the stiles you remember sussamb?!  ;D

Quite probably  O0 although they'd clearly started ... but on this one you could simply walk around it  ;D

« Last Edit: 20:04:55, 19/06/17 by sussamb »
Where there's a will ...

rural roamer

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Re: Offa's Dyke 2017
« Reply #47 on: 15:27:16, 25/06/17 »
Still some like that. Also a stile in the middle of a field with nothing round it. And no,
I didn't climb over it!  ;D

 

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