Offa's Dyke (Northern Section)

25th - 27th September 2006

Introduction

As a training session and remedial exercise for a bad back, I took up Mike Laurence’s suggestion for a good long walk before the winter. Offa’s Dyke is on our doorstep. Mike had never done it and it was many years since I did the southern section with John Myddelton.

Monday 25th September 2006

I left home just before 7am and wandered down to the college to catch the 38 bus to Crewe. I still was not sure whether the road to Congleton was open or whether the diversion up Ivy Lane still applied. Mike was waiting at the new bus station in Congleton and we had a slow but steady journey to Crewe Station. We found an immediate train to Chester and had long enough here to manage our first cappuccino and cake. Before we knew it, we were drawing into Prestatyn station and the start of the National Trail. Being purists we had to walk down to the see (Mike even went onto the beach). At 10.05am we were off, back to the station and the main shopping area and then up onto a wooded traverse of a ridge above the town. It was amazing how quickly we were out of civilisation and into pretty countryside with spectacular views along the Welsh coast.

The route looked well signposted but, in these early days, we missed a finger post and were off route by ½ mile before we suspected our error. That added another mile to the total. As we dropped into Bodfari we met a lady using a hawthorn branch as a walking stick. She told us she was from Sydney and had been away from home and her family for 5 months. She must like walking. She had a book listing accommodation and we took some phone numbers. A shop in Bodfari (3-3.20pm) sold us some water and chocolate ice creams. We had seen lots of Dim Parcio signs before but here we came across a Dim Stopio. It was getting very hot.

We rang a pub about halfway along the Clywydian mountain chain but no one was in so we left messages on the answer phone. Now was the time to commit ourselves to the mountains. It was a stiff climb up to the ridge, a climb that indicated just how unfit I was, especially in this heat. The main ridge was fantastic walking and we crossed the first major peak, Moel Arthur, and dropped steeply down to a col and road crossing (5pm). Still no reply from the pub below us so we had no alternative but to go on. Before we did however, I tried the Druid Inn in Llanferres and the owner said she could accommodate us and pick us up when we knew where we would come out. So we set out with positive steps for the traverse of Moel Famau, with its ruined Jubilee Tower on its summit. A long but easy descent took us down to the road and our destination for the day

We got down to the car park on Bwlch Penbarras at 6.45pm and rang the owner of the Druid Inn. She was a bit hazy as to which car park until I mentioned the Grouse, a huge black and red wooden carving. As soon as I mentioned this she knew exactly where we were and 10 minutes later we were driving down narrow lanes to Llanferres. We had a nice room, good showers and a pleasant pint of Marsdens Pedigree. This washed down a Steak and Ale Pie and a treacle sponge pudding

22miles in 8hr 45m

Tuesday 26th September 2006

A most pleasant lady was up and waiting as we came down for an 8am breakfast. After we had eaten everything she fried for us, she drove us back up to Penbarras and we were setting off at 8.57am on a beautiful cloudless morning, climbing Foel Fenlli, green above us in the morning sunshine against a blue sky.

In no time at all (probably nearly an hour) we were crossing the A494 at Clwyd Gate and on our way to Llandegla. Before we got to the village, a farming family stopped us for a chat and laughingly suggested we would be able to round up their sheep for them. The post office served tea and we bought some cakes in their shop so we had a good 30-minute rest (11.45-12.15) before starting out again into a warm afternoon. The climb up through Llandegla Forest (Dim Bicio signs) was shaded but we were soon out onto the open moor where Mike practiced his Welsh on a mountain biker. A mountain road took us down into Worlds End. The next section was a delight, a long traverse under some limestone outcrops, with ravens, buzzards and a peregrine falcon up above. We stopped for a short lunch break in this magnificent scenery. Next we gained the road which continued the traverse passed Castell Dinas Bran. It got very hot on the road, glaring sunshine with no wind. Eventually however we started the drop through the woods to Trevor. Here was the only piece of badly marked route that we experienced. An unmarked stile before the first house led to a disused railway embankment with no indication that a national trail ran that way. If Mike had not seen a family walking towards us from the other side, we would never have found the slippery decent from the embankment and the stile leading to the Llangollen canal.

We were only on the towpath for 400 yards. This brought us to a boat yard leading to the Pont Cysyllte but the tea shop therein was a more immediate attraction. I pleasant young girl served us tea and cakes, our second indulgence of the day. Then came the spectacular walk over the aqueduct with the River Dee a long way below us. I was really getting tired and sore footed as we tramped the 1.5 mile of towpath before the southern turn for our first view of Offa’s Dyke proper. The more impressive site was the B&B sign and my legs gave way. But Mike was understanding enough to know I was suffering so we knocked on the door of Plas Offa Farm even though it was not yet 5.30pm. We were shown a lovely big room by the farmer’s wife. The strange bird sounds were soon traced to the front garden where two parrots (one Amazon and one Macaw) sat squawking away.

The walk along the A5 to the pub proved longer than the half-mile that our landlady suggested but the Aqueduct Inn proved a welcoming pub, Pedigree again, and I this time tried a chicken curry and pudding before watching United on the big screen as they struggled to beat Bernfica. Mike’s torch did not work for the walk back but we managed with no problem to find our farm and our beds.

23 miles in 8hr 30m


Wednesday 27th September 2006

The forecast was not as good as for the last two days so the grey morning skies were not a surprise. It was a lot cooler as well which suited me better. Armed with another good fry-up and a plethora of blister patches, I felt I was finally walking myself fit. We were away again just before 9am. The easier ground was also more conducive to the fast pace required to get to Welshpool and the train home. Anyway there was a bus from Llanymynech so it was not vital that we made the full distance. We made good time on the first section through the grounds of Chirk Castle (open until the end of the month). A surprisingly big climb took us up onto an undulating plateau which ended in a road section to the Old Racecourse above Oswestry. We were now back in England. A magnificent descending forest path look us to a complex section of the route which wound its way round Trefonen taking in isolated areas of high ground. One of these, Moelydd, gave us a fantastic panorama.

Then it was up towards the golf course and Llanymynech Rocks and another limestone outcrop. A helicopter was circling over the village as we dropped down though the trees back into Wales to the final mile of road. It had been a long hard section with no shops, pubs or tea shops; 17 miles of non-stop walking in 5½ hrs. There was no café in the village, just 3 pubs and a post office. We checked to make sure the buses were still running then we tried a pub. No luck, she was not serving food at 2.30pm. The next pub would make us a pot of tea but took umbrage at my suggestion that I get some food in the post office and bring it into the pub. Yet she would not make us any food herself. I was beginning to feel unwelcome here. The last pub, the Dolphin Inn, looked a bit crummy but, as chance would have it, proved our salvation. The landlord could not do enough for us and we had bowls of soup and lovely baguettes. So at 3.15pm we were ready to start again. The only worry was that there was a very long way to go; almost 12 miles to Welshpool station. And our train was at 6.55pm.

The section proved very straightforward, towpath at first then a section on the dyke proper and finally along the flood embankment of the River Severn. At Pool Quay the route crosses the main road and takes to the towpath of the Montgomery Canal again. Where this turned off for the last mile to Buttington Bridge, we stayed with the canal right into and across the town. The station looked very pretty in the oncoming darkness at 6.45pm. A lovely old building lit up splendidly. It was a bit of a shock when we found that it did not have a railway line or platform. This had disappeared under the new road and the present railway is now over a footbridge and on the other side of the trunk road. However our journey was finally at an end and we were just in time for the train.

This was late but there was still time to change my clothes and have a quick coffee and sandwich at Shrewsbury. Then the Crewe train came in and we were on our way northwards and home wards. A comfortable connection at Crewe saw us on the 38 bus (free for those with a bus pass). The diversion route into Macclesfield enabled me to be set down at the end of my drive so I only had another 100 yards to walk. So ended a great few days out. I felt a lot fitter, less stressed and my back had been forgotten. Let’s hope the bedroom did not have a Dim Sleepio sign.

29 miles in 9hrs 45 min