OFFA'S DYKE PATH | Cicerone hiking guide

hiking guide

This new, 1st edition guidebook describes Offa's Dyke Path National Trail, running 177 miles along the English-Welsh border between Sedbury (near Chepstow) and Prestatyn on the north Wales Coast. It links the Severn Estuary and the Irish Sea, following the longest linear earthwork in Britain, contouring above the Wye and Dee, visiting hillforts and Norman castles and exploring the hidden heritage of the Marches. The route is exceptional in all seasons, although the Black Mountains and Clwydian range deserve respect in winter conditions.

The guidebook splits one of Britain's classic trails into 12 stages, with suggestions for alternative 8 and 16 day schedules. This is a long but not too difficult walk for walkers of all abilities. Step-by-step route descriptions are accompanied by 1:100,000 OS mapping. A trek planner gives at a glance information about facilities, public transport and accommodation available along the route, while a separate convenient booklet of 1:25,000 OS maps provides all the mapping needed to complete the trail. 

The walk is astonishingly varied, taking in the lower Wye gorge, the Severn and the Dee rift valley, the pastures and woodlands of the border country, the remote moorland of the Black Mountains and the Clwydian range, and the dramatic limestone escarpments of Eglwyseg mountain. What makes it even more special is over 60 miles walking alongside the Saxon earthwork of Offa's Dyke, the path sometimes on the Dyke and sometimes alongside.

OFFA’S DYKE PATH
Stage 1 Above the Lower Wye Gorge
Stage 2 Sheep and cider in remote Monmouthshire
Stage 3 Crossing the Black Mountains
Stage 4 Gladestry and Hergest Ridge
Stage 5 The Radnorshire Hills
Stage 6 Ups and downs in deepest Shropshire
Stage 7 The Vale of Montgomery and Long Mountain
Stage 8 Across the Severn valley
Stage 9 Exploring the unknown Marches
Stage 10 The Vale of Llangollen and Eglwyseg Rocks
Stage 11 The Clwydian Range
Stage 12 Northern hills and coast