Bendy ODP Summary

Total distance = 319.1 Km
Avg daily distance = 22.8 Km
Longest day distance = 31.67 Km



This is a tough walk; a lot tougher than I had anticipated. It would have been a lot harder to do if Libby and Gail had not been such a great support to us, especially in the last few days when things got harder to do - the 'pit stops' were much needed to rest and fuel again.

Best Bits
Best Walking Days
I think days 3 and 4 were the best walking. They were not easy by any stretch but the changes in the terrain and scenery made them rewarding. The canals were on these days - the tow paths are good and interesting walking.

Best Accommodation
Castle Hill B&B in Knighton.

Best Beer
Any lager in a pint glass

Wild Ponies
There was a herd of wild ponies on Hergest Ridge. They displayed no fear of people or dogs and we could walk right up to them.

The Path
The path is a mixture of tracks, fields and roads. The tracks were generally easier to walk on than those of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. There is some road walking on busy roads which can be interesting (keeps the adrenaline flowing) and a lot of walking through fields (too much paddock walking as it is not just very 'samey' but also boggy and very, very slippery after rain).

To be fair, a lot of the walk is through national parks, woodlands and plantation forests. The views from the high ground are stunning and there is a lot of variety in the terrain.

Itinerary
Twitchy planned the itinerary and made bookings. He used a mixture of recommendations in the Trailblazer guidebook and distance management (breaking up the really long days). He did a great job and had numerous barriers placed in front of him with places being closed or fully booked - thanks mate, nicely done.

Rest Days: We had one rest day in Hay-on-Wye. This was towards the end of the walk rather than in the middle but it was the best option due to the what was available in the town and the B&B we stayed at. The rest day was also the day before a very hard day slog up onto the Black Hills.

Direction walked: We walked it north to south. There was only one other walker we met who was doing it in the same direction; the more popular direction being south to north. There is no official direction in which it is to be walked and the direction chosen depends on which guidebook you use and/or personal preference. We chose to start in the north as this suited us better after finishing the Pembrokeshire Coast Path in the north.

Segment Lengths: In general we stuck to the Trailblazer recommended segments although some changes were made in order to reduce segment distances and in some cases changes had to be made due to lack of available accommodation.

Navigation
Being a national trail the path is well signposted. We got caught out a couple of times by not following the official 'Acorn' signs and a couple of times the signage was a tad confusing. It is better signposted in the southern sections and there were cases were it is obviously signposted more for those walking south to north (for us in some places the signage was more a confirmation that we had gone the correct way instead of it telling us which way to go). There are numerous types of signs, including stickers on posts, plaques in walls and metal discs nailed to posts. Best advice is to' follow the acorn symbol'.

Guidebook Maps: Very similar comments to I made about the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. These were a bit of a disappointment after using the Coast to Coast maps a couple of years ago. The maps appear to be out of date, inaccurate in many places are somewhat inadequate (Trailblazer edition we used was about 5 years old and needs more ground truthing - it was the latest edition we could find before we started). Once again counting gates and stiles on the map didn't always give a good representation of where you are. The hill gradients seemed to be out of wack in places, this made the longer days less enjoyable (I like to know what is around the corner so I can mentally prepare myself for it).

A-Z Map: This booklet of maps covering the walk is great. I didn't use it often but it came in handy with the occasional GPS positron fix and also when using the asset locations which are on most of the gates.

GPS: I downloaded the Trailblazer GPX file and added the accommodation to it (I got the accommodation coordinates from Google Maps). The GPS was really handy to confirm distances etc when the maps let us down.

I am not 100% sure yet but I think a couple off descriptions of GPS positions are out dated and not correct - was not a big issue.

Mobile Phone Coverage
This is surprisingly good except, as can be expected, it is non-existent in some areas and can be an issue if you need to call a taxi at a 'bail out point'. As with the Pembrokeshire Coast Path to be on the safe side I carried a PLB (personal locator beacon) with me in the event of an injury in an isolated area.

Coverage at a couple of places was non-existent; The Chain Bridge Hotel in Llangollen and the Priory Hotel in Llanthony were the most notable. There was no WiFi either at the Priory Hotel.

Weather
General it was beautiful walking weather (about 14°c to 18°c). We did get a few days with rain, mainly towards the end of the walk. The day we traversed the ridge on top of the Black Hills was a scary day with cross winds of 30+ knots and horizontal wind driven rain. If crossing any ridge line in this situation you have two choices

1. Don't walk it that day, or
2. Head down and walk into it as quickly as you can - be prepared though to sit down with your back to the wind to gain a bit of a reprieve from the elements.

Would I did it again?
I am really happy that I did it and I found it to be a very, very rewarding challenge but I can not see myself doing it again - there are heaps of other walks (national trails to do). It's also time to do more long treks back in Aus.
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Twitchy Offa's Dyke Path Summary

The Offa's Dyke Path was a much bigger challenge than I expected and/or was physically prepared for. It was a sensational walk - but marred in my mind by the number of paddocks we had to walk through. Paddock after bloody Paddock - the Paddock ratio was far too high ( read lots of cow and sheep shit ).

In total it was 313.11 kilometres, a tad more than the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. All up it took us 15 days, with one rest day on the tenth day - and boy did I need it! 

It was pretty full on from the get go, with only one easy short day, which I kinda wasted with a Hospital visit for a check-up, after my black-outs the day before. To be honest I was well and truely cooked at the end of the ninth day, but kept plugging along out of stubbornness ( and what some might call stupidity ). I took one day at time, and just dragged myself over the line - no pain no gain. Not following the acorns was never an option, unless we required an ambulance or ended up in a box. 

The magic of this walk is that it is a true Coast to Coast epic, certainly not in the same league as Wainwright's legend in Cumbria and Yorkshire, but still a top adventure in its own right. Not that is denigrating the Path, it had it all, and a testing mofo at that, but there were a few boring sections. The climb and long walk across the ridge of the Black Hills, was simply breathtaking on so many levels. However, on a bad weather day it is soul destroying, with hypothermia lurking in the background.  The views ( weather permitting ) from the many high points throughout were spectacular. And there was a lot of hills on each and every day. Sigh

One noteworthy point of this particular walk was the scenic finish, with the end/start Rock high up on a small clearing right on the edge of the Cliffs. That was a big change for the better, compared to the end of the PBC, which was five kilometres of road walking. 

  

A very special thanks and appreciation to our support crew, Mrs Bendy ( Limpee ) and Mrs Twitchy ( Bungee ), for their unending support, special lunches, surprises and putting up with us & our determination to finish no matter what. Legends!! 🍾

A Top 5 ( of goodness ).

Best accommodation:

-  Castle Hill House B&B ( Kington )

Best meal:

- Spanish Tapas (Tomatitos Tapas Bar - Hay-on-Wye)

Best town/village:

- Berwyn

- Hay-on-Wye rates a special mention, for the Movies and Game night. 

Best highlight:

- Walking into and out of Berwyn, along the canals ( Day 3 and Day 4 ), with the Pontcysyllte aqueduct being the standout.  

Best Beer:

- Moretti

The weather was glorious for the first five days, and whilst we had three shitty wet days finishing totally saturated, we really can't complain.  All up the weather was pretty good, and we even got a nice day of filtered sunshine to finish. Even the little drizzle we had on the way back from Sedbury Cliffs yesterday lasted less the two minutes.

Last night was a tad sad, well reflective. 

Our last frothies were sunk......

The fat lady has sung twice now!!!

All in all another truely excellent adventure.

Until next time .....

Woof 

Twitchy

Twitchy ODP Day 15 - Chepstow to Sedbury Cliffs

IT IS OVER!!!!

The fat lady has sung......

Thank God!!

With an equal amount of pain, relief and gratification I/we ( Bendy and I ), have completed the Offa's Dyke Path. Massive accomplishment on any level, but more so doing two National Trails back to back ( albeit it was not necessarily a wise decision ). 

Even though the wifee's did not do much of the Trail, they walked the last small section of the Path with us this morning.

Both Gail and Libby have taken to their amended roles as support crew admirably. Their help and support has been very much appreciated. And surprise surprise the Girls gave Bendy and I little surprise gift at the rock on Sedbury Cliffs.

Today was a short day to the Cairn on the hill at Sedbury Cliffs.  All up we did 4.2 kilometres from the Three Tuns ( our ancient Inn In Chepstow) to the Cliffs. Return it was about 7.8 kilometres, as we had a little brain fade on the way out. 

I went into the last day with two new major niggles, but with only a few kilometres to go, I was not going to let anything stop me. 

After yesterday, the pressure was off!!

Pretty easy stroll back across the bridge over the River Wye, through Sedbury, Buttington Tump, muddy paddocks and back onto Offa's Dyke one last time. The weather was a little problematic today, but did not rain until we had completed our journey to the Cliffs, and even then it was just a light drizzle.

So another epic adventure ends.....

Loved every minute it of it - not, not, not

It was very challenging and a fair bit harder than I was expecting &/or prepared for.

Like the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, it was a great challenge and super walk. 

All things considered it was a tip top epic adventure, but not with more than it's fair share of pain. 

Time for a Beer

Well more Beers

Twitchy 

Bendy ODP Day 15 - Chepstow to Sedbury Cliffs - The End

4.24Km in 1:19

It's done. Can we go home now.

Late breakfast and then we set off just before 1000.for the final few Km.

A mix of road and field walking. The last few hundred metres are on the dyke.  We had a moment of geographical confusion and ended up walking a bit further than we needed to (it was well signposted but we didn't read the signpost well).

You gotta love mud

The magnitude of what we have done (2 walks) hasn't quite set in yet. 

Summary will be posted tomorrow (ish)

The numbers:

Total distance = 313.11 Km

Avg daily distance = 22.36 Km

Longest day distance = 31.67 Km

Twitchy ODP Day 14 - Monmouth to Chepstow

So at long last we can say we have conquered the last of the long days of the Offa Dyke Path. Not 100% finished, as we still have a couple of kilometres to knock off tomorrow. 

Today was 29.5 kilometres, a tad longer than we expected, but we had a few variations - as you do. 

The big bonus today was the weather. 

The forecast was for a stinker with lots of rain starting at midday, and by 1.00pm heavy rain. We did not get any drizzle until ten to four, which steadily evolved into heavy rain. 

Nice way to finish off the walk - NOT. 

Still we can't complain with 90 to 100 minutes of rain on the last day, we did bloody well. 

In theroy today looked relatively easy, albeit longer than normal. It had four Hill climbs - how hard could it be??  Bloody hard!

None were on the same level as the really hard ones we had tackled previously, but all were bigger and brighter than we expected - and there was four of the fuckers. What the....

Another special highlight was the minimal amount of paddocks we had to address. Not a fan of paddocks - boring. Today included many lovely forest walks, which were truly delightful. 

After climbing the first hill, the summit gave up magnificent views back overvthe valley and Monmouth. Additionally at the top of the Kymin, was the Round House which is going to be used for some sort of spooky Halloween spectacular. Bonus. 

At lunch time the support crew met us at our pre arranged location at Bigswear Bridge, with a lunch box of goodies. Good to see the Wifies, albeit briefly. 

Onwards and upwards, as we still had two mofo's of hills to climb. Annoyingly Hill three had some real signage issues. 

After conquering the last of the four Hills Bendy and I headed into Chepstow, with still a fair amount of ground to cover. Lots to see along the way, from the Devils Pulpit and views of Tintern Abbey on the other side of the River Wye. 

I think we staggered into our time warped Hotel about 5.30pm - the Three Tuns ( more about that at another time ), wet, tired and relieved. 

A truely great day on many levels....

I am super stoked I actually made it, as many times over the last four or five days that was questionable. 

Big Woof

Twitchy 

Bendy ODP Day 14 - Monmouth to Chepstow

29.5Km in 8:59

(so much for the 26Km  estimate)

A good day for the last full day of walking.  The weather forecast was for rain from about 1200 but luckily it held off until about 1600.

Today had some tricky little hills that tested us out.  The path was predominately through woods (which were beautiful and good walking) with some fields and road walking.  The road walking was on busy roads which was not very pleasant. 

Woods

The day started with a climb out of Monmouth which topped out at Kymin. Great view of Monmouth from here. 

Kymin

The woodland walking just kept going which is great.  Highbury Wood was particularly good as the path is high on a ridge. 

Highbury Woods

Libby and Gail met us at about the 11Km mark; they had brought lunch with them which was excellent and kept us going for the rest of the day. 

We got a view of Tintern Abbey from a lookout called' The Devils Pulpit'. Great view of the abbey and the Wye River. As the day became overcast the woods were dark and difficult to navigate in; all good fun and we did contemplate using torches. 

Tontern Abbey from
Devils Pulpit

We got our first view of the ocean at the 23Km mark (it came out of nowhere as we walked out of the last wood).  The rain started at about 1600 so we had many more hours of good weather than we had expected. The final few Km into Chepstow were a bit of a drag; roads, small lanes, flooded roads etc. We miscalculated one turn off and went further than we needed to so back tracked a small amount and came into the accommodation from a different direction; this will save time tomorrow. 

Luckily the path today was reasonably well signposted as the guidebook maps today were substandard and in places quite confusing (there have been changes to the path since the current guidebook edition).

It's not over yet as we have the final few Km to finish off tomorrow (about 1 hour off walking left).

Twitchy ODP Day 13 - Llangattock Lingoed to Monmouth

Wahooooooooo

I made it. 

Quite a few times today, I doubted my physical ability to finish.  I am cooked!  Sadly....

But I did, and as such have bought a ticket for the "last dance". 😎

We waved good bye to the wonderfull people at the Hunters Moon Inn, as the locals were watching the pool match of Rugger between Wales and Australia.  Just a pool match....

ZZzzzzzzzz

 

All up today was 23.2 kilometres, a second day where the distance was less than expected, though not by much - hope that is the case again tomorrow.

What was the day like???

Below average!

Lots and lots of paddocks and lots of wet muddy paddocks too boot!

A couple of small highlights. First one was no rain - two days in a row ( though that changes dramatically tomorrow).  Second, highlight was the White Castle, where we had pre-arranged to meet up with the support crew, primarily in case I had to tap the mat. Would have liked to seen more of the Castle, and I was going OK, so we moved on. 

Next pre arranged meeting was at the little hamlet of Llantilio-Crossenny ( don't blink it or you will miss it ).  Before we met the Wifee's, we bumped into a Bakers dozen of Poms doing the Offa Dyke Path the other way, albeit very slowly. Which made me think, what is the Collective noun for a group of "To and froms" ?

An S bend - of....

???

Back to the walk, Libby joined Bendy and I from 

Llantilio-Crossenny, reducing the support crew to just one soldier - my special Bungee. ❤️

The last highlight of the day, was meeting Bungee at Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llewern ( try saying that with a mouth full of marbles). Somehow she had pulled a rabbit out of a hat and got us some lunch from a random bikie cafe on a Sunday in the Sticks. Tuck shop on the Go Go. 

And from there the three of us plodded through a fair few paddocks. Lots and lots of bloody paddocks, with the odd woodland walk to give us a pinch of variety. One small highlight, insignificant as it may be, was that we cracked the 600 kilometre barrier today ( over the two walks ).  😎

One big day left ( ignoring token ). 

Drugs willing, I will make it. 

Twitchy 

Bendy ODP Day 13 - Llangattock Lingoed to Monmouth

23.2 Km in 7:17

It rained last night so we thought we were going to have a wet day. Luckily we had a no rain day which made for a welcome change. 

Twitchy and I set off from the Hunters Moon Inn at about 0910 (about 20 minutes after the Australia vs Wales rugby World Cup game started - probably not wise for an Aussie to stick around in a Welsh pub during the game). 

The going was ok and mainly walking in fields. The ground was wet and in places quite slippery. Some tracks were flooded making things a bit challenging. 

Libby and Gail meet us at White Castle at about 1030. This was the first of 3 possible bail-out points for Twitchy.  The path went around about half of the castle.  All was going OK so we contributed on to the next bail-out point (about another 4Km away).

White Castle

The path to Llantilio-Crossenny took us through some turnip fields. These fields were really slippery and we took quite some time getting down the hill. We met a large group of walkers going the other way; we warned them about the flooded path and slippery conditions. Libby and Gail were waiting for us on the road to the church. 

Path into
Llantilio-Crossenny

Libby joined us for the rest of today's walk (she completed just over 14Km). The next checkpoint was at the church in Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llenern. The walk there was over fields and quite a bit of road walking. Gail met us there with sandwiches and fudge (a great lunch break).

Llanvihangel-Ystern-Llenern church

At about the 18Km mark we entered Kings Wood. This is a beautiful area and although it was slippery underfoot in places it was really good walking here (a really pleasant change from fields). 

Kings Woods

The path levels off and enters Monmouth; a larger town than I had assumed. It goes over the River Monnow and then leads up the main road. The guidebook maps for this were not the best and need revision but we sorted it out quickly.  

We checked into the Kings Head Hotel just after 1600. Gail had already checked in and met us there. We were muddy and tired. We had dinner in the pub (I am sure Twitchy will comment pin on this).

Tomorrow is the last full day of walking we have before completing this walk; it will be a fairly big day. 

Twitchy ODP 12 - Llanthony to Llangattock Lingoed

After yesterday's turgid shitbag, today was a corker, though not without some pain.

However, best of all it was a remarkably short day of 14 kilometres. So after seven or eight days of being longer than expected, the rubber band sprung back to our advantage. 

Much against Mrs Twitchy and Mrs Bendy's advice, I decided to walk, instead of taking the day off &/or going to hospital. 

Bendy and I left the quirky Llanthony Priory Hotel, and walked back around the Priory ruins and headed back up the hill to the top of the Ridge. Without Wifi ( or even mobile data coverage ), we were going up blind to the weather conditions. The weather looked reasonable enough, but after yesterday I started walking with a certain level of fear and foreboding.

Taking it easy, it took us just on an hour to get back on the Ridge. It was relatively calm, so we took a few photos before setting off to Pandy.

As soon as we rejoined the path and started walking the wind picked up - luckily not as bad as yesterday. We could see for miles, and get a better perspective of what we only saw glimpses of the day before. We even had patches of sunshine.  

It was a relatively easy walk along the Ridge, before dropping down into Pandy. We had arranged to meet the support crew there, who were waiting for us where the path crossed a random railway line. Jumped in the car and headed to the local rub-a-dub dub for lunch.  

Today included the obligatory paddocks of assorted farm animals - sheep, cows, horses and donkeys. 

Libby decided to join us for the last four kilometres into Llangattock Lingoed, our final destination today at the delightful Hunters Moon Inn. Tip Top Pub. 

Then off to the hospital for the dreaded check-up.  I only wanted my groin checked, but no we had to check all the stuff connected to my black-outs. All clear on that count - and still none the wiser about a potential hernia. 

Bugger !

Then back to the sensational Hunters Moon Inn

Moretti Beer.  Agghhhhh

Two days to go - will I make it?

Even I don't know. 

Watch this space. 

Twitchy

Bendy ODP Day 12 - Llanthony to Llangattock Lingoed

14.0 Km in 4:50

A short day for a change. After yesterday's conditions there was some debate last night and this morning and we decided to continue on from the abbey. Twitchy and I set off around 0930 and headed back up to the top of Hatterrall Ridge to the point we turned off from yesterday. Today that track was not as muddy and we got there in just under 1 hour.

We were better prepared today for the chilling wind but luckily the weather was nowhere as severe as yesterday; the wind was blowing but not a gale and so far no heavy rain.

View from top of ridge

The remainder of the walk along the ridge was easy going and we started to descend off the ridge after about 45 minutes. There were a number of people on the ridge today; some doing the Offas Dyke and others just out for the day. The viewers today were great around at last we were able to appreciate them. We passed close to wild ponies that didn't seem to mind us being there.

Wild ponies

We were close to the bottom off the ridge when we met a group of 3 blokes walking Offas Dyke and 2 off them were from Melbourne like we are.

Close to 1230 Libby and Gail met us on the path just before the village of Pandy. We all had a break and sandwiches in the Old Pandy Inn; it was a really pleasant lunch break. Libby joined Twitchy and me for the final 4.5Km of today's walk (it was great to walk with her again). The weather was it's usual undecided self and it did rain for short periods but not heavy rain.

Pooh Stick bridge

The 3 of us arrived at the Hunters Moon Inn(our accommodation) at about 1445 (Gail had already checked in for us).

Hunters Moon Inn

Dinner in the pub was really good with great atmosphere. Tomorrow is a much bigger day.