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