offa's dyke, wales

[Joeri]

Hi everyone,

didn't really know where to post this one, so here seemed the best place...
I am planning on walking offa's dyke, a trail running from cardiff through Wales to the area around Liverpool. It follow an ancient dyke/ earth wall put up to keep the Welsch out of england a long long time ago.

Does anyone of you know it or walked the trail? Just wondering about some good tips and experiences. The official info says wild camping is prohibited, but I want to know if it is possible and if there are enough standard campgrounds? and what about the scenery?

well just some general experiences would be nice!

thanks!

 

[led]

I've only walked a small part of it, which was really very nice indeed. There does appear to be a fairly comprehensive non-commercial site here, including camping information.

 

[Joeri]

thanks...

I have visited that site before. It has some decent information. I was just wondering what peoples personal experiences are...

 

[Simon R]

I did this LDP with some friends about fifteen years ago. It took us 12 and a bit days to do, but 10 days or less would be possible. Finding campsites in the right places was a bit of a problem; we wild camped on quite a few occasions. If you are out of sight and quiet, putting a tent up in a field late in the evening and leaving in the morning shouldn’t cause any problems. The campsites we did use varied from an old ladies back garden, a farmers field with a portaloo in a cowshed, to big family campsites.

Another problem we had was buying food along the way; make sure you carry enough to get you to the next shop. Don’t forget what day it is and find that the shops are shut because its Sunday, we did!

We didn’t take any maps and just used the two official guidebooks to follow the route. It worked but sometimes an OS map showing more of the surrounding area would of been nice. Carrying all the OS maps needed to cover the entire route would be a bit heavy.

The scenery is very nice and varied but quite a bit lot of the route is farm land, if you want to walk a bit further the Pennine way is good, more hills, bogs, moors and woods.

Hope you have a good and blister free trip.

 

[Biddlesby]

I've walked along it many times, but only around clywd valley. I've never camped on it, however. I remember it being particularly windy at one point - if you jumped up in the air into the wind, and spread out your body, you'd land a few feet away!

There's also a nice wooded area where the wind blasts up along a deep carpet of beige-coloured grasses. The way they moved reminded me of the bit(s) in Lord of the Rings film where frodo puts on the ring and everything goes wavey and windy. Quite surreal.

 

[Joeri]

thanks for your comments!

 

[Neanderthal]

Backpacked this one many years ago, a good trip, took 8 days but I didn't spend so much time looking at the scenery back then.

I seem to remember mainly camping wild. 1 person with small green tent, not too much of a problem.

Filling our hats with Cherrys at Chirk castle is one memory that springs to mind. The other was seening my first badger early on in the trip (memo to self: post grid ref).

Will post again after I've had a trip down memory lane.

Neanderthal.

 

[WDBurns]

Used to live very near the North end / start of Offa's Dyke, Prestatyn. Walked the whole solo in a casual 9 days. Mix of Wild and site camping. B&B and rest day half way at Nighton. Carried some food and asked a few strangers in gardens for water refill. For wild camping start looking for pitch 1 hour before sun down, or sooner if pub is near. Wake up and break up with the sun.
Weather mixed. Fantastic time. Will do it again soon.

 

[Kerne]

I did it with some mates a couple of years ago. It is a beautiful walk , often in areas that get very few visitors. The guidebooks (one South, one North)) are very good: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Offas-South-National-Trail-Guides/dp/1845132742
Radnorshire and the Clun forest area were my favourite bits. There are lots of "semi wild" campsites, i.e. farmer's fields with next to no facilities - we even camped ion someone's lawn at one point.

Go for it!

 

[sandbender]

I walked the full length sometime in the late eighties, I think in May. What I remember the most was how much it rained! Lots of socks and good walking waterproofs are a must.

 

[hiho]

i'm presuming after over 3 years that Joeri as already done this...

 

[WDBurns]

i'm presuming after over 3 years that Joeri as already done this...

Still could help someone else thinking about the Offa's Dyke walk.
I am this summer. That is why i am looking now.