Offa's Dyke: Kington to Knighton

I had expected yesterday's route, with it's steep ascents to Disgwylfa Hill and Hergest Ridge, to be hard going, but it had turned out to be a most pleasant walk. The next stretch looked easier - admittedly a step ascent from Kington, but then miles of undulating countryside before the final drop into Knighton.

How wrong I was!  Whether it was down to tired limbs or my inability to interpret the contours on my map, I'm not certain, but I found myself walking slower and slower up the hills. 40 steps... pause... 40 steps... pause... 40 steps... rest a while. But, praise be, I'm here to tell the story. Memories of tired legs will fade; the exhilaration of completing another stage of Offa's Dyke will live on.

This is near the top of the long climb out of Kington, the houses of which are just visible in the middle distance. I'm in the middle of Kington Golf Course, which has the distinction of being the highest 18-hole course in England. I crossed it in safety - not a golfer in sight. Crumbs... if one lost control of a golf ball here, it might roll all the way to Kington!

Ah, there are a few golfers. It's 9-o'clock on Sunday morning and they appear to be having a practice swing or two before setting out on their hilly circuit. I once tried to take up golf but hardly ever made the ball travel in its intended direction. In the end I gave up, donated my clubs to charity and concentrated on rambling.  

Avid followers of my ramblings may have noticed that one thing missing from my Offa's Dyke adventure has been any mention of King Offa's wonderful Dyke. The last I'd seen of it was near Brockweir, in the Forest of Dean. Since then, nothing... until today. Yes, those earthworks up ahead really are the remains of Offa's Dyke.

The enigma of Offa's Dyke.  Click the photo for a closer look.

The Dyke would be our almost constant companion for the rest of the day's walk.  This is remote countryside, with no villages of any size all the way to Knighton - and no pubs either to refresh weary limbs. 

My Trailblazer guide book says that Ditchyeld Old Bridge is good for Poohsticks. It is, and I won both times... which devotees of Winnie-the-Pooh will know is achieved by dropping ones stick in a twitchy sort of way.

These two photos - the first looking south and the other north - show how the dyke was constructed, with a steep bank and ditch on the Welsh side and a gentler slope on the Mercian (English) side. It was probably topped with a timber palisade. 

Photo: Google Maps

Dolley Green: "Little more than a point on a map," according to my Trailblazer guide, but the guide also said that there's a supply of drinking water in the churchyard. We gratefully refilled our water bottles before tackling the next ascent. According to their website, the little well-kept church is thriving.

We lost sight of the Dyke on the climb out of Dolley Green, but soon it was with us again - clearly visible in the photo above. From here it was downhill all the way to Knighton.

Finally, this obelisk, close to the Offa's Dyke path, honours one Sir Richard Green-Price. He was a 19th century Liberal politician who is credited with being the driving force behind bringing railways to the Knighton area. The line through Knighton runs to this day and will prove very useful for getting us back to Knighton when we tackle the next stage of the trail.  We won't be using it for a while, though. This hike from Kington marks the end of our Offa's Dyke Adventure for this year. We hopefully take up the challenge again in the Spring.

Offa's Dyke: Hay-on-Wye to Kington

It's good to be on the Offa's Dyke path again, and with neither the aching thigh that bugged my last walk, nor the cough that I'd been trying to shake off for the past few weeks. 

52 miles of trail now lie behind us. This next stretch of the walk would be 14½ miles long, with a couple of steep ascents to test our fitness. It would therefore be good, I reckoned, to make an early start so that we could take our time and enjoy the views, so we booked a night at this place - Rest for the Tired. The bicycle wheel, high on the wall, is a relic of the time when this was a café, popular with cyclists. These days it's one of Hay-on-Wye's many bookshops and a B&B where Ann serves amazing breakfasts from 7.15am − perfect!

By 8-o'clock on a sunny Saturday morning we were crossing Hay Bridge, where our last walk ended. There had hardly been a drop of rain since we were last here and the water level had dropped noticeably. I've heard that those hiring canoes have had to amend their routes as stretches of the river are too shallow to navigate.

After a steady climb from the River Wye the trail follows quiet country lanes and tracks before descending gently to Newchurch. Exactly when the little church of St Mary's (just visible in the photo above) was built is uncertain, but their well-written website states that the font is 10th century... so it's been a 'new church' for a very long time!

The climb from Newchurch onto Disgwylfa Hill turned out to be the toughest of the day, but we were rewarded with some lovely views.

The Royal Oak at Gladestry is perfectly located to provide rest and sustenance for the second steep climb of the day, up Broken Bank to the Hergest Ridge. The pub has suffered from a succession of lacklustre landlords, one of whom had a reputation for watering down the whisky! Thankfully, it's now being run by a friendly fellow who has done much to revive the pub's fortunes. I wish him well. 

My Trailblazer guide to Offa's Dyke describes the Hergest Ridge as another candidate for the best section of the entire trail.  The views are truly magnificent. 

Here's the view looking back towards Hay-on-Wye, with Hay Bluff prominent on the skyline and Lord Hereford's Knob to its right.

This group of Monkey Puzzle trees mark the summit of the trail over Hergest Ridge. They were planted many years ago by the owners of Hergest Croft Gardens in Kington.

According to Wikipedia, it was a gentleman in Cornwall in the 1850's who was first heard to remark, "It would puzzle a monkey to climb that." The name stuck.  Now that I've been close enough to touch the tree's tough leaves, I can confirm that no monkey in its right mind would even attempt a climb; they're really sharp!

From here it was a gentle descent to The Swan Hotel in Kington, where the lamb shank is delicious and the beds are lovely and soft.

The cough that nearly carried me off

That's possibly a gross exaggeration, but I have been quite poorly of late.  It all began six weeks ago with a head cold that quickly degenerated into a persistent cough. To make matters worse, I had a voice like a demented frog and couldn't sing, so confined myself to strumming my ukulele at meetings of The Ukes uv Azzard and trying to remain cheerful.  On one 'interesting' evening, I was the only girl present and was reduced to attempting the girls' parts an octave lower than normal.  How embarrassing is that?

After three weeks of sucking Potter's pastels and downing a large bottle of Benylin Chesty Cough mixture (of doubtful efficacy), I sought the advise of my GP. She asked me to take deep breaths (between the coughing) while she probed my anatomy with her stethoscope. "Your airways are all clear," she eventually declared, "so I reckon it's just a viral infection.  But if it doesn't clear in a week, come back and see me."

Well, I held out for a fortnight of broken sleep and coughing that occasionally improved, then worsened again. Back to the doc. I went. 

"Are you sure it isn't Covid?"
"I've been testing regularly."
"Your airways are still clear, but there may be a residual infection. I'll prescribe you a course of antibiotics."

One week later, almost to the day, the symptoms began to lift. Whether it was down to the Amoxicillin or the virus eventually running its course, I shall never know, but at long last I was managing uninterrupted sleep most nights. My resting heartrate fell from 68bpm to a more normal 56 and my energy levels rose accordingly.  

This improvement couldn't come too soon as the next stage in my Offa's Dyke Adventure draws ever closer. Several weeks ago I'd planned this, booking a night's accommodation in Kington and another in Knighton. Only yesterday did I feel sufficiently confident about my health to confirm the arrangements. So, all things being well, the next time I blog here I'll have ticked off another 27 miles of the trail.