Offa's Dyke Path

Friday, March 7, 2025

Offa’s Dyke Path is a walking trail, part of the United Kingdom’s network of National Trails. The path is a 177 mile (285 km) walking trail which follows the Dyke that was ordered to be built by King Offa in the 8th century. Offa’s Dyke runs the length of the border between England and Wales, running from Sedbury Cliffs near to Chepstow on the Severn estuary in the South, to Prestatyn on the Irish Sea in the North.

I’ve had a long association with the southern border lands of this part of Britain. My father was from Cardiff in South Wales and I grew up in Bristol, just over the Severn River from Wales and only an hour from Cardiff. Journeys back and forth between the two cities to visit my grandparents in Cardiff, by car and by train, were a common part of my early years. There would be day trips crossing into Wales to drive up the beautiful Wye Valley, a place where my father had spent time during his childhood and later after he retired, and home to the ruins of Tintern Abbey, a place I never tire of visiting on the banks of the River Wye. Spend some time there when the visitors have left or in a quiet day and imagine the monks in residence when the Abbey really was more isolated.

The ruins of Tintern Abbey in South Wales seen from a distance. Standing amidst a lush green landscape with a tree in the foreground and a wooded hill in the background. To the left a parking lot is just visible.

Years later I lived for just shy of twenty years in the countryside of South East Wales.

My time in these southern border lands sits strongly with me, and despite my travels and now my home half way round the world in Hawaii, the southern Welsh borders is where my heart sits.

Walking the Path

The other day, for no reason whatsoever so ever, I suddenly found myself thinking of walking the Offa’s Dyke Path. I started browsing the internet to see what information was available on walking this path. There appears to be no shortage of content whether one wishes to walk sections of the trail or tackle the whole path.

If I do undertake this sudden flash of madness, it feels equally likely and unlikely right now, I don’t think that it is something that will happen this year. However, a trip back to England is likely to happen, so perhaps I’ll use the opportunity to pick up some literature and maps for the path, and see what I might be getting myself into.

Decisions to make:

I’m sure that more questions will arise, but I think that being back in Britain this year will engender my curiosity and see how interested I truly am.

I also need to think about getting into training if I seriously want to do this. My exercising, mainly walking, is increasing but it is not enough to prepare for such a long walk (about 2 weeks).

Why?

Why am I even considering a two week walk? Why am I considering carrying a backpack for two weeks with all that I need - though unlike some long-distance paths, this one does have towns along the way, and as I indicated above, I have yet to decide what form of accommodation I will use. To walk a path where the weather really is not predictable? Getting soaked is a real possibility. For myself there are many, easy reasons to talk myself out of doing this.

So ‌"why?"

Simply because I would like to spend more time in a place that I feel a deep rooted connection to, and have that time be alone. Specifically that place being the British countryside and narrowing that down even further the Welsh borders. Yes, I am more familiar with the southern borders, but I want to wander further and connect the dots of the whole of this borderland.

As Alastair McIntosh says, in this case about Scotland,

A person belongs
inasmuch as they are willing
to cherish and be cherished
by a place
and its peoples.
~ The Roots and Vision of a Nation

I cannot lay claim to be in such close connection with this land or its peoples having lived abroad now for twenty years. However, I do know my experience of my time there. It was a time of few distractions. No television. No music. Little radio. Quiet. People. Nature. The natural world that surrounded where I lived became close to me. The lack of distractions caused me to notice, feel, sense more, dare I say become more intimate with the world around me. Through this walk I want to reengage with that relationship.

Maybe it will be through walking Offa’s Dyke path, or maybe it will be a quiet retreat somewhere in those border lands? Whichever way, my aspiration is that that happens one day.