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Sunday 9th July 2006
Walked 14 miles, virtually all on Offa's Dyke Path
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
The guidebook describes this as the best day of walking on the whole path; it was certainly very good. We left the Tan House just before 9am and bought lunch at the Spar Shop, then climbed up onto Bradnor Green to the highest golfcourse in England (390 metres above sea level). Yes, there were people playing golf, despite the fact that it was early on a Sunday morning and there was a very strong wind. The wind persisted for the whole day, but it only rained on one occasion (and only slightly then) so it was excellent weather for walking.
We continued to climb up Rushock Hill and eventually rejoined Offa's Dyke, about 54 miles after we were last walking alongside it.
We circled Herrock Hill - all very pretty and we didn't have to climb to the top! We crossed the border into Wales at an old packhorse bridge, speaking to some cyclists who were resting there. We passed 'Old Burfa' an old timber-framed house, then followed a good section of Offa's Dyke and climbed up to the Hilltop Plantation (for lunch).
We descended to the Lugg Valley and walked across the valley to Dolley Green before embarking on the final big climb of the day - and it WAS a big climb, up Furrow Hill. However from this point on it was just gentle ups and downs and then a steep descent into Knighton.
We reached the Offa's Dyke Centre in Knighton shortly before they closed at 5.30pm and bought postcards. Then we found The Fleece House (a former inn) and were warmly welcomed by Dana Simmons, who was originally from Poland. We had a very 'ethnically' decorated twin room on the ground floor; Helen had a similar room on the first floor though we had some difficulty finding our way from one to the other - the place was a real rabbit warren. The rooms all had different colour schemes and they really were very pretty. Helen's room was not next to ours because they also had a German couple and their daughter staying, for the wedding of their older daughter, a vet in Knighton. Talk of German vets reminded us of the Von Heimendals, friends when the children were small.
Having realised that this was the evening of the World Cup final, we needed to find somewhere football free to eat - the restaurant at the Horse and Jockey (another former coaching inn) came up trumps and we had a lovely meal.
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