Offa's Dyke - Red Daren

The spectacularly stunning scenery of the secluded Vale of Ewyas was an appropriate introduction to the next few hours that were spent in the Black Mountains. The narrow approach road at the foot of a magnificent example of a glacial valley eventually leading to Llanthony Priory.

A partly ruined former Augustinian priory, it lies seven miles north of Abergavenny on an old road to Hay on Wye. The priory dates back to around the year 1100 and eventually became one of the great medieval buildings in Wales, in a mixture of Norman and Gothic architectural styles.



The weather which was dry and mild, meant that this was the first real walk of Spring. The path to Red Daren starts to the west wing of the Priory and takes you through two lower open fields. Here, the climb starts to become really steep before joining a path at the base of the mountain. Climbing over 1200 feet it took about 35 minutes to eventually reach the Hatterall Ridge, which forms the border between Powys and Gwent in Wales and Herefordshire in England. This ridge then followed the Offa's Dyke Path which is a more sedate ramble at this particular section. On the west side of the ridge is the Vale of Ewyas, and on the east side is the Olchon Valley.



King Offa was one of the great rulers of Anglo-Saxon times and someone who was able to raise a workforce and resources sufficient enough to construct such an earthwork Dyke is a testament to his power. A massive linear earthwork, roughly following some of the current border between England and Wales. In places, it is up to 65 feet (20 m) wide. In the 8th century it formed some kind of 'boundary' between the Anglian kingdom of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys. It is generally accepted that much of the earthwork can be attributed to Offa, who was King of Mercia from 757 to 796.

A major survey of the Dyke in 1955 confirmed that it ran from the estuary of the River Dee in the north to the River Wye in the south (approximately 150 miles or 240 kms). The dyke is not continuous, being built only in areas where natural barriers did not already exist.

The ridge walk across the top of Red Daren was really easy with excellent views to the low lands of Herefordshire in the east. After a brief coffee break at the trig point, a further few miles stroll across the ridge to a stone sign post that mark's the route to Capel-Y-Ffin, where you can leave this section of Offa's Dyke path. This descent was much steeper than the climb from Llanthony Prior and would be a really hard slog to access the ridge from Vision Farm, which inspired Brice Chatwin's novel 'On the Black Hill'. In really good weather conditions and in stunning surroundings it was really quiet with only a Dutch couple on the ridge and an English couple climbing up the path from Capel-Y-Finn passing in the opposite direction.

The walk was completed with a trek down the deserted road back to Llanthony Prior, where this handsome little follow participated in lunch.

The Appalachian Trail

Perhaps for some the following will summarise the feeling that we all have tackling a strenuous hill/mountain. It is a passage taken from a book written by Bill Bryson when at the age of forty-four he set off to hike through 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease bearing ticks, salamanders and a range of other mammals, flora and fauna.

The Appalachian Trail is the longest continuous footpath in the world, stretching from Georgia to Maine through the Smoky Mountains, Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia (...in the shade of the local pines!!) and the Great North Woods of Maine:-

"The hardest part is coming to terms with the constant dispiriting discovery that there is always more hill. The thing about being on a hill, as opposed to standing back from it, is that you can almost never see exactly what's to come. Between the curtain of trees, the ever-receding contour of rising slope before you and your own plodding weariness, you gradually lose track of how far you have come.

Each time you haul yourself up to what you think must surely be the crest, you find that there is in fact more hill beyond, sloping at an angle that kept it from view before, and that beyond that slope there is another, and beyond that another and another, and beyond each of those more still, until it seems impossible that any hill could run on this long.

Eventually you reach a height where you can see the tops of the topmost tress, with nothing but clear sky beyond, and your faltering spirit stirs - nearly there now! - but this is a pitiless deception. The elusive summit continually retreats by whatever distance you press forward, so that each time the canopy parts enough to give a view you are dismayed to see that the topmost trees are as remote, as unattainable, as before. Still you stagger on. What else can you do?

When after ages and ages, you finally reach the tell-tale world of truly high ground, where the chilled air smells of pine sap and the vegetation is gnarled and tough and wind-bent, and push through to the summits open pinnacle, you are, alas, past caring. You soon realise - again in a remote, light-headed, curiously not-there way - that the view is sensational: a boundless vista of wooded mountains, unmarked by human hand, marching off in every direction. This really is heaven, it's splendid, no question."

Extract taken from a 'Walk in the Woods' by Bill Bryson

Severn Bore and Slimbridge

The alarm went off (..at 6.00am) for a really early start, mainly because we were in competition with the highest tide of the year on the Severn Estuary, that was due to pass through Minsterworth in deepest Gloucestershire at 8.56am.

A full compliment left the Pearl of the Valleys on schedule at 7.10am, with the glorious sight of pristine white hoar frost gracing the open fields en-route. We arrived at our destination relatively incident free (...Greg was driving!) by 8.15am. There were already hundreds of other spectators in position on the banks of the River Severn in this one spot alone. The potential traffic chaos that could occur after the event looked as though it would be legendary......but there was not one traffic control officer to be seen all morning.



The Severn Estuary has the second largest tidal range in the world. Today was scheduled to be the only 'five star' tide of the year, which occurs when the Moon and Sun are in line with the Earth at their closest distances, directly above the equator. This high spring tide occurs during the equinox in March.



The Severn Bore travels at an average speed of sixteen kilometres an hour and has been known to reach two metres in height. The bore actually went past our viewpoint only a few minutes late which was really considerate.

After departing Minsterworth a wrong exit on the roundabout approaching Gloucester and we completed a 'second lap' of a very congested stretch of the A48 which probably added an extra forty minutes in total onto the second leg of our journey South to the Wildfoul and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge.

Lunch was taken at the Black Shed Cafe at Patch Bridge in glourious Spring sunshine in the perfect setting on the banks of the Gloucs and Sharpness canal.

Slimbridge, which is 'home' to an astounding array of wildlife including the world's largest collection of swans, geese, and ducks, was the vision of naturalist and artist Sir Peter Scott, who passed away in 1989 and was the first person to be knighted for conservation work.

A particular favourite species of ours was the Eider Duck (see photo below) which is the UK's fastest flying duck. Ironically a true seabird, rarely found away from coasts where its dependence on coastal molluscs for food has brought it into conflict with mussel farmers. Eiders are highly gregarious and usually stay close inshore, riding the swell in a sandy bay or strung out in long lines beyond the breaking waves.



A number of the winter birds were due to leave the wetlands refuge to start the journey north to the Artic Circle where they will spend the Summer, before birds migrating from the Southern Hemisphere are due to arrive at Slimbridge in the next few weeks for rest and recouperation. More Bewick Swans and E White-fronted Geese left last night with a further drop in duck and wader numbers around the reserve observed today. Migration is now well underway. There was also further pre-migration behaviour noted from these species today so of the 226 White-fronts and 200 Bewick Swans that are left more may leave tonight thanks to the ideal weather conditions and the huge tides today that flooded the Dumbles.



Incredibly Steve's magic bag of bird seed appeared to last most of the afternoon and provided some continuous free nosh for the more aggresive inhabitants!!