A pleasant morning on Offa's Dyke and the Shropshire Way, January 2005
Walks with a Camera © Geoff’s Pages 2011
The 3rd of January would be a bank holiday, and with reasonable
weather forecast, a walk seemed in order to round off the long
Christmas break before returning to work. I devised a route which
wouldn't be too taxing - about 6 miles - and, more to the point,
would leave us plenty of time for a pub lunch. "Where are we
going?" asked my two friends.
"We'll start at Whitcott Keysett, walk along towards Newcastle-
on-Clun, up Offa's Dyke to Hergan, then back down the Cefns
ridge, along the Shropshire Way"
"Where's all that then?" "Near Clun". Ah.
Like our previous excursion near Knighton, a light drizzle fell as
we drove up the Clun valley, and patches of misty rain could be
seen blowing around in the hills to the west as we started
walking. But we were in luck - not a drop would fall on us. Just as
well - the ground was wet enough (lots of mud!) and
treacherously slippery in places.
Following the very quiet back lane from Whitcott Keysett towards
Newcastle, we turned sharply north on reaching Offa's Dyke,
which is clearly defined in these parts. A short
steep climb and some gentle ups and downs took
us eventually to Hergan, the highest point of the
walk at around 1300'. Hergan marks the turning
point as we join the Shropshire Way to head
slightly east of south, back towards Whitcott
Keysett. The clear air made for some good views
in all directions, to the South Shropshire hills as
well as the Welsh border hills.
The ridge would descend eventually to Clun.
We turned right where a track cuts across
the ridge - and picked
our way carefully
down the deeply
rutted lane that (in
the best tradition of
these things) eventually became a stream.
At least it washed some of the mud off our
boots.
Lunch? Yes, back to Clun and the Sun - a fine end to an excellent
leg-stretch.
