Keith Carter has 40 years’ experience of hiking in Britain and has written for numerous walking publications and periodicals.

Introduction
‘Wherever I have been in Wales, I have experienced nothing but kindness and hospitality, and when I return to my own country, I will say so’. George Borrow Wild Wales 1862

For 177 miles (285km), from Prestatyn in the north of Wales to Chepstow in the south, the Offa’s Dyke Path winds along the English-Welsh border, roughly following the line of the 1200-year-old frontier earthwork which gives it its name. This magnificent long-distance footpath ranges over terrain diverse as any you will find in Britain; it traverses the whaleback ridges of the Clwydian Hills, along canal towpaths and old drovers’ roads, beside the banks of the meandering Severn and Wye rivers, through the Shropshire hills and over the Black Mountains. The Border Country is the land of Merlin and Arthur, a land of history and legend, from which sprang Owain Glyndwr and the Lord of the Rings. To journey through it on foot is the finest way to discover one of Britain’s best-kept secrets.
You leave the North Wales coastline for a bracing walk over the Prestatyn hillside with its awesome views of the mountains of Snowdonia before you take to the small lanes and hedgerows of the Vale of Clwyd. This farmland introduction gives way to the splendid ridges of the Clwydian Range and fine walking. Beyond Llandegla you enter a region that might be part of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, the limestone cliffs and screes of the Eglwyseg Crags above the festival town of Llangollen. Then you follow the canals, crossing the magnificent Pontcysyllte Aqueduct; the inspiring views of the Marcher castle of Chirk herald your first glimpse of the Dyke itself.
You continue across the Severn Plain on a more modern man-made embankment with panoramic views of the Breidden Hills and then up to the Iron Age hill-fort of Beacon Ring with its crown of trees. As you approach the halfway mark at Knighton, ‘the town on the dyke’, you come to a part of the route aptly named the Switchbacks. Then it’s on to Kington and the Hergest Ridge, a place of heather, gorse and wild ponies, with extensive views of the ‘blue-remembered’ hills of Shropshire and the Black Mountains of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Hay-on-Wye with its thirty or so second-hand book shops is a welcome stop for a night. From here the trail climbs over Hay Bluff to the Hatterrall Ridge following the spine of this fine massif.
From Pandy you pass through a hidden world of intimate villages and quiet byways where you’re likely to meet only livestock and farm people. Monmouth is well worth exploring before the long walk down the River Wye’s wooded slopes, passing Tintern Abbey, to Chepstow and the end of this superb trail at Sedbury Cliffs.

About this bookThis guidebook contains all the information you need; the hard work has been done for you so you can plan your trip from home without the usual pile of books, maps, guides and tourist brochures. It includes:

All standards of accommodation from campsites to luxurious guesthousesWalking companies if you want an organized tourA number of suggested itineraries for all types of walkersAnswers to all your questions: when to go, degree of difficulty, what to pack and the approximate cost of the whole walking holiday
When you’re all packed and ready to go, there’s detailed information to get you to and from the Offa’s Dyke Path and 88 detailed maps (1:20,000) and 12 town plans to help you find your way along it. The route guide section includes:

· Walking times in both directions
· Reviews of accommodation including camping, hostels, B&Bs and guesthouses
· Cafés, pubs, tea-shops, restaurants, and shops for buying supplies
· Rail, bus and taxi information for all the towns and villages on or near the path
· Street maps of the main towns
· Historical, cultural and geographical background information

Minimum impact for maximum insightMan has suffered in his separation from the soil and from other living creatures ... and as yet he must still, for security, look long at some portion of the earth as it was before he tampered with it. Gavin Maxwell

Why is walking in wild and solitary places so satisfying? Partly it is the sheer physical pleasure: sometimes pitting one’s strength against the elements and the lie of the land. The beauty and wonder of the natural world and the fresh air restore our sense of proportion and the stresses and strains of everyday life slip away. Whatever the character of the countryside, walking in it benefits us mentally and physically inducing a sense of well-being, an enrichment of life and an enhanced awareness of what lies around us.
All this the countryside gives us and the least we can do is to safeguard it by supporting rural economies, local businesses, low-impact methods of farming and land-management and by using environmentally-sensitive forms of transport – walking being pre-eminent.
In this book there is a detailed and illustrated chapter on the wildlife and conservation of the region and a chapter on minimum impact walking with ideas on how to tread lightly in this fragile environment; by following its principles we can help to preserve our natural heritage for future generations.