DISCOVER THE WILD FRONTIER
And suddenly, there it was. Between fields, straddled by trees and a fence, and riddled with badger setts, a prominent earth bank and ditch: Offa’s Dyke. All around us, the wooded hills of the Ceiriog Valley rose, tapestried with ochres, umbers and smokes. But it was the earthwork that held my attention.
“ CONFRONTED BY THIS ANCIENT FORTIFICATION, I SEE THAT EVEN TODAY IT IS STRIKING ”
Behind me already were 60km of trail though the Clwydian Hills, red with breaking bracken; Ruabon’s frosted moor; the Vale of Llangollen and the canal gliding over Pontcysyllte Aqueduct into tree-tunnels the colour of boiled sweets. The route had been so spectacular, I’d almost forgotten that Offa’s Dyke would be visible for much of it, that I would eventually meet it and be stopped in my tracks by its presence.
And now, confronted by this ancient fortification, I see that even today it is striking. Once
