Walking Offa's Dyke Path (North to South)

The Offa's Dyke National Trail runs for 177 miles from the North Wales coast at Prestatyn to Chepstow on the Severn Estuary, following the hand-dug bank and ditch built in the 8th century by command of King Offa, the ancient Anglo-Saxon King of Mercia to protect his kingdom. The full trail passes through eight counties and criss-crosses the Welsh-English border no fewer than 20 times.

Walking southwards enjoy the changing landscape from the dramatic heather clad uplands of the Clwydian Range and Black Mountains, to the peaceful rolling hills of Shropshire and Powys and the riverside meadows of the Wye and Severn valleys as you walk through three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Along the way you'll pass through areas of Site of Special Scientific Interest and discover a rich history from Iron Age forts, to Norman castles and to more recent areas of industrial heritage.

Responsible Travel

At Exodus we believe in the power of Responsible Travel.

Every time we travel, we are part of a global movement that creates jobs, builds more sustainable societies, encourages cultural understanding and safeguards common natural and cultural heritage. To learn more about what Responsible Travel means to Exodus click here…

On this trip in North Wales, the accommodation we use provides vital jobs to locals and uses locally sourced ingredients where possible to minimise the carbon footprint. Also the Manorhaus hotels in Ruthin and Llangollen keep single use plastics to a minimum in their hotels, plus all toiletries within the rooms are handmade locally from natural ingredients and provided in refillable containers. The West Arms pride themselves on working with very local food producers, so the meals in their excellent restaurant have a very low carbon footprint and are often organic.

Our local agent works with a carbon offset project (Forest Carbon) to create new native woodland within the UK, so all of their trips have some form of carbon offset (whilst recognising it's not a solution, they believe it's a positive step while they work on carbon reduction).

Visa

United Kingdom

Travellers from the US and EU normally do not need a visa to enter the United Kingdom. Please note, visa requirements often change and it is your responsibility to obtain any required visas for this trip. Therefore, we recommend that you check with the nearest embassy or consulate of your chosen destination(s), including any countries you may be transiting or transferring through.

Some local governments provide guidance on what visas their citizens need. To help, we’ve gathered a selection of useful links below.

• Australia: www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/europe/united-kingdom
• Canada: www.travel.gc.ca/destinations/united-kingdom
• USA: www.travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/UnitedKingdom.html

Vaccination

United Kingdom

There are no required vaccinations. However, you may want to consider vaccinations for polio, tetanus and rabies (bat lyssavirus). Please confirm with your doctor or travel clinic.

Eating and Drinking

All Breakfasts and 4 evening meals are included.

Try out traditional local country pubs for lunch or enjoy a picnic in the countryside. 
Sample local cuisine such as cawl, Welsh rarebit, laverbread, Welsh cakes, bara birth and the Glamorgan sausage. These dishes are regarded as symbols of Welsh food.

Weather

Summers in Wales tend to be slightly cooler than you might expect and winters can be milder, especially on the coast, while higher, upland areas have more chance of harsher (and colder) weather conditions. The warmest months to visit are from June through to August, although temperatures start to warm up around April and remain pleasant until October time. We advise you take waterproofs as rain / showers can occur at any time of year.

Is this trip for you?

Walking Conditions

Classification: Self-Guided
Activity Level: 3 (Moderate)
Average daily distance: 21km (13miles)
No. of days walking: 15
Terrain and route: Walks on this holiday are mainly on well-marked, gently undulating paths and tracks. The toughest sections of walking are in the Shropshire Hills (day 9) and the Brecon Beacons (days 12-14).
Vehicle Support: This is a self-guided trip for those who prefer to walk independently, but with our assistance to take out the stress of the logistics and planning. We arrange your accommodation, provide you with route directions so that you can walk at your own pace, while your bags are transported from one hotel to the next.

Transfers will be used to get you to the start of some walks.

It is important that you are happy following route directions, we make these as accurate as possible and they are regularly checked.

As this is a self-guided holiday there is no group and no leader. There may be others on the same departure date as you, but you will not be organised together. The routes directions contain a 24-hour emergency assistance telephone number should you need it and in emergencies, the local agent is normally able to dispatch a taxi or pick you up themselves. They may wish to charge for this service.

We have suggested that 8yrs is the minimum age for this trip, but as it is self-guided and you will be leading your own family we will ultimately leave this decision up to you.

For those wanting to travel on their own there is a single supplement for the accommodation and where there is only one "solo" traveller on a particular departure there is also a solo traveller supplement.