Offas Dyke
A short introduction to Offas Dyke and a series of circular walks on the Shropshire Border. The series uses both pictures and narration followed by individual maps with detailed routed instructions. To accompany each walk there is a podcast that can be downloaded and played at home or while out walking the route to illustrate various interesting and historical facts.
See
shropshirewalking.co.uk
and
An Irresistible Offa: Walking in the Wales-England Borderlands
An irresistible Offa: Walking in the Wales-England Border lands
We call it Irresistible Offa, throughout these lush and undulating border lands are stunning views, hidden villages and historic market towns where you can rest, sleep and eat. The area is studded with ancient hill forts, tiny churches, castles, fortresses, some of the UK's first picturesque tourist honeypots and fascinating relics of our industrial and transport heritage. Borders between countries have an aura of intrigue, myth and mystery, and one between England and Wales is no exception, making it just a little different as a place to go walking.
Walking with Offa, a cross-border cooperation project, is working hard to ensure that it stays that way. The project brings together strategic rural development and tourism bodies along the English-Welsh border to promote walking and sustainable tourism and transport along either side of the Offa's Dyke Path National Trail.
The partners, including four protected landscapes, are working together to develop more circular walks and to improve access across the trail, which runs along King Offa's 8th century earthwork border, so that even more visitors can enjoy the wonderful landscapes, heritage and all that it has to offer along the way.
Tadpole Swarm - Offa's Dyke Path
Offa's Dyke Path is a National Trail along the England/Wales border. This was in the Montgomery/Shropshire canal - the black lines are swarms of tadpoles swimming in close formation.
Offa's Dyke Path - Welsh Border Ancient Monument Explained
Offa's Dyke Path.
Offa's Dyke is a large linear earthwork that roughly follows the current border between England and Wales.
Now list to the music and enjoy our video.
This file can be found on YouTube here:
Offa's Dyke.
Offa's dyke build by the king of mercia OFFA.757 to 796 AD not sure if it was ment to keep the welsh out or the english in??
Places to see in ( Knighton - UK )
Places to see in ( Knighton - UK )
Knighton is a small market town in Powys, Wales, on the River Teme and the English-Welsh border. Knighton railway station, as well as a small part of the town, is in Shropshire, England. The name derives from the Old English for A settlement of servants. This Anglo-Saxon settlement later became a Norman fortified town. Tref-y-clawdd, its Welsh name, means town on the dyke (i.e. Offa's Dyke) and was first recorded in 1262.
The name Knighton probably derives from the Old English words cniht and tūn meaning, respectively, ... a soldier, personal follower, young man, servant, thane, freeman and ... farm, settlement, homestead. This implies that the settlement was perhaps founded as the result of a grant of land to freemen.
Knighton is known for a well-preserved section of Offa's Dyke. Intriguingly, Wat's Dyke also runs parallel to Offa's Dyke and a few miles to the east. An earthwork that runs north-south along the English/Welsh border from Basingwerk near Holywell to Oswestry. The dykes aside, two Norman castles, constructed in the 12th century, are the oldest survivors in modern Knighton.
Knighton first prospered as a centre of the wool trade in the 15th century and was later an important point on the two drover routes from Montgomery to Hereford, and from London to Aberystwyth. Otherwise, Knighton was remote from the centres of commerce. It seemed likely that the railway revolution would also fail to reach the town; the 1840s and 1850s saw considerable railway building right across Great Britain but Radnorshire had a small population and little industry.
On the last Saturday in August the town holds its annual Carnival and Show, which attracts thousands of visitors to the town from all over the world. It features two parades, one at midday, and another at around 8 pm; these consist of various themed carnival floats and people dressed in fancy dress. The show takes place at the town's showground at Bryn-y-Castell; also home to Knighton Town F.C., Knighton Cricket Club and Knighton Hockey Club.
Knighton Community Centre is the towns largest venue and plays host to many events such as discos, performances, wrestling, bands, artists along with local clubs and organisations. Just outside Knighton and visible for many miles, is an observatory with a telescope, Europe's largest camera obscura and a planetarium.
Knighton is at the centre or the start of two National Trails; Glyndŵr's Way and Offa's Dyke Path. The Offa's Dyke Association has a visitors' centre in the town alongside the site of the ceremony at which John Hunt, Baron Hunt of Llanfair Waterdine inaugurated the long distance footpath in 1971.
Knighton is 137 miles (220 km) from the UK capital city, London; 86 miles (138 km) from the Welsh capital of Cardiff; and, 19 miles (31 km) from the county town, Llandrindod Wells. For the smaller part of Knighton that is in Shropshire, the district administrative centre of Ludlow is 16 miles (26 km) distant and the county town of Shrewsbury is 34 miles (55 km) away. The town is remote but is connected with the following towns and villages.
( Knighton - UK ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting Knighton . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Knighton - UK
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Places to see in ( Shropshire - UK )
Places to see in ( Shropshire - UK )
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands of England, bordering Powys and Wrexham in Wales to the west and north-west, Cheshire to the north, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east and Herefordshire to the south. Shropshire Council was created in 2009, a unitary authority taking over from the previous county council and five district councils. The borough of Telford and Wrekin has been a separate unitary authority since 1998 but continues to be included in the ceremonial county.
The county's population and economy is centred on five towns: the county town of Shrewsbury, which is culturally and historically important and close to the centre of the county; Telford, a new town in the east which was constructed around a number of older towns, most notably Wellington, Dawley and Madeley, which is today the most populous; and Oswestry in the north-west, Bridgnorth just to the south of Telford, and Ludlow in the south. The county has many market towns, including Whitchurch in the north, Newport north-east of Telford and Market Drayton in the north-east of the county.
The Ironbridge Gorge area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, covering Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale and a part of Madeley. There are other historic industrial sites in the county, such as at Shrewsbury, Broseley, Snailbeach and Highley, as well as the Shropshire Union Canal.
The Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers about a quarter of the county, mainly in the south. Shropshire is one of England's most rural and sparsely populated counties, with a population density of 136/km2 (350/sq mi). The Wrekin is one of the most famous natural landmarks in the county, though the highest hills are the Clee Hills, Stiperstones and the Long Mynd. Wenlock Edge is another significant geographical and geological landmark. In the low-lying northwest of the county overlapping the border with Wales is the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve, one of the most important and best preserved bogs in Britain. The River Severn, Great Britain's longest river, runs through the county, exiting into Worcestershire via the Severn Valley. Shropshire is landlocked and with an area of 3,487 square kilometres (1,346 sq mi) is England's largest inland county. The county flower is the round-leaved sundew.
Shropshire is connected to the rest of the United Kingdom via a number of road and rail links. Historically, rivers and later canals in the county were used for transport also, although their use in transport is now significantly reduced. The county's main transport hub is Shrewsbury, through which many significant roads and railways pass and join.
Alot to see in ( Shropshire - UK ) such as :
Adcote nr.Shrewsbury
Aqualate Hall, Newport
Attingham Park, Atcham
Benthall Hall, Broseley
Blists Hill, Madeley
Boscobel House, nr. Wolverhampton
Broseley Pipe Museum, Broseley
Bridgnorth Cliff Railway, Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth Castle, Bridgnorth
Brown Clee Hill, South Shropshire
Burford House
Caer Caradoc, nr. Church Stretton
Cambrian Heritage Railway, Oswestry and Llynclys
Chetwynd Park, Newport
Cardingmill Valley, Church Stretton
Clun Castle, Clun
Flounder's Folly, nr. Craven Arms
Fordhall castle and farm
Haughmond Hill, nr. Shrewsbury
Haughmond Abbey
Hawkstone Park, North Shropshire
Hopton Castle, nr. Craven Arms
Ironbridge Gorge
Kynaston's Cave, nr. Nesscliffe
Langley Chapel, nr. Shrewsbury
The Long Mynd, Church Stretton
Ludlow Castle, Ludlow
Mitchell's Fold, nr. Chirbury
Moreton Corbet Castle, Moreton Corbet
Newport Guildhall, Newport
Offa's Dyke Path, Welsh Marches
Puleston Cross, Newport
Severn Valley Railway, Bridgnorth
Shrewsbury Abbey, Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury Castle, Shrewsbury
Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), South Shropshire
Shropshire Union Canal
Snailbeach nr. Shrewsbury
South Telford Heritage Trail, Telford
St Laurence Church, Ludlow
The Stiperstones, nr Pontesbury
Stokesay Castle, nr Craven Arms
Sunnycroft, Wellington
Telford Steam Railway, Telford
Titterstone Clee Hill, nr. Ludlow
Wenlock Edge, Much Wenlock
Wenlock Priory
White Ladies Priory
Whittington Castle, nr. Oswestry
The Wrekin (and Ercall) nr. Wellington
Wroxeter, nr. Atcham
( Shropshire - UK ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting the city of Shropshire . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Shropshire - UK
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British Army Basha Combined Pitch with a USGI Poncho on a Bike Tour in May 2014
In May I cycled from home, about 20 miles north of Manchester, southwards along the England/Wales Border to Bristol to visit relatives. I took this video at a campsite overlooking Ludlow in Shropshire, which you can just about see below the hills I point out on the horizon in the background. I backpacked those hills in the 90s on Offa's Dyke, a UK National Trail along English King Offa's defensive earthwork against marauding Welsh tribes, built about 1,200 years ago, roughly following the present Welsh border .
As I had no wine to go with my pasta, after my meal and a shower, I walked down to Ludlow and sampled several varieties of real ales, returning in mellow mode several hours later.
I took the basha and poncho so that I could easily get my Brompton P6 folding bike and all it's luggage under cover, plus providing an airy under cover cooking area if it rained. If I was backpacking, the basha alone would easily suffice and with plenty of room to take my backpack.
I also tried out the tent type pitches in my last video along the way, often wild camping, and I found the triangular pyramid pitch a bit compact for a full stretch out (I'm 5' 11) without touching the walls, but still good enough for a fully enclosed sheltered setup for foul weather that would enable me to sleep in reasonable comfort.
The video is straight from my phone and I apologise that I haven't been able to add any titles etc., but my aging netbook's Windows Movie Maker keeps crashing when I try to edit video. It's 7 years old, has toured India and SE Asia over 8 months during '08-'09 with me, so it's due a factory reset and fresh start.
Greentraveller Video of Drover Holidays, Powys, Wales
Drover Holidays offer walking, cycling and mountain biking holidays. For self-guided trips, they organise your accommodation, provide maps and directions and move your luggage while you walk or ride each day. Itineraries include popular long distance routes like Offa's Dyke, Lon Las Cymru and Sarn Helen as well as tours they've created themselves to bring you the best bits of Wales.
Guided walking, cycling and mountain biking tours. Escorted group tours are a great way to make new friends, and with your own tour leader to guide the way there's no need to worry about map-reading, trailside repairs or choosing which local beer to try in the pub!
Read about more fantastic activities in Powys in the Greentraveller guide to Mid Wales:
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This video is part of a series produced by Greentraveller showcasing green tourism businesses in Powys, Wales.