Walking the decades
To celebrate the path’s anniversary, Rob has been collecting memories of treks from the last 50 years...
Sian Evans, 1972 “I was eight when my dad decided we should all walk this newly created trail. We camped every night, swam in streams to stay clean, and my mum cooked for five on a Primus stove. We walked a few hours in the morning, relaxed in the afternoon, and walked again in the evening. I look back in admiration at my parents, for doing that walk with three children. It’s been wonderful to read Dad’s 18-page diary about our big family walk.”
(You can read it too at bit.ly/ODP72.)
Malcolm Hodgson, 1981
“I walked it with my mates Dave and Phil. We were 16 and it was so good I became a National Trail Officer (on the Cleveland Way)! We carried a saucepan, and there was a whole chicken in a can, plus a cassette recorder, radio, several books. We didn’t trust ourselves with all our money so sent batches to post offices on route – poste restante! – then had to hole up for a day and a half in Knighton as we arrived just after the PO shut midday on Saturday. The radio came in handy as we listened with bad reception to McEnroe beating Borg at Wimbledon.”
Patrick Leach, 1990
“Walking this path was my childhood ambition. I grew up near the start in Chepstow and would explore small sections as a kid, finally fulfilling my ambition when I was 24. I remember the excitement of walking into unfamiliar territory north of Monmouth, and dipping my boots in the water at each end of the route, to know I’d walked the whole path coast to coast. It was the greatest walk I ever did.”
Jeremy, Paul & William Manship, 2005 & 2018
“In 1985, aged 15, I walked a stretch with a mate and it captured my imagination. I vowed to come back and do it all, but time went on, I got married, had a son Paul, and William 10 years later. Then in 2005, I asked Paul if he’d like to camp the trail: he jumped at it. It was fantastic. I was so proud of this 12-year-old carrying a big pack and never complaining. As William grew up he heard us talking and wanted to follow in his big brother’s steps. I promised when he was 12 we would, but we moved to Australia and it never happened. When he was 15, I thought if we don’t go now, we never will. So we did and I was so proud of him too. To walk it twice, with both my sons, was a dream come true.”
Jess & Jon Franklin, 2021
“Walking 180 miles doesn’t strike everyone as a ‘honeymoon’ (as many of our friends told us!) but having spent the last year cooped up at home it was wonderful to be out together, immersed in the great outdoors. We were drawn to explore somewhere new and found the whole trail, and the diversity of landscapes, a total delight.”
▶ Share your memories of the trail on social media with #OffasDykePath50, by email to rob.dingle@powys.gov.uk or join the Offa’s Dyke Path 50 Facebook group.