"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Offa's Dyke and Wye Valley Walk - 33 mile run/walk - August 2025 - Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire

I'd built up my hiking to around 24 miles and started to run a few sections, so with roughly a month to go before the Across Wales Walk I decided to have a crack at a hilly 30 miles and see if I could get round in about 9 hours. I had my eye on an out and back on the Offa's Dyke Path to start with, but once I realised Chepstow-Monmouth was roughly 15 miles, I decided to vary it by heading up from Chepstow following Offa's Dyke, taking in the views from the Kymin as a turnaround point, stop for food in Monmouth then return on the Wye Valley Walk. It was only roughly planned, but I had GPS on my phone, my Wahoo as a backup and a map in case all the technology failed. As this was a test of my race kit, I took head torch and compass as well and packed the whole lot in my basic Quechua backpack with around 3 litres of water. The start line was the car park under the walls of Chepstow Castle and I was soon out on the road, crossing the old bridge and heading up a steep, paved footpath towards Tutshill.

I was happy to find that the Offa's Dyke path was well signed, but I was phone-navigating too as I needed practice in that (and also needed to practice running the battery down and recharging on the fly). The path wound up into the hilly ridge of land between the Wye and the Severn, first giving gorgeous views down over the Wye. Later I could see clearly out over the distant Severn estuary, glinting in the clear sunlight through a light morning mist.

I walked and jogged. jogged and walked, shuffling my way at around 4mph up the flank of the peaceful, sunlit valley. It wasn't long before I was looking down over the ruined abbey at Tintern, scene of a few adventures on bike and on foot over the years.

There was plenty of climbing, up to the ridge then down to the river, only to turn and climb up again. This was great prep for the AWW, or so I gold myself. There was nothing in the route to match Pumlumon but plenty of ups and downs.

At first there was a lot of woodland, then the path tunnelled through hedgerows with the sunlight filtered through coppiced hazel.

Here and there I came out of the trees into expansive valley views, like this one near Redbrook with the bridge I would cross later on my return journey. The sharp smell of lush ferns baking in the sunshine transported me to days in the mountains, the first and last miles of summer fell races where you wind your way through thick ferns then up to the gorse and heather and sometimes beyond.

It became pretty clear that the route was going to exceed 30 miles and I felt a bit of time pressure, with a Meditation to get to at 7pm meaning I didn't want to take much more than the 9 hours I had set as my target. I thought about taking a shortcut, but the Kymin was just too tempting, with its quirky buildings and panoramic views, so I stuck stubbornly and inflexibly to my plan. Then I managed to flex a bit and change things up. I was feeling hungry, having only taken on board a few gels and a couple of honey waffles, with around 15 miles in my legs, but I did decide to cancel my cafe stop in Monmouth and hold on until Tintern on the return leg for a cup of tea. That would save a mile anyway, and a fair bit of faff time. With that decision made I tackled the climb up the Kymin, taking a wrong turn at one point but managing not to get irritated with myself for having followed the wrong sign. The sun was intense now and although I was diligently drinking from the camelbak tube, I was starting to feel a bit cooked. The top of the Kymin came with around 16.5 miles on the clock and the views didn't disappoint.

Starting to feel that long-run feeling (although I had walked around half the route so far) I decided to nip in to Lidl in Wyesham and get a frapuccino. I also got one of their mini pizzas, a bar of wafer and caramel chocolate and 2 bottles of water. I sat on the steps in the car park, soaked in sweat in my running gear, pouring the cheap bottled water into the camelbak to top it up. The two 500ml bottles completely refilled it which was a bit surprising - I had felt like I'd been drinking loads but in around four and a half hours I had only managed to down one litre. Something I need to work on.

With Monmouth in view I started on the way back, heading right up to the bridge before taking steps down on to the meadow at the riverside to join the Wye Valley Walk, heading back south.

After being protected from the sun in the forest for much of the outbound run/walk I was now in full sun and quickly got the sunshade velcroed on to the back of my running cap to afford a bit of protection. This has been consistently the hotted and driest summer I can remember in my lifetime, so I was being pretty cautious not to get caught out.

A long section of what I would describe as jeep track took me on a slow shuffle towards Tintern. I was jogging pretty much the whole time but barely getting over 4 miles an hour -  a real ultra-shuffle. The fact that I was digesting the pizza and had been on my feet for over 5 hours was probably part of it. I was reminded of my slow going in the 47 last year. This section went on a long time, slow mile succeeding slow mile, until I crossed the river on the pedestrian (formerly railway) bridge and began to climb into the forest on the west bank.

A series of climbs through forested sections took me to the village of Pen-Y-Fan and then to some gorgeous viewpoints in Cadora woods. Those woods went on for a long while, with gorgeous viewpoints now and again as the path skirted the lip of the valley. I went through pinewood, beechwood (reminding me of the Downs where I grew up) and even an avenue of what looked like redwoods.

I was making steady progress but the GPS was telling me I still had quite a few miles to go. I had a choice between cutting the route short with the climb over Wyndcliffe or taking a longer, flatter route on the new cycleway on the other bank, so I crossed over the main road and ran through Tintern Old Station right into Tintern itself before crossing on the old bridge (reminding me of the start in the Tintern Trot, maybe also part of the Offa's 'Orror?) to get on the gravelled cycleway. This shot is of the exquisite view down the valley from Tintern bridge.

The path led steadily upwards, gaining height slowly as you'd expect with an old railway line. I was still at a pretty slow pace, just occasionally able to push myself up to something close to 12 minute miling but mostly just shuffling at little more than brisk walking pace. Still, I was covering the miles and loving each one, as the views changed with each section of forest.

The tunnel was sligthly out of my way, as I could have climbed up off the cycleway and found a more direct route covering some of my morning miles in reverse on the Offa's Dyke Path. I wanted to experience the tunnel though, to see if it was as interesting and atmospheric as Bath's Two Tunnels, so I allowed myself the indulgence of an extra mile or two.

The tunnel went on for a long time and was way darker than this phone pic makes it appear. The lights were low-energy. So was I. But the coolness allowed me to speed up, only to slow again in the baking afternoon heat I emerged into on the Gloucestershire Way. A mix of lanes and trails led me back to my starting point, a final crossing of the Wye on the old bridge and a finish in the shadow of Chepstow Castle. There was a trailer in the car park selling cold drinks and ice cream. Just as well.

Well, I learned I can shuffle a decent mileage and I also learned that my backpack was not going to cut it for the AWW, as it rubbed a nasty sore spot on my lower back, so with those lessons learned I was happy to have clocked up my final training hike for the big event.

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