When my parents first moved to Shropshire, a little over a year ago, I noticed the huge number of marked footpath signs we would see on our runs: the Shropshire way, Offa's Dyke, Walks with Offa (a series of pub walks it turns out), the Herefordshire trail, the Mortimer trail....and also a picture of an aquaduct on a trail that ran straight through my parents village. It took a bit of googling to find out what this latter one was, but eventually I came across what is actually a really good concept: the Heart of Wales line. This series of walks are a continuous (with some overlap) trail of walks that are linked by the train line from Craven Arms all the way to Llaneli. That is 141 miles in total.
I didn't do the whole 141 miles this weekend (oh to be one of those that can) but I took my first steps in doing some of the trail. The first problem though was the rail strike, which meant that the dog and I ended up on the bus to Knighton. It also meant the plan to do another section on Sunday was out the window.
Knighton is a cute little town over the boarder in Wales. It was once probably a bustling market town, but the industrial revolution never quite made it here and so it now exists as a slightly down on its luck town relying on the agricultural industries and walking based tourism. It sits near the Offa's Dyke path and the Glyndwr way. On a sunny Saturday as I jogged through, it looks okay but you wouldn't spend a week here. We had a mini chat with an older lady when I moved in to a door way to allow her to come down the narrow pavement, and I got that it was a bit of a locals place.
The trail really starts outside the back of the Off's Dyke visitor centre, heading across a field towards the River Teme. The River Teme forms a character in a Ben Aaronovitch book but fortunately she wasn't about that day, and the dog enjoyed a quick dip and a run across the metal bridge that marks the boarder between Wales and England. I could run on this all day but I knew it wasn't to be. We popped over the bridge and the rail crossing (no trains today due to strike so one less thing to worry about). The campsite looked kind of busy which was good see. And then we crossed the road and started on a quite steep path up Panpunton hill. The dog could get off his harness but I was definitely walking. I am still struggling post ultra with continuous running so this was probably needed. It was relatively easy to navigate and I had the GPX on my phone to follow.
At the top we joined the Offa's Dyke footpath for amazing views and a lovely run across grass and chalk ridge line with stunning views across the valley including the Knucklas viaduct. We saw one person along this section. So it wasn't busy for the height of summer at a weekend. We didn't really see any one else walking or running until we bumped in to the mountain bikers at Bucknall woods. This quietness of the trails really showed up when we left Offa's Dyke path and found our first proper 'Heart of wales line trail' viaduct signs. The path leading away was initially clear but then sort of faded. I think it was meant to be one of the ditch footpath behind a wall of trees, but it was pretty overgrown so Oscar and staggered across the field among the thistles and the sheep to the gate. A few fields down it got worse as we moved away from the fence line but we could see the farm we were sort of aiming for so we headed across the field and found the path before promptly losing it again and running down someone's drive towards Five turning's where Oscar had to be carried over a cattle grid (my fault for not being on the path).
Five Turning's is a couple of houses sitting on the junction of, surprise, 5 routes. It was a fast road, as demonstrated by the car that shot past as I put Oscar down and headed for the track on the far side. This track would take us pretty much to Bucknell woods, but went from a farmer's driveway, to an undulating track, to across livestock (sheep, its Shropshire), and arable fields. The initial section between the hedges was so so. It being summer, it was quite dry with only the odd stagnant puddle which the dog tried to drink from. Then the view began to open up to the left. This view I suspect includes Caer Caradoc hill fort ad the hills over towards Clun but I couldn't tell you what was what without looking and we were making good progress along this very runnable section. To the right, the hill rose further so there was no view. We saw no one in this section.
Eventually we got to Bucknell Wood and immediately saw the mountain bikers that love this hill. I am told its only a small area of ride space but apparently it's pretty gnarly. And if not ,there are plenty of relatively quiet forestry tracks to cruise around on. From this point it was also pretty much all down hill to Bucknell. Dog was off the leash and we enjoyed the shade of the trakc and the easy running down though the predominantly pine trees. The track wasn't the best marked but you can't get too lost as long as you point down hill.
At the bottom I was still a few miles short so I decided to loop around a bit to make it up. This did involve a gradual climb along to Nettledale house and then a steep climb up the hill, but I just went slowly and tried not to upset the moutrain bikers by having the dog off the leash. Oscar loves Bucknell woods and always appreciates a walk there when we are at my mum and dad's. Eventually we dropped back on to the road that takes you in to Bucknell. It seemed a surprisingly long way through Bucknell on the road, and we stopped to let Oscar drink out of what was left of the stream after a hot summer. Its hard to believe in winter that same stream had flooded the road and prevent the traffic coming over from Clun to Ludlow.
If you were heading to the station, you would then have the option of walking among some of the prettier traditional Shropshire housing in the village or heading to one of two pubs for a drink. Alternatively, the next section of the walk to Hopton Heath is about 6.5 mile I believe, with a bit of a hill in the middle (okay, large hill) and goes out the same end of the village as you come in. Unfortunately, train strikes stopped me from doing this one on the Sunday but it is there for another day.
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