Offa’s Dyke path small group walking tour

Planet

It is safe to drink the water from the tap in England, however, for customers keen to avoid buying single use plastic bottles we encourage customers the chance to purchase a discounted filter Water-To-Go bottle which combines three different technologies to remove over 99.9% of all microbiological contaminants in water.

The hotel we use on this holiday is part of the Re-Fill 2020 scheme, so they are registered as a Re-fill station for people to come into the hotel and ask for their water bottles to be re-filled to prevent plastic pollution. The hotel has also completely removed plastic straws, using totally biodegradable alternatives.

We operate a ‘leave no trace’ policy on tour; our tour leaders are trained to promote this message to customers. As the focus of this trip is primarily walking, we aim to leave a minimal impact on the areas as possible. This trip actively encourages customers to reduce the carbon footprint to a minimum. We’ll walk approximately 66 miles of the central section of the Offa’s Dyke Path southwards from Chirk to the traditional English town of Kington. We will walk the cliffs of Llanymynech Hills, ascend Beacon Ring and walk on the highest point of the trail before reaching our destination at Kington.

We encourage all our customers to keep a safe distance from animals and not to feed wildlife as they become reliant on tourists. This is especially prevalent given the amount of bird life and livestock.

We’re committed to running our business responsibly. In our office we reduce, reuse, and recycle whenever possible. It’s in a refurbished mill, and we’ve also installed a waterwheel to generate electricity from the river. It was the first of its kind in Britain, gives us our own sustainable source of power and any excess goes to the National Grid.

People

The Dragon Hotel in Montgomery assures us that they recycle as much as possible. The hotel group encourage all employees to reduce waste, reuse supplies, and recycle in the most ecological way, including laundering and reusing returned uniforms wherever possible. The hotel always aims to be good neighbours and to be active in the local community. The hotel is owned by a group of local families.

Breakfast and dinners are taken in the hotel each day, however, lunches are taken in a variety of local eating establishments, such as local cafes, pubs or supplies are purchased from local shops, which helps to spread the financial benefits of tourism.

We offer financial aid to walking groups within the UK to maintain walking by young and old for future generations, rebuild broken paths and bridges washed away. This falls under an organisation named the Charitable Trust.

We cap passengers at a maximum of 18 customers so as not to impact on the environment surrounding the Offa’s Dyke Path, especially as we explore primarily on foot and on ‘rights to roam’ land. We use as many locally owned services as possible throughout this trip.