Product Description

Bob Bibby is on his travels again, this time following the line of that mighty earthwork that stretches 177 miles "from sea to sea" along the old border between England and Wales - Offa's Dyke, built by the very first self-styled King of the Angles, the fearsome 8th century King Offa. Join Bob on an extended pub crawl as he walks the long-distance path between Chepstow and Prestatyn, stopping off at local hostelries to sample the wares in the interests of research. Walk with him along the glorious Hatterall Ridge, on the 80 miles of still-extant Dyke itself, across the Froncysyllte Aqueduct and finally over the Clwydian hills to his final destination. Meet some of the fascinating historical and modern-day characters he stumbles upon - "Ozzie" Osbern of Chepstow Castle, the original Hound of the Baskervilles in Kington, King Richard of Hay-on-Wye, Kilvert the Pervert of Clyro, the "Herbies" of Montgomery, William Spooner (or Spilliam Wooner) of Oswestry, the Daleks of Llangollen, Coch Bach of Ruthin and many, many more. Discover the truth about Placido Domingo's vocal exercises, Carol Vorderman's 28 day Detox Diet, two lovely African pygmy frogs named Eleanor and Sarah, the site of Arthur's last battle, the Order of Wandering Peace Poets, why Near Earth Objects are rather worrying, what the Welshwomen did to the dead bodies after the Battle of Pilleth, what Horatio Nelson was up to in Monmouth, and the origins of the V-sign. Special Offa is a wonderful companion for those planning to walk the Offa's Dyke Path, whether on foot or in the comfort of their armchairs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #138713 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

Review
"A wonderful read: witty, unsentimental and full of unforgettable thumbnail sketches of the people and places." Shropshire Review "Bob Bibby's writing is reminiscent of Bill Bryson; he has a dry wit and a keen perception of detail that highlights the ordinary and elevates it." Canal and Riverboat

About the Author
Bob Bibby was brought up in Wolverhampton. He has worked extensively in the Black Country as a bus conductor, a scout leader, a folk singer, a football team manager, a pea packer, a parish councillor, a hot dog salesman, a skiffle group leader, a crossword compiler, chair of the national association of teachers, a teacher and a schools inspector. His first crime novel in the Tallyforth Mystery series, entitled Be a Falling Leaf, was published in 1998 and the second, Bird on the Wing, in 2000. The third in the series, entitled The Liquidator is set in Wolverhampton, and has just been launched. Grey Paes and Bacon was his first travel book also published by TravellersEye. He recently moved to south Shropshire, where he devotes his time to writing. He is married and has two daughters.

Excerpted from Special Offa by . Copyright © 2004. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"Bugger Offa," said my wife.

"That's it!" I exclaimed, leaping on to the coffee table and executing a neat, if I may say so, Irish jig thereon.

"That's what?" my wife asked.

"The title for the book," I explained mid-jig. "It's perfect. Just what I've been looking for. Slick. Racy. Post-modern. Catches the eye. Bugger Offa. It's perfect."

"The Women's Institutes won't like it," my wife pointed out witheringly. "So you can forget about them inviting you to speak to them. And I don't expect your publisher chappie will be happy with it either. Anyway that wasn't what I meant."

My spirits, so recently heightened, were already beginning to droop as I climbed from the table.

"What did you mean?" I asked.

"I meant I'm fed up with you rabbiting on about Offa," she explained. "All I've heard for the past year is Offa, Offa, Offa. I'm fed up with him. What's so special about him anyway?"

"Rex Anglorum," I began. "The very first person to proclaim himself so. King of the Angles. "

"Sounds more like a snooker player to me."

"But don't you realise," I continued, well into my stride now and ignoring her feeble attempt at humour, "all those England football fans, with their shaven heads and large wobbly bellies, chanting 'ANGLE-LAND, ANGLE-LAND, ANGLE-LAND', owe their origins to Offa."

"You mean those clowns who get drunk on German lager and drape themselves in the flag of the Turkish St George?" my wife asked. "Anyway, I bet half of them aren't even English. I hate all this phoney patriotism that comes with football. We're a nation of immigrants anyway, aren't we?"

"Well, I used to think so too till I came across this research from University College in London. They compared a sample of men from England with those from an area of the Netherlands where the Anglo-Saxons are thought to have originated and found the English had genes that were almost identical. It seems that even nowadays a large part of the genetic profile of the English is Anglo-Saxon. But, and this is a big but, they found that the Welsh males studied had a different genetic profile, suggesting that the Anglo-Saxon invaders were responsible for a sort of ethnic cleansing of Britain and that they drove the original inhabitants into Wales."

"So that's why Offa built his dyke?"

"Exactly," I concluded. "It's quite likely that the dyke acted as a genetic barrier as well as a physical one. That's why Offa matters. That's why I'm fascinated by him."

"So when are you going to walk the Dyke?" she asked. "It's a bit tougher than the walks you've done before, isn't it?

"I've cleared my diary for the end of June. And yes, it is tougher. And that's why I have to get into training for this one," I replied. "From Easter I need to be out every day, building up my strength and stamina."

"And then going to the pub every lunchtime to ruin it all."

My wife knows me well.

"No. Strict training. Not a drop will touch my lips from now till then," I boasted.

"It doesn't have time to touch your lips the way you drink."

I ignored this cutting remark

"But if I'm going to walk the Dyke, then I have to know more about Offa. That's why I'm reading all this stuff."

"Okay," she said. "But if you're going to write about it, please don't call your book Bugger Offa."

I sighed. It had seemed such a good idea.

Customer Reviews

Don't Leave Home Without It
"This was my lowest point of the day. It had been raining most of the day so far and the wet had penetrated my socks and boots, so that every footfall squelched. My legs ached from the constant dipping and rising, my dodgy left knee was threatening to reawaken, and any moment I expected my Achilles heel tendon on my right leg to start moaning in sympathy. I looked up at the Dyke as it made its ascent and I actually took my mobile phone out, thinking to ring my wife and ask her to come and rescue me."-- Knighton to Montgomery.

This simple and honest paragraph became the singlemost important bit of trail commentary of all that I had read regarding Offa's Dyke National Trail. Prior to embarking on Offa's Dyke, I spent a lot of time winnowing down the contents of my backpack to the bare essentials. "Special Offa" survived the first cut because I wanted to read about each section of the trail the night before hiking it. In Monmouth my backpack underwent a second purge at the post office. I chose to shoulder the weight of "Special Offa" over that of extra socks and rain gear; it had become evident to me that Bob Bibby was not merely an entertaining and informative trail guide, but a lifeline at cliff's edge. The knowledge of shared experience somehow made the pain and panic more surmountable (misery loves company?).

The historical record of points along Offa's Dyke would fill enough volumes it would take all the walkers in Wales to pack them from Chepstow to Prestatyn, so thankfully Bob Bibby gives us just the kind of pleasant, non burdensome read that can follow a meal and a pint at the pub and precede sinking under the covers and sleeping like the dead until the next day's 19 miles.

Bob never steered me wrong in Places to Eat and Drink and Places to Stay. I met some wonderful people thanks to Bob. So, if you're headed out on this 177 mile commitment, don't leave home without "Special Offa."