Friday 26th August 2022
On the day before this walk I had reached the town of Hay-on-Wye, but to continue my trek along the Offa’s Dyke Path, I thought I’d start at the western end of the Hergest Ridge, so I made my way from the centre of Kington, where I was now staying, past the Church of St. Mary and Hergest Croft Gardens, along Ridgebourne Road and onto the open hillside. Rather than going straight up to the top of the ridge, I followed the wall across the southern slopes of the Hergest Ridge. After the good weather that I had enjoyed the day before on the Black Mountains, the weather had now reverted to the norm for Wales with light rain and overcast skies, which didn’t help with my enjoyment of a path that was tedious on a hill whose gradients were not steep enough to be exciting with the most interest being roused while crossing the stream in Rabber Dingle. With the hazy weather spoiling the views back to the Black Mountains I kept going along the path and by the time I reached the western end of the ridge the weather was slowly improving with the hills of the Radnor Forest further west attracting my eye. I had seen those hills the day before while coming off the Black Mountains so it was disappointing to realise that the Hergest Ridge was as close as the Offa’s Dyke Path would come to these hills.
Joining the trail I turned east to climb the ridge on a wide grassy track with bracken, gorse and sheep much in evidence across the hill. Since before Monmouth the Offa’s Dyke Path had stayed largely in Wales, but now it crossed the border to enter England and swung to the northern edge of the ridge while I headed across the top to reach the rocks at the highest point and the nearby trig point. Returning to the Offa’s Dyke Path I passed a clump of monkey puzzle trees and down the broad slopes back onto Ridgebourne Road and into Kington. I didn’t think a traverse of the Hergest Ridge would take me very long, so I was rather surprised to realise that several hours had already passed by the time I was back at the Church of St. Mary and I was beginning to worry that this walk may be overambitious. Therefore, I cut the corner in Kington down to the Gilwern Brook and steeply up past the edge of Kington Golf Club where direction finding was tricky. I came across an old man who was also confused about the path, so I checked our location and discovered that we had strayed too far west. Returning to the path we climbed up the hill, but soon I left the old man behind and on the fields around Bradnor Hill I repeatedly needed to check my location.
Eventually I reached the slopes of Rushock Hill where I could see a faint path was heading up the hill and a much clearer path crossed the slopes, so I took the easier option, but when I checked my location I found that I had left the Offa’s Dyke Path again, which climbs to the top of Rushock Hill. Since the trail soon comes back down I decided to stay on my easier route, but on Rushock Hill the Offa’s Dyke Path was reunited with something that has not been seen in more than fifty miles: Offa’s Dyke. On the edge of Knill Garroway Wood, I returned to the route of the trail and with the ancient earthwork behind me I descended to a bench near Herrock Hill where I stopped to have my lunch and gaze out across fabulous views into Wales. Ignoring the clear path up to the top of Herrock Hill I crossed the eastern slopes and continued along the Offa’s Dyke Path into the valley of Hindwell Brook where I crossed the border again back into Wales. After skirting the edge of Burfa Wood I came across Offa’s Dyke again but with dull arable fields to my right and the valley to my left. My interest was revived when I entered Granner Wood where harebells decorated the path, but soon it started to rain, which forced me to put my cagoule on as I passed through Hilltop Plantation and slowly down the hill.
By the time I reached the bottom of the hill, in the valley of the River Lugg, the sun had come out so I took my waterproofs off again and followed the path across the valley while enjoying the sunshine and blue skies that I had not seen all day. On the far side of the valley a gravelly track took me up the hill on an unrelenting climb that was exhausting in the hot weather. The hilly scenery of the Welsh Marches compensated for the strenuous climb as I passed over Furrow Hill, but after Hawthorn Hill the scenery deteriorated. I was now getting tired as the miles began to drag on dull, grassy fields while the sun disappeared behind clouds again and I was stuck on broad hilltops with little to see. It was just at that moment that I realised I had lost my walking pole, so looking back through my day I thought back to when I last had it, to the moment when I had taken my cagoule off after the rain, but that was two hours ago, so I couldn’t walk back for it. I hoped I would be able to look for it in the evening, after the walk, but for now I just had to keep going. Earlier in the day I had been very upbeat, but now, with little change in the views and flatter terrain underfoot while passing through farmer’s fields, I was rather depressed about the walk, so I was thankful when Knighton and the valley of the River Teme finally came into view.
The walk ended with a steep descent through Frydd Wood and into the market town of Knighton, but the field walking had already done too much. I was disappointed with this walk as it had started well, over the Hergest Ridge and the steep climb out of Kington was great leading me to a fabulous view beside Herrock Hill, but it seemed to deteriorate after that except for the brief lift of the bright sunshine in the Lugg Valley. The presence of the Offa’s Dyke itself did little to alleviate the tedium. I was deliberately not walking every mile of the Offa’s Dyke Path on this holiday, which was why I had missed out the section between Hay-on-Wye and the Hergest Ridge, but there were clearly other sections that also didn’t merit being walked. After getting some fish & chips in Knighton I caught a bus back to Kington and immediately drove to the spot where I had taken my waterproofs off earlier in the day. Despite a gap of five hours my walking pole was exactly where I had left it. Fortunately it was off the path where no one had seen it and I was able to retrieve it.
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