Offa’s Dyke Path: Hergest Ridge to Knighton

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.

Offa’s Dyke Path: The Black Mountains to Hay-on-Wye

Thursday 25th August 2022

The first mountain that I climbed on my first mountain walk was Hay Bluff on the edge of the Black Mountains, however you could argue that I didn’t actually climb it then as I had started from the car park that is only two hundred metres below the summit. To correct that oversight on this walk I would now be starting from the bottom of the valley in the village of Hay-on-Wye from where the top of Hay Bluff cannot be seen due to the intervening low-lying hills. So, without my goal in sight, I set off from the car park, deliberately avoiding the route of the Offa’s Dyke Path that will be my descent route and followed footpaths that ran alongside quiet country lanes until eventually I completely lost the path. After great difficulty passing through a band of trees I reached a road that I decided to stay on and having already climbed quite a way the gradient now eased to give me a gentle stroll that let me catch my breath and cool down. With the Black Mountains now in view ahead of me, I crossed a cattle grid and with the gradient steepening I climbed up to the car park that I had used in 1999 on my first walk in the area. Beyond the car par, the path steepened cruelly for a tortuous climb before eventually I reached the summit plateau not far from the trig point at the top of Hay Bluff.

The day before I had walked along the Offa’s Dyke Path on the eastern edge of the Black Mountains as far as the crossroads between Capel-y-Ffin and the Olcon Valley and I could have taken a roundabout route to either of those places and then climbed up to the crossroads, but it was much easier to just walk along the Offa’s Dyke Path. Hay Bluff is really just the northern tip of an escarpment with vast moorland behind that soon rises again to a point that is more than seven hundred metres above sea level and was the highest point on that seminal walk in 1999, even though it doesn’t have a name. The path leading away from Hay Bluff soon comes alongside the English border and, not long after, the Offa’s Dyke Path, to climb this mountain whose top is so broad the actual summit is impossible to accurately place, though a small pile of stones have been placed at one point that could arbitrarily be considered the summit. It was overcast and not particularly warm during my ascent, but by this time the sun had come out which was affording me with fabulous views east across the many trees of Herefordshire and west across the glorious Black Mountains.

When I eventually reached the crossing there were gorgeous blue skies overhead, so I was happy to stop and have my lunch while admiring the views all around me. Heading back along the ridge I climbed back through the stony ground that I remember with fondness from my previous visits and make me feel as though as I really am walking through mountainous terrain, even though the gradient is gentle. I had not been over this unnamed hill since 2014 so I was more than happy to now go over it twice passing over the 703 metre top that is the highest point on the whole of the Offa’s Dyke Path. With a cold, northerly wind blowing I made my way across the fabulous terrain with spellbinding views to my left across the Black Mountains that is the location of some of my earliest mountain walks which is why I have a lot of affection for the area. The whole area was looking gorgeous in the sunshine and I couldn’t get enough of the experience as it is good weather days like this that keep you going through many days of bad weather. After passing the thief’s stone, Llech y Lladron, I branched off the direct route to Hay Bluff to bypass the top and contour around the eastern slopes of the hill on a route that I had never taken before and I was impressed.

In contrast to the steep climb directly up Hay Bluff, this is a gradual descent that allowed me to enjoy the views ahead across the broad Wye Valley and towards hills in the distance that I hoped would be on the Offa’s Dyke Path, but sadly they are not. When I reached the Gospel Pass Road I followed that for a time before branching off through a meadow full of sheep and covered in their dung where I should have paid more attention to my map as I veered too far to the left and had to correct myself so I could continue following the route of the Offa’s Dyke Path slowly descending into Hay-on-Wye. This was a much better route than the one I had taken up in the morning as it took me along grassy lanes, down steep embankments and beside narrow streams in glorious warm, sunshine to eventually return to Hay-on-Wye mid-afternoon. I had originally planned this walk a year ago to be done at Christmas to also spend some time in the second-hand bookshops in Hay-on-Wye, but it wasn’t possible then and later I realised that I would be doing that walk as part of the Offa’s Dyke Path. I was happy to do it now and loved extending it along the edge of the wonderful Black Mountains all the way to the Capel-y-Ffin crossroads so I could make the most of the fabulous sunshine.