A very pleasant 15 miles from Hay-on-Wye to Kington on Offa’s Dyke on a warm August day. No sign of the Dyke though.
Date walked: 9th August 2018
Map used: OS Explorer 201- Knighton and Presteigne
Distance: about 15 miles
Guide book used: Offa’s Dyke Path by Mike Dunn (Cicerone, 2016)
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Its been nearly 9 months since Paul and I did a couple of days on the path with a night en route at Kington. It’s going to be a challenge to remember any of those details that make my write ups so fascinating. My posting here is now, admittedly, sporadic – all I can say about that is that the time that I would have otherwise spent here at my desk has been spent working in the garden. The garden looks a lot better for my efforts – you should come and see – we open soon. www.veddw.com. Anyway, off we go.
Parking can be a bit tricky in Hay but fortunately we found a space for Paul’s money-leaching Land Rover just a hundred yards from our start near the River Wye. But first we had deposited my car in the car park of the Offa’s Dyke visitor centre in Knighton, which was where we were to finish the following day.
Walking by the B4351, we crossed the Wye by the road bridge and headed north along the river bank, confidently directed by one of the many signs that mark the route of this National Trail.
The river is wide and shallow here and popular with canoeists, who would probably be able to wade ashore should they capsize.
I think I had told Paul that we were doing about 12 miles so he was a bit crestfallen when the first finger-post we passed declared us to have 14 3/4 miles to go; that’s about my limit of what I am up for these days.
And that’s without deviations
Still, it was a pleasant day and we didn’t have any big hills to climb (not strictly true but I needed to keep Paul on-side), so I felt sure that we would be OK – as long as we didn’t get lost. Those nice people at Harper Collins had given me the latest i-Spy books of Wild Flowers and of Trees, so I thought we could have a competition as to who could get the most points on the walk. Paul chose Trees and immediately began clocking up the points as we followed the river. Oak, tick. Ash, tick, Beech, tick.
After a mile or so we left the river bank to cross a field that had recently had its crop of wheat cut and its straw baled.
The path approached the busy A438 near the hamlet of Bronydd, ….
….follows by the road for a few hundred noisy metres and then heads north-west through a little wood in Bettws Dingle.
Paul spotted some conifer, while I picked up just 5 points for Roseby Willowherb…
Rosebay willowherb on left
… and, surprisingly, 10 points for a bramble.
No extra points for the lovely blue butterfly.
Joining a minor road, the path followed this for a couple of miles, climbing gently to give us a view back to the eastern edge of the Brecon Beacons.
At the top of Red Lane we left the road and crossed a field with some fine old pollarded Oaks.
A deeply rutted track known as Red Lane (an old Drove Road according to our Guide) ….
…..led us by a stock fence where too-warm sheep sheltered from the increasingly hot sunshine.
Monbiot’s favourite animal
We had our first (and only) encounter with fellow walkers here (if a brief “hello” counts as an encounter).
Shorts may not have been advisable – this could well have been tick habitat
The path climbed the edge of Little Mountain (Little Hill would be more accurate) which gave us views of the distant Malvern Hills…..
…. before presenting us with a view ahead of the village of Newchurch.
Though lacking any shop, Newchurch had some fine old houses….
… and our Guide had advised us that tea and biscuits might be had on a self-serve basis in St Mary’s church.
Biscuits were there none, but we made ourselves a drink in its catering corner….
… enjoyed the simplicity of its cool interior…..
…. and perused the messages of appreciation left by previous passers-by.
OK, which one of you had the last of the bikkis?
From Newchurch we had a proper little climb up Disgwylfa Hill, which took us, panting slightly, to a giddy 1256 feet.
It was becoming a remarkably dry summer and whilst the grass was browning-off, the bracken was retaining its colour.
Without losing much altitude, the next couple of miles was a warm and easy amble northwards across open countryside towards Gladestry.
Gladestry, according to our Guide, has several interesting buildings. Unfortunately the one of most interest to us – The Royal Oak- was closed, so in protest we gave scant attention to the others. (according to the Guide and on their website they have rooms )
From Gladestry we had quite a steep climb up the Western edge of Hergest Ridge. Well, it wasn’t that steep but Paul had a moan about it anyway.
The flora continued to be fairly unremarkable swathes of bracken; the sheep here glad that they had not long been shorn.
This once would have been forest but now only the occasional isolated red-berried sorbus (10 points to Paul) broke the monotony of the vegetation.
It was about a two mile climb to the highest point on the path of 1368 feet. A modest altitude but the views were fab over to the highest peaks of the Brecon Beacons (been there and climbed them several times).
Several families of wild horses paid us little heed.
Near our summit was a small group of Monkey Puzzle trees.
The puzzle being why anyone would plant such an incongruous species in such a place.
Araucaria araucana
Our Guide offered no clue but added to our knowledge by explaining that near this point there had been a horse racing track in the mid C19th , and that that the musician Mike Oldfield had once lived nearby, inspiring his second album “Hergest Ridge”.
Our climbing complete for the day, it was a gently two mile descent from here into Kington. Paul’s spirits lifted.
Near the bottom of the hill is Hergest Croft Gardens – known for its collection of trees. Paul picked up extra points and won the days competition hands down (where does that expression come from?)
Kington is one of those slightly shabby towns that feels like it has had the stuffing knocked out of it. We stayed in the Oxford Arms. We were’t impressed by the grubby carpet in the deserted bar and one look at the dining room was enough to persuade us that we would eat elsewhere. We had a quick pint (much needed for our health’s sake) before occupying our not unpleasant but not en-suite rooms.
Showered and somewhat weary of limb we walked back up the main street, rejecting the Wine Vaults in favour of the rather classy looking Swan Inn.
Pic taken as we set out the next day
This was a great place and was already busy. A darts night was underway and they had special offers on a wide range gins and tonics. I have never taken a liking to gin, but had formed a taste for tonic since discovering that it is said to be good for warding off cramp. Add a raspberry flavoured gin and it made for a very refreshing drink. We had another (or was it two). I’ve no idea what we ate but it was very nice. So a good finish to a very nice days walk. And I didn’t get cramp.
First a bit of typo correction – this is actually day 7 as you’ve already had two day 5s. And how you can call taking photos of your balls out in the garden work escapes me. Looking forward to seeing them “in the flesh” as it were. Poor Paul, though. Don’t forget his legs are shorter than yours so he has further to walk. No doubt, when he planted those trees on the ridge, Dick thought that one day some chap named Charles would ask why and that would be the monkey puzzle. 😉 PS Nice sheep.
Rest assured that I will check my day numbering! But I’m feeling triumphant that you missed my really big mistake – that Kington isn’t in Wales, at all, but is in Hereford. I will have to correct that in the post. As for our innovative and exciting new global feature, we await your assessment with keen interest.
For the record, in a subsequent comment I have deliberately given you an opportunity to pick me up on an error.
Well, you’ll have more content soon to pick at!
HerefordSHIRE. Xxx
Talk about jumping on the bandwaggon. Anyway I have corrected my mistake!
But now you’ve got to correct your spelling of bandwagon…..
You could be here ages at this rate
X
Hmm.Might just leave it as it is. Wabi Sabi rules.
Um, I did follow the link to the dosshouse you stayed in and noticed that it’s location was in England but as you still haven’t paid me for my editorial contributions to your accounts of the Coastal Path I thought I’d only help you out once this time. Wabi-sabi, unless you are referring to a restaurant, should be hyphenated. And there should be a space between “m.” and “M”. And, anyway, by implication, imperfection has no rules.
I’ll give you a hyphen when I see you next ?
A lovely walk. And 15 miles. Well done !!!
AND passing along Hergest Ridge. One of my favourite MO albums (as it was when it first came out).
Great ?
X
Thanks! The ridge was a nice finish.
Oh…there shouldn’t be a ? At the end there. It was a smiley, but the site turns it into ? !!!!
Having this read this post, I now have to go back and read the other days. I once dreamed of walking Offa’s Dyke, so will now do it via your words and photos. Easier on the feet if not better for the soul.
Hello Pat! It’s always very encouraging to find someone unexpected posting a comment and today (with Sue’s contribution) I have two “newbies”. I hope you enjoy the previous posts. And I promise the next will go out in a couple of weeks time.
As always, I love to read your latest post. As everyone’s having a go, I think you bale straw not bail it. Tomato and pineapple juice both good at replacing salts apparently. Would make a change from tonic if in the mood……
Wow! Knowing that you are a regular reader I feel chuffed to have flushed you out of the closet with your comment. I will correct “bail” though I shudder to think of all the mistakes that I have made in the past that you have suffered in silence over. Don’t hold back, though. The more the merrier.
I have a nice back. All I remember of this walk is having painful feet and feeling smug about spotting so many tree species. The gin was lovely – we had 3 and you had a gritty salad with your Herefordshire beef burger ?
It’s an excellent back. Very photogenic. Three gins? We deserved them. Yes, you are right about the burger and the gritty salad. Did we have pudding?
In fact none of this walk seems to have taken in Offa’s Dyke. I wish they hadn’t called that path “Offa’s Dyke Path”. Because it is now VERY difficult to get hold of any definitive information about where Offa’s Dyke, as in the dyke itself, can still be found, and what its route is. However, a map can be found here: https://www.historypunk.co.uk/forums/index.php?action=vthread&forum=3&topic=2 … from which it can be seen that it does NOT go through Hay in Wye, and never did (passing well to the East), and in fact only north of Kington do you start to get on to a decent section.
I do agree with you that very little of the National Trail runs very close to the path. Some does, though. It is an ancient monument so its right that it shouldn’t go on the dyke itself and there are all sorts of reasons I’m sure why the path deviates so far from the dyke in places.