Saturday 30th March 2013
Another snowy day on the Offa's Dyke Path over Hergest Ridge and other hills near the Welsh border
Distance: 24.5km; Ascent: 900m; Dry with occasional sunny spells and a chilly wind; Solo
After an excellent breakfast I set off walking around 9:30am in the sunshine :-) I
ascended gradually along the icy Ridgebourne Road past Hergest Croft
Gardens to reach the edge of town, where a sign thanked walkers for
visiting Kington.
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| Leaving Kington |
Soon I reached the road
end and continued along a well worn track through the snow, following
some other Offa's Dyke walkers I had met in the pub last night. There
were good views as I ascended up the east ridge of Hergest Ridge past a
strangely sited group of monkey puzzle trees to reach the windy summit
plateau.
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| Ascending Hergest Ridge |
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| Monkey Puzzle trees on Hergest Ridge |
I detoured south through
deeper snow to visit the
trigpoint a few hundred metres south of the
Offa's Dyke Path before heading west to the pile of boulders that marks
the true summit of
Hergest Ridge (Marilyn). I could see a
few other people out walking this morning, although most of them seemed
to be sticking to the well worn tracks through the snow along the Offa’s
Dyke Path.
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| Trig point on Hergest Ridge |
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| True Summit of Hergest Ridge |
I waded westwards through deep snow and heather to return to the Offa's
Dyke Path, which I followed south-westwards along the lovely ridge with
excellent views all around. Around now I spotted a Red Kite soaring high above the ridge.
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| Red Kite soaring over Hergest Ridge |
In Gladestry I stopped for a late morning break on a handy bench at the
bus stop, which I guessed was pretty lightly used given that there was
only one bus a week! It was deceptively warm here this morning out of the bitter wind.
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| Snow drifts south of Gladestry |
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| On Disgwylfa Hill |
I pushed on across more farmland to reach the open access land of
Disgwylfa Hill, where I stopped for lunch in the shelter of a small
hummock. There were good views from up here, but it was bitterly cold exposed to the easterly wind. I
descended to the small hamlet of Newchurch before skirting the eastern
slopes of Little Mountain, where the sheep had sought out the small
sections of ground not covered by snow.
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| Newchurch |
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| Sheep on Little Mountain |
There were good views over to the Black Mountains, which would be my hills for tomorrow. After a welcome few hundred metres of road walking, due to it having
been cleared of snow, came half a kilometre of deep snow covered track
where I met some Offa’s Dyke Path walkers who had set off from Hay this
morning. They had tales of very deep mud and a poorly signed diversion in Bettws Dingle.
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| The white looking Black Mountains |
Another section of road
walking brought me to near the western edge of Bettws Dingle, where
there were clear signs indicating the diversion. However I still took the precaution of photographing the diversion map just in case. After
a few hundred metres the diversionary route led me down into the
valley, where several diggers had been making a right old mess!
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| Diggers making a mess in Betws Dingle |
There was plenty of mud
around here, with the fallen over diversion signs partly hidden by a
digger – I guessed it was around here the other walkers had got lost. After
referring to my photo of the diversion map I was soon back on the right
course and continued my descent to the busy A438 road.
An unpleasant few hundred metres of road walking then followed, before I
picked up a pleasant footpath across the fields to the River Wye and
Hay Bridge. Walking across the bridge into Hay-on-Wye, I
was pleased to discover that my accommodation for the night was one of
the first buildings I reached! And it was appropriately named “Rest for the Tired”!
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| Hay Bridge |
I arrived around 5:30pm and after watching Doctor Who, I nipped out to
the shops to replenish my food supplies for tomorrow’s long day across
the Black Mountains. Also given the forecast for extensive
sunshine tomorrow I went on a sun cream hunt, which was surprisingly
tricky given the time of year – eventually the Co-op found some in their
storeroom left over from last summer! After a welcome
dinner of haddock and chips in the Three Tuns, washed down with a couple of pints of Wye
Valley ale, I retired to bed after another good long day’s walking.
N.B. 03/06/13 - Post date updated to actual date of walk, i.e. 30/03/13 (from 10/04/13). A link to Hergest Ridge trigpoint has also been added.
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