HERGEST RIDGE - DAY 2
21/6/09
After a bit of rain in the night the morning was beautiful as we drank coffee and aired our tents. Hergest Ridge at 420 metres is part of the Offa’s dyke walk which follows the old border between England and Wales. As we cycled on the border was crossed back in to England; cycling was easy on this very well used path. There were some monkey puzzle trees up the top for no apparent reason; here we met a walker from our home town, who had walked down the path from North Wales. The track drops down in to the pleasant town of Kington, here we stocked up with supplies for our 60 mile ride back home. A swinging pace was set along the main road for Hereford. Nick rode ahead while I tried to catch up, after 15 miles I gave up the trudge on the main road and crossed the river Wye onto a quiet lane which wound its way into the Golden valley of Herefordshire. This valley is named after the River Dore which was mistakenly named from the French d’or for gold which was originally corrupted from the Welsh word for water, 'dwr'. However, I had had an excellent ride to Pontrilas where I met up with Nick who had had a traffic laden ride through Hereford and out to join up with myself. It was late afternoon and it was time to leave the auspices of England and cross the border at Grosmont back into the Celtic wonderland of Wales. From Grosmont the ride was resplendent, the valley that follows the river Monnow was a sweet smelling, bird-song drenched ride, which was the warmest welcome back into Wales on the longest day of the year. After passing through Skenfrith, there was more evening contentment along the road to Tregare, where the whole area of scattered dwellings, had opened their gardens to the public. In Raglan I was very tired, Nick did not have this problem, but we made a sprint to Croes Llanfair, Goytre and back home via the canal.
Day 1 ~ Day 2
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Day 1 ~ Day 2