Local Walks & Cycle Rides

Kinnersley

Kinnersley also has a privately owned castle which is a II* Listed Elizabethan Manor House, and a traditional parish church, where buried in a grade II listed monument in the churchyard, is George Frederick Bodley, http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/bodley/bio.html one of the key players in the Arts and Crafts movement, and who won the Royal Gold Medal for architecture in 1899.

Amongst work he has completed all over the country, he restored and improved St. James’ Church in the village after marrying Minna Reaveley in 1872. Minna was a daughter of the family who, at that time, owned Kinnersley Castle.

Twmpa/Lord Hereford’s Knob

This mountain is in south-east Wales, just 17 miles (40 minutes’ drive) from Mistletoe Cottage, and forms a part of the great northwest scarp of the Black Mountains. It lies 3 km (2 miles) west of the border with England, and around 7 km (4.5 miles) south of Hay-on-Wye. To the northeast lies the Gospel Pass through which runs a minor road between Hay and the Llanthony Valley.

The entire hill is classed as open country under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act and is therefore available for walkers to roam freely across. It is almost encircled by public bridleways and restricted byways. The most well-used track is that running west from Gospel Pass (where car parking is available), over its summit and then southwest towards Rhos Dirion.

Kington Walking Festival

Kington is one of the great small market towns of Britain. Situated close to the Welsh border it was for centuries a centre for cattle drovers, so a web of footpaths and byways, accessible on foot from the town centre await discovery by present day walkers. The Offa’s Dyke Path National Trail, the Herefordshire Trail, Mortimer Trail from Ludlow, and the Wyche Way from Broadway all pass through (or start/finish) in the town.

The Kington Walking Festival is an annual event of the Kington Walks charity and takes place in and around the third week of September, with over 40 walks covering history, natural history, geology, industry, pubs, landscape and much more of Kington’s hinterland.

In addition to the ever popular Eight Peaks Challenge, there is also the Three Peaks Challenge. The Walton Wobbler, the cycle event, covers about 30 miles, including the high points to the north of Kington with some stiff climbs and descents.

Whether you fancy an amble around the mills and weirs of the town, a ramble to the pub (or two, or even three) or the challenge of the 30 mile Mortimer Trail over two days, there will be something for all walkers.

For more walks and information, go to: http://www.ramblers.org.uk/go-walking/find-a-walk-or-route.aspx