Herefordshire - Scenic bliss and mechanical woes on the Watkins Way
The planned route was construed a little differently for Herefordshire, whilst doing my usual research into the county, oldest bridge, highest point, most famous person etc. I came across the Watkins Way a Driving and Cycling route promoted by Herefordshire Tourism.
As the route was greater than a 100 miles and seemed likely to cover the best aspects of the county I took the lazy way out, downloaded the gpx into Komoot, tweaked the start for a free parking spot at the bunch of carrots pub and made a minor change to make it a full circular route. (not quite sure why the Watkins Way has a start/finish about 5 miles apart)
It would also be fair to say that the description of the route as being an ideal five day tour “Or take the challenge up a gear and tackle the route over three days” threw down a gauntlet that I couldn’t resist picking up and thus the route description became a challenge in itself.
The route guide advises that this is one of the most rural parts of the UK and to pack plenty of sustenance and inner tubes. Six gels a flapjack, tubeless tyre repair darts and one rescue inner tube were therefore carefully stowed away in the back of the jersey.
https://www.visitherefordshire.co.uk/inspiration/cyclists-guide-watkins-way
I almost got a lie-in with Hereford only an hour or so away, with the clocks having sprung forward just the day before giving a dusk time of 19:38 and the days growing longer it was also not so critical to get away at first light and the planned start time of 8:30am was comfortably achieved.
Starting the ride from the Bunch of Carrots Pub just outside Hereford would see me in quiet country lanes free from the school run, or so I thought! Herefordshire takes the crown for the most close passes by inconsiderate drivers of any county for the first half-hour of the ride alone. It appears that in Herefordshire it is not permitted for large SUV’s with parent and child aboard to cross the dotted white lines in the centre of the road to pass a cyclist despite absolutely nothing coming in the opposite direction. I gave up counting the close passes that ranged from quite unnerving to downright dangerous when I got to twelve from a total of about twenty cars that had passed me.
Heading South-East I was soon crossing the oldest bridge in Herefordshire dating back to c.1352 in the small village of Mordiford. The Lugg and Wye Rivers converge at Mordiford and both would contribute significantly to the challenging terrain and delightful views encountered throughout the day.
The route swung west towards the Welsh border and I was soon on the first climb of the day, a steady drag up Dinedor Hill to the site of an iron-age hill fort dating back to 350BC. The views were limited due to the cool misty start to the morning and I was glad I had opted for Stolen Goat Orkaan bib tights and jersey. The forecast was for sunny spells later on with temperatures rising up into the mid teens, hopefully I wouldn’t get too hot.
Approaching the little village of Wormelow the Climbpro feature on my Garmin 530 kicked into action again alerting me to the second of thirteen categorised climbs for the day. A gentle kicker of a climb barely getting steeper than 5% went unrewarded at the top as the views were once again obscured by the low cloud and mist. Kilpeck castle and church were the next stops on the Watkins Way, the 12th Century Romanesque church with its’ red sandstone carvings and the Motte and Bailey castle destroyed in the English civil war are both worthy of a quick stop for history buffs.
Skirting the Pontrilas army training area Dore Abbey sits serenely in view of the Black Mountains in the enticingly named Golden Valley. Bravery deserted me at the ford in Dulas and I kept myself dry scooting across the little footbridge.
Longtown Castle lies at the very centre of the ley lines, the straight tracks which Alfred Watkins identified linking historic structures. Watkins believed the ancient residents of Herefordshire navigated the county landscape utilising these structures and the Watkins Way route celebrates the numerous archaeological and historic edifices linked by these tracks. The Castle sits on a mound in the gorgeous Olchon Valley, built in Roman times local legend suggest treasure is buried beneath it.
As the sun started to burn away the mist and Black Hill dominated the view the bliss of riding in such beautiful surroundings on a Monday morning was suddenly torn away by the horrendous grating noise of a rear derailleur jamming between the spokes of the rear wheel, luckily this was on a steep ramp and at a slow speed thus the instant unplanned stop was accompanied with a bus stop flop on to the elevated verge to my left! Thankfully the verge was not populated with brambles or nettles so provided a useful landing spot and prevented any injuries. Alas investigation revealed the rear mech hangar had bent and for the rest of the ride the 25 and 28 teeth sprockets would be unavailable leaving me with a less than perfect 39-22 lowest gear option and guaranteed low cadence pedal stomping up the remaining 10 categorised hills on the route. I released the rear mech from the spokes, brushed myself down and set off again, somewhat disgruntled, but keen to crack on with the ever strengthening sun providing some consolation, but not for long, no more than 200m further up the hill and crack! my chain had snapped! A broken chain, annoying but not a ride stopper because of course I was fully kitted up and prepared for such an eventuality. Well no, not quite, yes I had a spare chain powerlink and a good quality chain breaking tool on the multi-tool stored away in my saddle bag but to my chagrin when I came to break the chain the handle for turning the chain breaker was missing, there was no way I could repair the chain with finger strength alone. A quick look at Komoot on my phone revealed I had a choice of walking a few hundred metres up the hill to Dukes Farm and holiday cottages or rolling down the hill about 4km back to Longtown to source a small adjustable spanner or something similar to use with the chain breaker.
I struck lucky with my choice to head up the hill, very quickly I had the bike ready to roll thanks to the loan of a Makita drill and socket set by the friendly and generous owner of the holiday cottages.
Forging on to Snodhill Castle one of the oldest and largest Norman castles in the country, I was glad I had decided to carry on with the planned route and not given in to the brief thoughts of cutting the ride short, I’d still got over 100km and a significant amount of climbing to complete on a mechanically wounded bike but having completed the climb up to Arthur’s stone comfortably on my reduced gears I was confident that completing the route was a good call.
Ancient Arthur’s stone is the centre of many local myths. The Neolithic burial chamber looks out across the Black Mountains and according to legend is the location where Arthur slayed a giant. Author C.S. Lewis was inspired by the stone to create the table on which Aslan was sacrificed in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The Bridge over the Wye shortly after passing Bredwardine church looked distinctly familiar to me, whilst gazing out across this beautiful river I realised why this looked so familiar. Many years ago this was a staging point for the annual Wye Raft Race our team from the Prince of Wales Pub regularly took part in. The raft race was established in 1978 over a bet between two Hereford pubs and ran for forty years over the 100 mile course from Hay to Chepstow. If I recall correctly the the field next to the river at the Brewardine Bridge was home to one of the evening camps with many drunken rafters and support crew taking on the the organisers challenge to climb the slippy pole in the centre of the big top tent, ringing the bell at the top whilst pulling a moony being the ultimate goal!
Eardisley village provided a mid-ride cafe stop, teacake and a mug of tea in the New Strand provided fuel for the 4km climb which Climbpro highlighted to me as I returned to the bike with stiff cafe legs.
The route continued to deliver delightful scenery, small villages, impressive churches, rolling hills and atrocious road surfaces as I headed towards the Northern extent of the route close to the Shropshire border.
The pretty village of Pembridge was typical of the “black and white” villages so iconic in this region it additionally brought a cheeky smile to my face as I recalled the time a friend managed to do serious damage to his car on the cast iron bollard at the corner of the old Market Hall.
The delays caused by the days mechanical problems meant the sunlight was slipping away as I approached Leominster but finishing in daylight was not going to be an issue and any doubts that the bike would see me to the finish had long passed.
The Hereford Bull and Elgar resting on his cycle looking at the cathedral delivered a score draw in the sculpture of the day competition.
All that was left after leaving Hereford was the short journey back to the van at The Bunch of Carrots Pub in Hampton Bishop, disappointingly the Hereford Pale Ale was flat and bland, I should have chosen a local cider or the Butty Bach.
Herefordshire and the Wye Valley was an absolutely gorgeous county to ride, the road surfaces have knocked Northamptonshire off top spot in the shabbiest roads competition but the scenery more than made up for the bone-shakingly poor road conditions.
The Watkins Way is a lovely route and would make a great tour, two or three days enjoying the scenery, the history, sampling the local pubs and good food would be time well spent by any cyclist or driver.
The ride in numbers
176.07km Distance
2557m Elevation gain
8hrs 15 min moving time (21.3 km/h)
2 SIS Tropical Fruit gels
3 Torq Rhubarb and Custard gels
1 Teacake
1 coffee stop
5 bottles of water
1 beer – HPA (Hereford Pale Ale) 3/10
1 punctures – a hawthorn but tubeless to the rescue
13 categorised climbs
Finally if you’ve got a spare quid in your pocket my justgiving page to raise vital funds for the Midlands Air Ambulance is now live Keith Jones is fundraising for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (justgiving.com)
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