Walk Details
For this stage of the Wye Valley Walk we are heading deep into Border country. There is limited public transport along this stage so you may want to leave your car in Bredwardine and book a taxi to take you to the start in Hay, so you are not worried about missing the only bus of the day!
With some careful planning the T14 Hereford to Brecon bus might be of use, as may the 447 and 448 services (limited days and only one bus each way.
From the Wye Bridge we need to walk towards the town and turn left down Broad Street.
Straight after the Globe at Hay on the right, look out for stone steps beside the Town Well blue plaque – we’re turning right to go up the steps, through a gate, signposted Black Lion Inn. Go through another gate onto a narrow road. Walk between a few houses and after No 4, on the left, turn sharp left back on yourself downhill. Walk across the small car park and then turn left over the footbridge. This is where you cross from Wales into England, over the Dulas Brook.
Go through a gate and follow the track to the left in front of the house. Head diagonally right across the field towards a gate which will become visible shortly. Go through the gate and down to the left to cross a stream and through a pedestrian gate on the left. Turn right towards a gate in the right hand corner of the field. Go through the pedestrian gate and turn right along the lane. Very soon the lane bears right, but we’re keeping straight on past the house on the left, through a gate into a field, to follow the hedge on your right. Go through another gate, keeping beside the hedge and through a third gate at an oak tree. Cut across the field to reach the hedge corner directly in front of you. At the corner continue beside the hedge on your left, heading for a gate. Go through the gate and continue on the same line straight across the field to an avenue of trees. Pass through the gate and cross the tree-lined track, to continue on the same line over the next field. Go through the gateway following the fence to your right.
Cross the stile at the brook and another stile into the orchard. Head straight across to the way marker in the middle of the orchard. Cross the tarmac access lane and head for the next marker and gate. Go through the kissing gate and continue, keeping to the hedge on the right. When the fence on your right ends, keep straight on heading for the trees, which the path winds through. Where it starts to climb gently, the path goes left of the trees heading for a way marker. After the way marker, keep on the same line, passing a bench on the left. The path gently curves to the right towards another way marker and a stile beyond. Go over the stile and walk diagonally right towards the hedge on your right and follow it down to cross the Hardwicke Brook.
Continue uphill through the gateway and walk beside the hedge to your left to a gate in the distance. Go through the gate and follow a rutted track uphill as it bears round to the right and another gate. Stay on the track up to Priory Farm, go over the stile and turn left along the road. Very soon you’ll turn right over a cattle grid/stile for Priory Gardens. When the farm buildings come into view to the right, turn left uphill, cutting the corner off the gravel track, by heading to the left of the houses in the distance. Make sure you pause for a moment here to look behind you and enjoy the view back towards the Brecon Beacons.
Pass two houses on the right and keep left of the solitary oak tree, heading for a stile. Go over the stile and straight across the field to the right hand corner. Go over another stile and up a narrow path to the road. Cross the road and continue uphill signposted Clifford & Whitney. Very soon (opposite Pear Tree) turn right before the road junction. Follow the short cut through the play and picnic area. At the road turn right. Continue until you reach Priory Hall on the right. Turn left here, along a Public Footpath across a small area of community orchard. Cross the tarmac lane in front of the telegraph pole and take a narrow path immediately to the right of it. Go through the gate and follow the path beside the hedge on the left. Go through another gate and through the field beside the right hand hedge, crossing a footbridge and a stile and continuing beside the hedge down to a gate onto the road. Turn right passing a bench on the left made from old railway tracks and continue until you reach a stone bridge, turning right immediately before it.
Pass through the gate and down to the old railway line. Turn right for a short distance along the embankment to a gate and stile. Go over the stile and continue on the farm track. Soon views to the Wye and the Herefordshire Plain open up ahead of you.
Follow the track downhill to go through a gate and across the next field as the path curves to the right. Go through another gate and head straight on to the oak trees. Walk to the left of a monster oak, through a gate into the wood. Leave the woodland through a gate and head straight across the field, through another gate into more woodland. The path climbs uphill and through a gate into a field. Walk diagonally left across the field, heading for a gate below the house. Go through the gate and turn left along the road. Follow the road as it curves to the right around Old Castleton and at the entrance to Old Castleton turn left through a gate into the field.
Follow the hedge on the left across two fields. Merbach Hill, the hefty climb at the end of this section, now looms in front! Go through the gate and turn right to walk beside a wooden fence and then along a gravel driveway. Go through another gate and turn left along the B4532 at Clock Mills Bridge, passing an impressive gateway. After a short roadside section pass the turning to Middlewood on the right and straightaway take the next footpath on the right between two hedges. The track becomes wider and passes a barn on the right at Home Farm. Keep straight on and immediately turn left immediately at the sign for Merbach where the track splits by a dead end sign. At the field gate stay on the track following it round to the right. The climb up Merbach Hill begins gradually, then gets steeper. Ignore gates off to either side, eventually reaching a pedestrian gate that leads into forestry. (Just before this gate look left for a view of the Wye flowing through the fields.) Go through the gate and turn right. At the info panel and junction of paths, keep right. Soon, where the track forks, bear left around an old stone structure on the left and continue uphill. The path gets steeper in the woodland and this section can be muddy (so make sure you’re wearing appropriate footwear – especially if it has been raining). An unofficial narrow path runs parallel to the official route avoiding mud and overgrown vegetation. The woodland eventually opens out with a field to the right. Continue through this open section, which may be covered in bracken in summer.
After another uphill section the path flattens out and you turn left at the junction by a Wye Valley Walk marker (SO 304 447), where the Herefordshire Trail continues to the right to the top of Merbach Hill. But it would be a shame to miss the panoramic views from Merbach Hill so it is worth taking a short ‘there and back’ detour here, along the Herefordshire Trail to the trig point, which is to the left when you reach the summit.
Continue along the Wye Valley Walk following waymarkers. Turn left at the crossroads of paths. When you reach another junction of paths, beside an info panel, go straight ahead through the pedestrian gate. Cross two fields and gates and walk along a short tree-lined track to another gate. Go through this gate and keep close to the left hand fence heading for the farm building in front. Go through the pedestrian gate beside the barn and then downhill to a gate beside a hollow ash tree to continue down the farm track. On a clear day this is a place where you’ll find yourself standing and staring for a moment – a timeless view across the Herefordshire Plain with the silvery Wye flowing through a patchwork of fields and farm houses. There is a well-placed bench beside the veteran oak tree a short distance ahead. Skirt right at the farmyard gate to detour round Woolla Farm through the wood and then turn right to rejoin the farm track (SO 437 449). Note this detour around Woolla Farm is a permissive route so there is divergence between your OS map and what is on the ground.
After Woolla Farm, cross over a cattle grid into a large field (before Benfield Farm). The Wye Valley Walk leaves the track here and bears left across the field walking just to the left of the veteran ash trees. Continue downhill to the left of another ash tree and head for a gateway into the next field. Go through the gateway and walk slightly right downhill to a gate in the right hand corner of the field. Pass through this gate and up into the next field, hugging the boundary on the right to go through another gate very soon. Take the track to the right uphill. At the road turn left to walk down to Bredwardine. Stage 8 finishes at the Red Lion Hotel.
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