The Wye Valley; in the shadow of the Black Mountains

Today's ride saw myself and Lindsay on a figure eight route through Herefordshire and a brief hop across the border into Powys. We made an early morning start leaving my house at 7:15, a cool eight degrees in bright sunshine meant my choice of summer gloves was way too optimistic, the temperature remained too cool throughout, prompting me to 'flick' the heated grip switch somewhere south of Bromyard.



It was so good to have the roads to ourselves, a lesson taken from the ride in the Cotswolds last weekend meant there was simply nothing else on the road allowing us to 'bat' along at a decent speed through some of the counties best 'B' road twists and turns passing apple orchards and cider farm shops along the way.

The pre-planned route (another late night session hunting for new/different roads of interest) took us just south of Hereford past Stirling Lines at Credenhill (the SAS base I pointed out to Lindsay) and along the edge of those formidable looking 'Black Mountains' just north of the Brecons near Whitney on Wye.  I really enjoy riding that fast A438 as it hugs up near the River Wye and passes by Baskerville Hall up high on the right where Arthur Conan Doyle used to stay as a guest and inspired his Sherlock Holmes story The Hounds of the Baskerville.

Baskerville Hall

We dropped down on to the B4350 having a lot of fun in the sun now as I could simply roll on and off the throttle in an out of bends taking care to avoid the occasional collection of gravel on each apex. Not sure where all of that gravel comes from, it occasionally catches me off guard causing a quick adjust without using the brakes and extra care with the throttle as I come out of the tighter bends. We stopped by a Cafe in Hay on Wye, after a short wait for them to open and a warm in the sun we ordered a couple of ham and cheese Omelettes. 

Moccas Park

From Hay on Wye we cut back east through Bredwardine and passed by Moccas Park - I must stop and take a look next time, the medieval deer park and lake looked like a typical English country estate with what looked like large Oak trees - hundreds of years old. To quote the Government publication of Hereford's Natural Nature Reserves: 

"The land shows evidence of habitation dating back to at least the Bronze Age, with a wealth of well preserved features, including at least 1 Bronze Age round barrow, a Norman motte and bailey and an 18th century park wall and lime kiln."

"The ancient trees host a large variety of epiphytic plants (plants that grow non-parasitically on other plants). More than 200 species of lichen have been recorded and a wide range of fungi grow in the forest and grassland, some of them very rare."

The ride north then took us over Bishops Frome and the Bromyard Downs before taking us up to Tenbury Wells via the sublime B4203. I love that road, a typical 'B' road but well surfaced with fantastic views of the Herefordshire countryside, remembering to also look at the view in the mirrors as we climbed up hills and dropped back down the other side.  From Tenbury we took the usual route home via Bewdley - made it back for just after midday. 130 miles round trip for me and a bit more for Lindsay!