\n\tOver a stile and we were travelling north along the valley and past Craswall. There was lots of mud but the ground remained mostly firm underfoot. The path was level or downhill so that the ridge we were to walk loomed higher and higher above us.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tFrom the bottom of the valley, in woodland and to our right we could hear hounds baying. After a while the sound came from ahead of us – we guessed in the woodland as there were fields <\/span> \n\tHaving walked a few miles along the valley we took a path in a north westerly direction. We came onto open land which gradually sloped towards the lower slopes of Hay Bluff and we espied a hang glider. As it was 1pm, we stopped briefly in warming sunshine to eat our 1st lunch of the day (enough to get us to the top of the hill). Extensive views to the northeast spread out before us.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tWe used part of the Offa’s dyke path to climb Hay Bluff, an excellent path reinforced all the way to the ridge. Here we met our first walkers of the day, a group of girls doing their silver Duke of Edinburgh award.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tIgnoring the trig point at the top of Hay Bluff we turned left (south east) to climb to the top of the ridge. Now we could enjoy our 2nd lunch, making our way to a small promontory we settled down. Fabulous views again, this time of the surrounding ridges and Pen y Fan could be seen in the distance. The Olchon valley lay below us.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n\tOn reaching the Black Hill ridge our view was mainly the cultivated farmland to the east and the ridge rising above us to the west. One of the hang gliders came in to land on the lower slopes of Hay Bluff and another came very close to us as he veered around, to join his colleague.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs we progressed the ridge looked dauntingly narrow but once we arrived on its craggy section we realised it was at least 3ft wide along its length with a few large rocks to scramble over. Even vertigo sufferers were reassured. We could see the Olchon valley again and the ridge which Offa’s Dyke follows continuing for some miles across the valley.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\tAt the end of the ridge the path went into a steep descent but in places there were steps worn into the hillside which made progress easier. Over the stile (the only one on this walk) which we crossed at the start of our walk and we were back at the car. 8¾ miles walked and 1200ft climbed and we all agreed that it had been fabulous<\/span>\n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t \n<\/p>\n \n\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Black Hill Ridge – It was a long drive to the beginning of the walk, the final stretch following winding lanes until we reached the car park at the foot of Black Hill. In the north east of the Black mountains we were in Herefordshire north east of Llanveynoe and Longtown. Little Black Hill was visible to the south […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38],"tags":[89],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-YG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3237,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3237","url_meta":{"origin":3762,"position":0},"title":"April Walks","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st May 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Margam Park:- We parked next to the lake just outside Margam Park and made our way along the main track towards the deer park. Marshals stood near a stream, there was a run across the park and the runners were expected to go through this stream not once but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3459,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3459","url_meta":{"origin":3762,"position":1},"title":"Garway Hill","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Garway Hill The walk started in Kentchurch near a lodge gate and we were going to be following part of the Herefordshire trail, which meanders the Wales\/England border. Nearby Kentchurch Court is a stately home which has been in the Scudamore family for over 1000 years. There is a deer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3354,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3354","url_meta":{"origin":3762,"position":2},"title":"Wentwood Forest & Tretower","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th May 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Parc Seymour and Wentwood Forest Today our walk took us from Parc Seymour to Wentwood northeast of Newport. There was a cold wind and it felt like winter again. But there\u2019s only one word to describe this walk \u2018Bluebells\u2018! We headed southeast and on the road passed a neat woodland,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4980,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4980","url_meta":{"origin":3762,"position":3},"title":"Mynydd Troed","author":"Alan Williams","date":"18th September 2018","format":false,"excerpt":". Mynydd Troed - Parking at the Dragon\u2019s Back Inn, we were about to tackle the hill we had seen when circumnavigating Llangorse Lake. We headed north around the bottom of the mountain skirting Pengenffordd. Grassed paths all the way made the going easy and coming around to the western\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4130,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4130","url_meta":{"origin":3762,"position":4},"title":"Chartist Cave & Abercarn","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Chartist Cave We started at Trefil on a cold but sunny morning, much better than the weather forecast. Walking north we followed the Brinmore tramroad which opened in 1815. We soon arrived at a quarry and the footpath led us through it. It has been used as a set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4335,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4335","url_meta":{"origin":3762,"position":5},"title":"Quakers Yard and Hendryd Falls","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th February 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Quakers Yard - Starting at Quakers Yard, until the 18th Century, known as Rhyd y Grug, \u2018the ford of the rustling waters\u2019, where the Bargoed Taff and Taff rivers meet. Its name changed when land was bequeathed to the Quaker movement for use as a burial ground or yard.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3762"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3762"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3764,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3762\/revisions\/3764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/z-Oct-Picture1.png?resize=400%2C299\")
of sheep and cows. Then a large dog came bounding along the trail towards us and up the hill not even glancing at us it was so focussed on its quarry. A second hound followed soon after. Baying sounds could now be heard in several different directions. Passing through a gate we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by the pack, racing backwards and forwards and jumping a barbed wire fence in their quest. They totally ignored us apart from a few who gave us a brief sniff.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/z-IMG_7267-1709.jpg?resize=400%2C533\")
Refreshed we continued along the top of the ridge; it is peat bog with many acrid pools and a paved pathway had been laid to preserve the habitat – very easy walking thanks to a lot of hard work and investment. As we continued we had to be careful to move left across the moorland and back to the Black Hill ridge as the solid path that is Offa’s Dyke could easily have taken us in the wrong direction. This was the only really rough ground of the whole day.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
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