Wednesday dawned fair, in fact in weather terms it was the best day yet. In fact it was a pretty fabulous day all round, thanks to the scenery, the weather and my wonderful companion for the day, my mate Dave. Here we are back in Bromyard, looking fresh and raring to go……
As we headed out of Bromyard via the industrial estate, it quickly became clear that this was the day when Dave was going to take my map reading education in hand and try to develop in me all the skills I so obviously lacked as I attempted to take us off in totally the wrong direction. Throughout the day, he enlightened me in the way of field boundaries, the need to always be looking ahead and anticipating problems, the need to look around you and verify where you were heading with reference to more than one factor ie don’t rely on just the waymarks – and loads of other top tips and wrinkles. It was a lesson in navigation, which I greatly enjoyed, but which I’m also sure will stand me in very good stead in the days to come. Thanks Dave!
Walking the Herefordshire Trail was a dream compared to the nightmare that was the Three Choirs Way – here is photographic evidence of just how nightmarish it was…..
Today, by contrast, was field edges only one of which was very overgrown and nowhere near as much as the above. We headed first for Edwyn Ralph, one of my favourite Hereford village names. Took our first break in the churchyard there, as churchyards have benches, and I took a gander inside and was immediately reminded of Berrow by these good people….
Maybe relations of our own headless lady??
We continued after the break on across fields, squeezing between sileage bails, coping with path re-routing and even surviving the interest of a herd of cows, including a fine specimen of a Hereford bull. As ever, Dave had a tip for this, just keep going and it worked!
Arrived at the Velvet Stone with new houses going up and had our break squatting on their newly laid kerbside. Then it was keep straight onto the end of the road, enjoying the fab farmland, the quiet, the space and the amazing views. Eventually we came to a stretch of road walking, during which we passed by Hatfield St Leonard, the second of the days 3 churches. I now discover its one of the 3 oldest churches in Herefordshire, dating from well beyond the Norman Conquest, but I confess we didn’t go in, being by this time more anxious to make it to our third church of the day, St Peter’s, Pudleston and rendezvous with our lift. We made it there with 5 minutes to spare, bringing to an end a very enjoyable and educational days walk.
