Circular Walks 1 & 2 - Marcle Ridge and John Kyrle
There’s only so many times you can walk past the same cows before you start questioning your life choices. I reckon my wife Stace and I could probably navigate all the Ledbury footpaths in our sleep. Don’t get me wrong, we love where we live. Ledbury has some brilliant walks, but after the hundredth lap past the same hedgerow, we were ready for something new. So we did a bit of searching online and stumbled across the Herefordshire Circular Walks.
These are proper waymarked trails all over the county. Easy to follow, a good variety, and they looked like exactly what we needed to break out of our walking rut. We picked two to start with. First up: Marcle Ridge.
This was our first pick, and on paper it looked like a gentle 4.5 miler with some nice views. In reality, it turned out to be a beautiful route with absolutely shocking footpaths. My legs looked like I’d gone three rounds with a bramble bush. Or I'd caught monkeypox. Possibly both.
We parked up on a lane near Ridge Hill and walked towards the transmitter on a footpath than ran alongside the fields. There were a lot of inquisitive cows about which can be a little scary but they seemed happy to let us past. There were some great views of the Malverns too. I'm not sure what age you get to when a massive TV transmitter becomes the highlight of your afternoon, but apparently the answer is 41, or younger if you're easily impressed like me.
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| The Ridge Hill Transmitter, Herefordshire |
Through the back of the fields we followed country lanes and more fields. We saw some sheep that didn't actually look real. The final mile or so is where the footpaths became difficult to walk and weren't particularly well maintained. I got the impression that the farmer didn't really want a footpath through his land so was happy to let it get overgrown and, at some points, borderline impassable. I might be wrong though.
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| Extra-terrestrial-looking sheep |
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| Some of the footpaths weren't great |
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| Not growing up |
Despite the scratches on our legs, we actually really enjoyed it. There’s a good mix of woodland, open fields, and a small sense of achievement when you finally loop back to the car having survived the more “natural” bits of the path.
Nearby Much Marcle is a good place to go for food on a Sunday. There's Scrumpy House at the Westons Cider Mill which does a good plated roast, and the Walwyn Arms on the main Ledbury to Ross Road which does a decent carvery. We opted for the cider mill and had a cracking lunch, then a drink in the large beer garden of the Walwyn.
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| Sunday lunch at the Scrumpy House, Westons Cider Mill |
So that’s one of the sixteen Herefordshire Circular Walks done and dusted. A bit rough around the edges, but a little local adventure. Onto the next one...
Next, we headed to Ross-on-Wye to try the John Kyrle Circular. John Kyrle (1637-1724), also known as the "Man of Ross," was a prominent figure in Ross, known for his public-mindedness, charitable works, and love for his community. He is remembered for his efforts to beautify the town, help the poor, and settle disputes.
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| The John Kyrle Walk waymarker |
We parked up in the town and started the walk heading to the other side of Wilton Bridge and along the riverbank. The route then takes you away from the river, uphill, towards another set of fields.
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| Wilton Bridge |
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| The Wye |
We then entered some woodland above the sandstone cliffs, into Ross and through the churchyard. We had a pint at the Royal Hotel which had great views of the Wye from the terrace. This wasn't a particularly challenging walk, but it was still nice to try somewhere different and, despite it being only 20 minutes away from home, I haven't spent much time in Ross at all.
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| The fields and hills on the outskirts of Ross-on-Wye |
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| Ross-on-Wye footpaths |
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| Herefordshire cider and ale at the at the Royal Hotel, Ross-on-Wye |
After two of these walks, we’re hooked. It was nice to start exploring our county a bit more and the routes gave us a challenge to try and tick them all off.
If you’re based in Herefordshire and feeling a bit bored of your usual routes, definitely check out these circulars. They’re well marked, full of variety, and give you that satisfying “I did something outdoorsy today” feeling without needing hiking poles or a tent.
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