Kington to Dolley Green. Offa’s Dyke – Day 16

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Rather reluctant to get out of bed this morning, the comfy bed and the hypoallergenic bedding at the Horse and Jockey had ensured a restful night.

A leisurely breakfast and we are onto Kington, a delightful market towns.

The path goes straight up Church Street before veering off across a pretty square with Georgian houses and down towards a number of pretty cottages, crossing Back Brook reaching a lane, a pleasant amble upwards passing a cottage and onto Bradnor Green common.

On higher ground still, we come to the manicured grounds of Kington Golf Club. The direction of the sign here is a bit ambiguous, and we took the more acute angle, ending higher up the golf course than the path route..

We accosted a group of friendly golfers to try and get our bearings. They were most helpful offering conflicting advice.
One suggested we go back down towards the club house, the other suggested we could cross across the farmer’s field up to the top of the hill where the Dyke was now clearly visible.

They told us that walkers go astray all the time, that we were not the first by any means. This made us feel better.

We told them we were going to go through the fields, a long conversation about whether the bull was in the field or just cattle and sheep.

We were undeterred, we’d encountered loads of bulls, bullocks and cattle on our walk. Getting across the fields was relatively easy until we spotted a sign way off in the distance on Herrock Hill. We decided to descend to a valley of bracken and fight our way across until we reached the path. Just as well we are both country girls at heart!

More bracken on the way down the hill until we ended up skirting around the hill overlooking a lush, green valley.

At Lower Harpton Farm we stopped to admire two working dogs atop a quad bike. They loved our attention, but did not bark and did not leave their position. We chatted to the farmer who was glad to have seen the back of Storm Bronagh. We left him to finish rounding up the sheep, while we walked down the B4362 with a couple of nasty bends,as quickly as possible.

Bearing left at the old Ditchyeld Bridge, up the lane to Burfa forestry, reaching Old Burfa, lovely half timbered house with atmospheric barns.

Reaching the Dyke by a series of steps, we take care not to trip over tree stumps, but stopping to take in the views through the trees.

Flights of steps lead through Granner Woods – Woodland Trust. Beyond here a pretty uneventful walk passing the Hilltop Plantation. The Dyke gradually becoming fainter, down to the River Lugg. Through grazing land to the road, and the baptist church at Dolley Green. My car had been parked there overnight. There is a water tap in the grounds to replenish your water bottle and a toilet.

We decided that was enough walking for one day, and spent our afternoon in Presteigne, and the evening at Radnor House B & B. Where our lovely hostess Julia, greeted us with offer of cake and tea.

This was our final night before completing Offa’s Dyke Path and we celebrated with dinner at the tapas bar. Yummie.


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