Herbro one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Herbro here.

Nic Howes trialled this route in two stages; the northern part on Monday 23.1.23 and the southern part on Thursday 26.1.23.

The route is a "curate's egg"; its direct line may appeal to some and includes a great deal of roadside walking that may not appeal to others. The route also includes two sections that may be extremely muddy; these feature in the description, with photographs.

The route is passable as a connection link on a longer journey; it is not a five star Slow Way as it is somewhat lacking in off-road walking, landscape variety and points of interest. For a "bus walk" variation of Herbro with more landscape variety and interest - worthy of four stars - I recommend a start in Bromyard, catch the Hereford bus to Burley Gate and walk north on PROWs from there to Sheepscot and then along Herbro to Bromyard. The walk from Burley Gate to Sheepscot provides the privilege of walking through Moreton Wood, managed by Paul and Jo, for conservation and biodiversity. Paul and Jo's passion for wildlife and woodland ecology is clear in Moreton Wood and on their website: moretonwood.co.uk

The route is roadside walking all the way from Hereford to Lugwardine, including the A438 Lugwardine Bridge over the River Lugg, which has no footway and so needs great care to stay alert to traffic flow from both directions. It is possible to get away from the roadside by deviating from the route slightly onto Upper Lugg Meadows access land between Lower House Farm and Lugwardine Bridge. Lugwardine has some interesting buildings, including this pair of cottages with fine brickwork and windows that match those on Porch House on Lumber Lane (Photo 1).

The route branches right off Lumber Lane onto a well-used footpath network across fields overlooked by houses in the Hereford commuter settlements of Lugwardine and Bartestree. The ridge of the fields affords views east to nearby Shucknall Hill and the distant Malvern Hills (Photo 2).

The route leads across the interestingly named Black Hole Lane, into Hynett Farm's yard and out through a doorway. Beyond Hynett Farm the route descends gently to a pond and brook, beyond which lies a miniature railway layout (Photo 3) that is itself a few metres from the single track Network Rail link between Hereford and Ledbury (Photo 4 - look, listen and take care when crossing).

Immediately north of the railway lies a field that was a sea of mud in January 2023; a clue to the cause of the waterlogging is the name "Withington Lakes" on the OS map (Photo 5). Once across the field the route passes through a narrow gap between properties to emerge abruptly onto the fast, dangerous A4103 from Hereford to Worcester. There is a narrow grass verge alongside the A4103 from Jerry Doverman's Car Centre to the turning left, signed Withington and Westhide.

The commuter village of Withington includes an attractive old core, centred around the church. The long section of roadside walking continues along relatively quiet, wide lanes, crossing the A465 and A417; between these two main roads the lane passes the entrance to Chase Distillery and climbs towards Crozen. Approaching Crozen, great views open up behind to the Skirrid, Sugar Loaf and Black Mountains in the distant southwest.

At Crozen, the route joins the Three Rivers Way, a long distance ride promoted by the British Horse Society. The tarmac of a no through road ends at Criftage, that looks to be a place focused on horses. I'm sure that the route beyond Criftage is passable in drier conditions than those in which I visited and turned back for fear of trench foot (Photos 6 and 7); there is a tarmac diversion to avoid this potentially muddy section via Upper Town, The Pullen and Ullingswick to Sheepcots.

At Sheepcots (Photo 8) the conditions underfoot on the route along the Three Rivers Ride improved markedly; it appeared that few - if any - horses and vehicles had followed the old greenway to pass below Red Hill Coppice (Photo 9). Once past Red Hill Coppice, Broxash Wood appears (Photo 10) and the route continues along its lower edge, emerging into a field through a gate and following the outside, lower edge of Broxash Wood. As the route climbs towards the top of Hundred Bank, views open up to the south, including the distinctive profile of the northern part of the Woolhope Dome (Photo 11).

The descent from Hundred Bank passes the Three Horseshoes Inn at Little Cowarne (Photo 12); the Inn's website had informed me not to expect it to be open when I passed on a Monday: https://threehorseshoes.co.uk The Inn is not halfway along Herbro, although it is about halfway along the "bus walk" suggested earlier.

The route continues down a steep valley side to White House beside a tributary of the Lodon stream (Photo 13). The route then climbs a shoulder on a drive before descending to a footbridge over the aforesaid tributary; in January 2023 the footbridge was reportable, with a fair degree of collapse but was passable with care. Once over the shoulder, the route follows the Lodon valley, passes a remote shepherd's hut, crosses the Lodon on another footbridge and ascends across two fields to Firbush Cottage. Access to the PROW across the garden of Firbush Cottage is not possible across the overgrown stile (Photo 14) but it's a simple matter to divert round the left hand boundary of the curtilage to reach the drive that leads to the tarmac public road network that the route now follows into Bromyard (Photo 15).

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