Next up on the Wye Valley Walk: Bredwardine to Castleton.  Starting from the Red Lion pub car park, which was the turnaround point when I cycled the adjacent bit.

Easing into the walk might have been nice, but nooo.. instead we start with a 1 in 4 hill to walk up.  That certainly woke my calf muscles up!

From here the path moves onto bridleway, and heads across some fields towards the top of Merbach Hill.

I had planned to eat lunch at the trig point, but never found it.  Analysis of my GPS trace once I was home showed that I was only about 10m away from it.. but lots of plant life to obscure paths etc.  Ah well!

Views from the top were good, but perhaps not as great as they could have been, due to overcast weather.  I was convinced it was going to piss it down, so had worn a proper coat.  At my actual lunch stop/half way point that went back in the rucksack, as I was overheating somewhat! (and it still wasn't raining).

Walked back on the 'low road' (rather than the 'high road' back up over the hill).  Along the B4352 for a bit, then off onto some bridleways that track along the side of the hill

A few more steep bits at the end - up, then down again to meet the (steep!) road back to the pub - which was by that point closed until the evening. Meaning no well earned cold drink for me, d'oh!

tags: walking wye