Hay Bluff is a 677m hill in the Black Mountains range – and is just North of the 703m high Black Mountain itself. The hill is accessible from a number of different directions and the Offa’s Dyke footpath passes just to the right of it, heading both North and South.
Right on the Welsh / English border and at the end of this range of mountains – with no mountains in England until the Lake District North and Dartmoor South – Hay’s Bluff has an air of finality about it. The hill drops steeply West, North and East, with the hill being a pointy top of a fine ridgeway walk that follows the Offa’s Dyke footpath and offers a landscape of cairns erecting an almost physical border in places.
From Lord Herefords Knob you drop down into Gospel path before ascending back up to the summit of Hay Bluff. Gospel Pass is a small road, but offers parking close to this point and a range of small roads and parking is available further North.
The walk up to Hay Bluff had some nice wild horses on it and good views back to Lord Herefords Knob.
Nearer the summit the path is a nice red gravel and the top is marked by a good white trig point with red Welsh dragon.
The path heads South to the Black Mountain and down the rest of the ridgeway.
A hill well worth visiting as it sits at the very North-East of the Black Mountains range and offers great views. I will be back when the weather is better to photograph those views.
