Hay Bluff & Lord Herefords Knob (Twmpa) Circular Walk, near Hay on Wye on the Welsh, English border.

All my walking guides and adventures are free to read, thanks to the support of kind folks like you. That said, creating and walking each route takes time (and plenty of coffee!), so if you’ve enjoyed this post or found it useful, feel free to share it around — or even treat me to a coffee or two. It really helps keep the boots moving and the guides coming. You can do that here: click this link. Diolch as always!

Walk this route yourself in 3D!

The Video is a 3D walk through of this route; it will give you a unique sense of having walked through the route before you start.

I have created 3D Videos of my adventures and have shared them with the OutdoorActive community as well as my walking community.

Hay Bluff & Lord Herefords Knob (Twmpa) Circular Walk, near Hay on Wye - 3D Video.

The Hay Bluff near Hay on Wye is a stand out hill in the northern part of the Black Mountains, on the eastern edge of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park. Being only 5 miles from Hay on Wye, world famous for its books and bookshops the Hay Bluff circular which takes in Twmpa (Lord Herefords Knob) is a popular walk, and having the start point in the car park next to the Hay Bluff makes it accessible to most people.

From the car park there is an initial steep climb up the escarpment, and then to the trig point over to the left, but once at the top, the next short, less steep climb is up to the Twmpa trig some miles away. The views are stunning in clear weather, and for all these reasons the car park fills up quite quickly, so get there early.

A lot of people also visit this spot as it was made famous in ‘The American Werewolf in London’ film, where the boys were dropped off by the Yorkshire farmer at the start, who told them to “Beware the moon lads, and stick to the roads. Stay off the moors”.

Recommended: Places to stay in Brecon, in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park.

Recommended: Places to stay in Crickhowell, in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park.

Recommended: Best places to stay in Hay-on-Wye, home of the famous ‘Hay Festival of Literature & Arts’.

Getting There: Directions, GPX and App Link

The Hiking app I use to plan the walks and to also guide me around is the ‘Outdooractive App‘, which has a free a Pro and a Pro+ version, the Pro version will allow you to download the routes to your phone, and use them without using up your data.

The reason I mention it is that if you were to download a route, they are FREE and you can find this link to this route in my hike listings. You can then follow the arrows and voice on your mobile, as most of these walks are a bit tricky to explain.

• Drive along the B4350, and the road to the car park which is right next to the Hay Bluff, can either be got to from Hay on Wye or via Llanigon, a lane off the B4350.
• Along the road to the Hay Bluff, a car park will appear as a large layby, and can be found here – https://maps.app.goo.gl/2S8uv1aYGKfaVP1F9

Navigation Aids:

• Follow this route on the Outdooractive App, it is FREE, and it will guide you around safely.
• Download my hand crafted *GPX file, and use it on your own guidance devices.
• If you’re not sure what a GPX file is, I have put an explanation post together here that will hopefully explain it in plain words. It’s worth considering as well as mobile app navigation, as they will make your hikes better & safer.

Hike Map

Hike Profile

• Distance: 6m / 10km
• Duration: 3.5 / 4 hours
• Highest point: 2257ft / 688m
• Difficulty: Moderate, due to a short steep climb, muddy terrain and the weather can be difficult.
• Route conditions: Well-worn pathways most of the way around, good walking shoes are a must.

Hike Description & Pics

Let’s get going – If you need help organising this trip, see links below.

My ‘Bannau Brycheiniog Resource Kit‘ at the bottom of this page, will help you organise your travel, trips, food and accommodation when planning your visit to Wales, it’s all there to help you plan, give it a go.

The car park we started at is called ‘Hay Bluff Car Park‘, and is not far from Hay on Wye, and is directly next to the hill you are going up.

The road to the car park off the B4350 is a good road, but in places there is only room for 1 car, but there is plenty of room, just maybe pulling over is safest at certain points. The views heading to the car park are really nice, and you can’t miss the Hay Bluff as you drive to it, and then the car park will appear on your right, the Hay Bluff on your left.

You will notice once you start walking towards the Hay Bluff, a straight path has been worn going right to the top. If you are up for it, go ahead and take this route, otherwise start your walk and then pick up a lighter path going to the left, which will then allow you to take a path to the top heading on an angle right, that isn’t so steep.

At the top, you can continue straight on along the ridge, but we wanted to make our way to the trig point, so to do that you turn left and you should see in the not to far distance. It was foggy for us, but the path is good, and once at the trig, you basically walk back on yourself and walk along the ridge.

Leaving the trig point, and I hope you have better views than we did, you double back on yourself and walk along the top of the hill with the ridge line on your right. The views are stunning and you can’t help but look out across Wales from here.

You may see some wild horses, lots of birds and probably not many people, which is the way I prefer it. Carry on walking along the ridge, and at the end you will need to walk down to a road, to then cross over to walk up to Lord Herefords Knob, but we aren’t there yet.

Once you come to the end of the Hay Bluff, and you make your way down to the road, all you need to do is cross that road and find the path leading to the top right and walk towards Lord Herefords Knob peak.

These are the only 2 climbs in the whole walk, this is the second and again at the heighest point you will get some fabulous views. We decided to have a break here, before making our way back to the car park.

This is the last peak and you now start heading back to the car, but, and this is where I was thankful, I had the route on my watch, to head down you walk away a little further from the car, so basically heading left off the peak and down a stone path. After so long you will see a sharp right turn and it’s here that you will start to head back on yourself to make your way down and in the direction of the car park.

The walk back is about 2.5 miles, and is relatively flat, and you will always be able to see the Hay-Bluff in the distance. You will at some point join the road that will take you back to the car park and on the way you will walk past a lovely little waterfall that runs under the road and on a bend, I suppose that would be a good sign you are on the right path.

The road will then start to rise a little and flatten out as you see the car park in not too far away, and that will basically be it.

As you walk back to the car park, you will see a junction in the road. Why I have brought it up, is to see if you can work out if you don’t know already what very famous 1981 film did this junction star in. A slight clue will be the colour of my jacket!!!

Answers on a postcard, also stay on the road and keep off the moors!

That’s it, you’re all done, back at the car and hopefully the weather has been good, and you have had a great experience.

It is worth downloading this route onto your outdooractive app, it’ll re-assure you time wise and that you’re not heading in the wrong directions. There is so much space up there and lots of alternative paths you could accidently join.

Hope you enjoy this walk, and I’d love it if you could share this post either with the social media buttons that follow you down the screen on your left, or below in the footer. Also, comments are very welcome, I love meeting new people and talking and you never know we could meet up on one of our walks.