Black and white beauty

Characterful architecture provides a striking backdrop on this ride through charming villages

This ride in the north of Herefordshire from Moorhampton Club Campsite offers the opportunity to pedal back in time. The pretty landscape is peppered with medieval buildings whose whitewashed render contrasts starkly with their black half-timbered frames.

Weobley boasts a fabulous parade of these eyecatching buildings and if time is on your side, there is a self-guided heritage walking trail around the village that explores its history and architectural features. Dilwyn is also home to numerous black and white buildings, which pop up elsewhere throughout the ride on farms and in smaller settlements.

In between these ‘liquorice buildings’, as my sister used to call them, are apple orchards and fields of hops. This must be a stunning ride in spring when the blossom is in full bloom, and it’s beautiful in late summer when the fruit has ripened on the trees.

For anyone who finds the experience irresistibly intoxicating (and that’s without sampling the cider and ales made from the local produce), there is a 42-mile Black & White Villages Trail for cyclists.

Even at half that distance, this ride offers a good taste of the area. The roads are frequently narrow and some are in very poor condition, with broken surfaces and grass tufts growing down their middles. Downloading the GPX trail from Strava onto your phone or GPS would be a good move, as navigation can be tricky at junctions with no road signs.

You can download this route from our dedicated Strava page here.

Directions

1 From the Club site ride to the end of the driveway, turn right and in 300m turn left along the A480. Continue for another 800m, then turn right, signposted to Weobley. Stay on this road into Weobley.

2 5.25km – In Weobley, take the first right turn, signposted to Surgeries and Village Hall, along the High Street. Continue for 150m to reach a corner where the road bends 90° to the right. Turn left here (it’s really straight on) onto Oadbridge Road, signposted to Weobley Marsh and Dilwyn. Continue between orchards for 3.5km until a crossroads (where you have priority).

3 8.9km – Turn left at the crossroads, signposted to Dilwyn. Continue to a T-junction then turn left to Dilwyn and keep going to reach a T-junction in the centre of the village, with the Crown Inn on the right.

4 11km – Turn right at the junction and continue to the A4112. Go straight across the A4112 and immediately turn left. Continue for almost 2km to a T-junction and turn right. Continue for 1.7km to a junction with an old-style road sign (if you reach Luntley you have gone too far).

5 15km – Turn left at the junction, signposted to Riddox. Continue to a T-junction and turn left towards Meer. Look for a right turn in Meer.

6 20.8km – Turn right opposite Mere Cottage and continue to a T-junction. Turn right along the A480 and in 120m turn left to Almeley.

7 23.7km – In Almeley, take the first left by the Village Hall and primary school, and continue to a T-junction opposite the church. Turn left and continue to the A4112.

8 26.7km – Turn left at the A4112 to Weobley and Sarnesfield, and in 350m turn right to Norton Wood and Hurstley. In 800m turn left at Hurstley House Farm (by an old stone and wood barn) along Pig Street, and follow this road all the way to the A480.

9 32.6km – Turn right along the A480, and in 1.1km turn right, signposted to Moorhampton, to reach the Club site on the left.

About the route

• Start/finish: Moorhampton Club Campsite, The Old Station, Moorhampton, Hereford, Herefordshire HR4 7BE.
• Distance: 21 miles/34km.
• Time: 2.5 hours.
  Level: Suitable for all.
• Terrain: Asphalt all the way, but in poor condition in places. Road, gravel, hybrid and e-bikes are ideal.
• Landscape: Farmland, orchards and pretty villages.
• Refreshments: Pubs and tearooms in Weobley; The Crown Inn, Dilwyn.

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The Caravan and Motorhome Club make no warranties concerning the accuracy or completeness of the routes published, which to the best of our knowledge were correct at the time of publication. Your use of the routes is at your own risk and we accept no responsibility for the suitability or safety of any routes published. Routes may be out of date or affected by changes to the physical environment and, to the extent permitted by law, we accept no responsibility for personal injury or property damage caused by your use of the routes.