Sellack, Wye, Kings Caple Loop - Quick Stats

• Distance: 13.5 km

• Total ascent: 128 m

• River section: Two bridges, 3.25 Km

• Duration: 03:40

• Walking Grade 2

• Terrain: Lanes, Riverside/Woodland paths, fields and farm

• Start/Finish: Sellack Church

• Views: River Wye/woodland scarp/sweeping countryside

• Highlights: River Handrail, bridge crossings, thick woodland and open countryside

• Best time to visit: Spring, summer and autumn for scent and colour

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Parking Up

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This loop is straightforward back country. The parking is limited at Sellack church, but here are some alternative park ups if the space it taken - same route, different start. 

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Sellack Down the Lane, Gruid Ref: SO567276

Foy Bridge, Grid Ref: SO604283

Kings Caple, St John's Church, Grid Ref: SO559288

Kings Caple, Primary School/Strictly out of school hours. Grid Ref: SO563289

Sellack Bridge, Grid Ref: 

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The Start and Lane

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Start at St Tysilio’s, which is a 12th-century, grade 1 listed church situated in a enclave close to the River Wye in Sellack. It's an intimate start to the walk. From here it's all tarmac before you hit the dirt. But no worries this is backcountry Herefordshire. The only traffic you are likely to encounter is the occasional pack of day-walkers, in spring or summer. so, enjoy the deep Wye Valley space. 

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Foy, The River & Woodland Scarp

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In your stride through to Foy, the church comes into view on its peninsula by the River Wye, and you feel its age straight away. It dates from the 13th century, when the nave and chancel were built in the reign of Henry III. The local lord, Sir Robert de Tregoz, was killed with Simon de Montfort at Evesham in 1265, and stone from his castle across the river was likely reused in the 14th century to build the bell tower. Its roof still hints at an earlier octagonal spire, and from the same period comes the large, decagonal font.

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By the 15th century, the Abrahall family, as lords of the manor, repaired and reshaped much of the church, including the east wall of the chancel.

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It’s the kind of spot where walkers and history seekers naturally ease up with quiet views over the river, the bridge, and the fields toward Hill of Eaton, before carrying on across the river on the left bank.

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Handrailing the left bank you pass Hole in the Wall. This whole area, including Foy, were part of a hard-working industrial patch. In the 17th century, this was charcoal iron country, run by the Foley family.

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They used what was to hand — iron ore from the ground, timber from the woods, and the river to move it all. Just up and down the valley, places like New Weir and Lydbrook had furnaces and forges going, changing the look and feel of the whole area.

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By the 19th century it had mostly died away. What’s left now is the river, the trees, and the sense that it wasn’t always this still.

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It wasn’t all iron. In more recent years, this stretch of the Wye saw a different kind of energy take hold. From Hole in the Wall, PGL began with small, hands-on canoe trips led by Peter Gordon Lawrence.

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What started out simply—people, river, and a bit of nerve—grew into something much bigger, helping shape the area’s reputation for outdoor adventure. A different use of the same river, but just as rooted in the place.

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How Caple, Kings Caple, Sellack​​

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The walk settles into the pull of the Wye on both the Wye Valley Walk and Herefordshire Trail. Skirting beneath Lyndor Wood and How Caple Wood, a steep, wooded escarpment that keeps things shaded and quietly dramatic How Caple itself draws near. Take it easy and soak up the deep space and history—recorded in Domesday, later held by the de Capel family, with the present court and church marking layers from medieval to 17th century.

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Rounding the river bend, head on through Fawley Chapel. It sits tucked away by the Wye, more part of the land than set apart from it.

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It goes back to Norman times, built in the 12th century for a small, scattered community working this stretch of the valley. It was never a grand place — just a chapel of ease, added to and patched up over the years. The 14th century saw it extended, later centuries brought small changes, and the chancel was rebuilt in the early 1800s.

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Nothing showy, nothing forced. Just a building that’s been here a long time, keeping its place as everything else moved on.

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Downriver, King’s Caple sits in much the same way — tucked onto a bend of the Wye, almost wrapped by the water. It’s another of those places where the river decides the setting.

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At its heart is the church of St John the Baptist, with medieval origins and a long, steady life of alterations and repair. Like so many along this stretch, it wasn’t built for show or scale — just for a small community held together by farming and the river.

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Stand there a moment and it feels kind of familiar: church, fields, water, hills beyond. The same pattern repeating itself along the Wye, place after place, shaped more by geography than anything else.

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Crossing the 1895 Sellack suspension bridge, designed by Louis Harper to replace the old ferry, you slip into another quiet loop of the Wye.

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Sellack church comes into view on the far side — small, steady, unassuming. With medieval roots and centuries of repair and use, it stands as part of an interconnected line of churches along the valley, each one placed here for the people who worked it who were, in much the same way, walkers of the valley.

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Eat/Drink & Trails

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If you fancy more than just the view, there are a few good spots to grab something to eat or drink around here then head on over to Hoarwithy and The New Harp Inn. It's a great pub that has a remote sense about it. You are the valley. 

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Summary

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This 13.5 km is not one to rush. You can smash out the miles if you want to put in some training with weight on your back but it's super nice to kick back and take the whole morning or afternoon. There are pit stops along the way - Foy - Hole in the Wall - the churches. Crack open a flask or get your brew kit going. You make it as wild as you like. It must be said there's plenty of bankside to stretch out your legs. All in all this is a great back country meander. ​