FOR the last decade, Dinedor has been like a beacon for the dean of Hereford who manages to fit in an energetic hike to the hill and back before settling down to work.

About once a week the cathedral’s chief resident cleric, familiar to all in ecclesiastical attire, heads off to the hill in shorts and hiking boots for a brisk five-mile constitutional.

Ten years on and his enthusiasm for the Dinedor trail has not wavered, though the dean admits to once facing an angry flock.

“It’s my work-a-day walk,” said the Very Rev Michael Tavinor, who celebrates his 65th birthday this summer. “I know I can leave my back gate at the deanery, do the walk and be back home in an hour and a half.”

He confesses that walking is the one sporting activity he enjoys, saying: “I’m hopeless at everything else.”

But a glance at his scholarly record tells a different story.

From school days in Middlesex, he studied at University College, Durham, as an organ scholar, then Emmanuel College, Cambridge, King’s College, London, and a list of theological colleges including Oxford, Rome and Ely.

He left his ministry at Tewkesbury Abbey to come to Hereford in 2002. Since when he has embarked on a series of lengthy hikes across the diocese.

Every three years he walks between the Three Choirs’ cathedrals of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester before returning home.

“This raises awareness and also raises funds for the festival – this year for the festival charity Supported Housing Young People’s Project,” he said.

The dean’s efforts have raised more than £3,400.

His longest hike to date is the Pilgrim’s Walk from Winchester to Canterbury which took him 12 days. Back at home the appeal of Dinedor – Hereford’s holy hill – remains unchanged.

During the last 10 years he has notched up 400 miles. “I’ll keep on doing it, while I’ve got health and strength – and hope this may encourage others to put on their boots and enjoy this wonderful part of Hereford right on our doorsteps. If time allows I extend it – over the top of the hill, down by the farm and back up the hill – that’s seven miles. It depends how much time I’ve got.”

He never tires of the walk.

“There’s always something different to see. In spring the apple blossom is amazing and in winter the stark grandeur of the scene always impresses.”

He loves the stunning views across to Hay Bluff and the Clee Hills and he can see the cathedral tower with All Saints’ church immediately behind.

“It looks as it would have done in the 18th century, before the spire came off the tower, it looks as it would have done in old prints.”

He welcomes the challenges of the fairly steep hill, which makes him puff, and he has made friends with a farmyard dog.

But once the dean was faced with a hostile flock.

“I thought I was walking through a field of docile sheep, but it turned out to be a lot of less-than-friendly rams,” he said.