It's a long weekend this weekend and while Sarah had plans to travel up to north Wales with her mother to visit family, I on the other hand had nothing planned. So I spontaneously, on Friday night, decided to go on a walk; from one town to another. My brief planning session on Friday night revealed to me that, not to far from here, in Monmouthshire there is the river Wye and aloing this river runs a trail. I also found out that the trail goes for 6 days. Not planning on traveling the whole way I decided to get a lift with Sarah and her mum to Monmouth. From there I would embark on my journey (attempt) to reach Chepstow and then a train back to Cardiff.
Starting at Monmouth, I purchased a map from the tourist information and was immediatly told that my proposed route to chepstow is usually done in about two days!!! Oh well I guess I was in for a bit of effort.
The walk was a nice easy stroll through the town, across the river Wye and then it would follow the Wye Valley Walk all the way to Chepstow. Well I thought it was going to be easy but as soon as I was across the river I couldn't find the trail. So I ended up walking through swishy, swishy long waist high grass till I was able to connect up wiht the trail. What a start, lost straight away!
From then on the trail was easy enough to follow alonside the river Wye. The route followed slongs side the river passing under a couple of bridges, a river monitoring station and alongside the Redbrook Road. The often passing cars made the walking less peaceful. I continued along the path till I reached the small town of Redbrook.
It was here where I decided to stop for a bit of a break as well as some lunch just before I crossed over the river again via a disused rail bridge. I had made it to Redbrook at 12:00 which I thought was good going considering that I had left Monmouth at about 10:00 that morning. After lunch I set off again, crossing the river and heading down the opposite bank, once again following the river. I was to walk on the bank of the river till I reached the village of Whitebrook.
I was a bit dissapointed during the first section of the walk, it wasn't till I accidently took a turn down a bridal trail, just before my turn off at whitebrook, that I actually lost the sounds of ca
rs driving down the B roads. So the walk was a nice brisk stroll along the river till I hit this bridal trail. Heading up the hill along the trail I was delighted to se my first wildlife for the day; well besides birds. I saw a young rabbit as well as a squirrel. Not that exciting I know but I was expecting a little more wildlife. So along this bridal trail for a while up and over a hill till I reached an intersection with a laneway. It was here where I realised my mistake. So along the laneway, which was downhill again, till I picked up the trail again, but to my dismay the trail was to leave the flat river bank and turn straight up the hill.
By now the sun was out and about and the damp undergrowth was making the trail very humid.
From that initial first sharp climb it was undulating walking along to ridges and I was able to make good time. I had a short break in Cookoo Wood
where I discovered somw really large ants nests, some more wildlife, which I nearly steped on. I didn't ahng around long as I wanted to push on and try to reach Tintern for half past two or so. The trail went from laneways to singlefile tracks before opening up to like fire trail width paths. There was a number of different flowering plants along the way, with varying different colours fom yellows to purples to whites. All in bloom as well. After I passed the small village of Llandogo the path turned into a well maintained wide walking track and I frequently passed more and more people. I guess I was getting closer to Tintern.
There were some frequent vantage points with excellent views over the Wye river and valley.
From this the path followed a road for a bit before decending once agin to meet up with th river. Along the river once again this time passing large open fields with long swishy grass, lots and lots of dog walkers as well as the ocasional picknicker. When I hit the outskirts of Tintern I started to pass many attractions including a model rail way complete with turnign stations, some old rattler train carriages and it was here that the day trippers really came out in droves.
Walking through Tintern
I would have liked to stop and have a look around, but my legs were getting weary and my stomach was again a little empty. So a stop for a break and a bit to eat as well as admire the ruins of tintern Abbey; from the outside that is. 3 pounds to go in an look at the ruins, a bit of a rip off, besides i had been walking continuously for nearly two hours so I wanted a break.
After a half hour or so of people watching, relaxing and checking out the ruins from my position on the low wall I was sitting on, I decided to set off again. It was 3:30 by now and I was a bit indecisive about heading off to Chepstow. In the end I decided for it. Straight away the path went upwards. A nice wet and splochy track that climbed up to the top of the ridge that I would follow till I decended into Chepstow.
The following part fo the walk, along the ridge, was the best part of the walk. Often dim forest paths, tantalising views across hill top meadows and fantastic vistas over the Wye valley. I was walking along and I managed to find a small viewing area which let me soak in teh fantastic scenery looking south across the Wye River and towards the Severn Estury and in the distance England. It was a spectaculary clear afternoon and the vista was spectacular. I was able to see both the old Severn crossing as well as the new one, Chepstow and the fantastic limestone cliffs that line the path of the river Wye.
This it seemed to pass far too quickly, and soon enough I was decending from the ridge and on the final decent into Chepstow. The cool, dim forest, cilff top paths soon turned into an open field as I headed towards Chepstow Racecourse and Percival Park. By now I was really tired and had just about had enough. It had been a long day and it was now pushing 6:00 in the evening. There was no problem with light, there was plenty of that left, but I was down to my last couple of starburst to keep me going.
Itseemed like the racecourse took ages to pass until I realised that they are actually miles long. So I truged along the side of the racecourse until I reached percival park. It must have at one time been a large estate as there was a grand stables and manor house tho both have fallen into disrepair. They were a bit interesting to investigate, more interresting then Tintern Abbey. The sheep that I passed must have known how tired I was as they made little effort at moving away from me.
From percival park it was a slow decent along the streets of Chepstow towards the train station.
At one point I thought that it was going to take another hour, but at the same time I was boyed as I realised that my GPS was an hour ahead of me. So at about 6:30 I was using the last of my energy to run and catch the train from Chepstow straight to Cardiff. An epic effort I think and one that left me really tired and sore.
After I put the GPS track on teh computer I realised that I had walked more than 30 km in one day. I had enough. So on arival at Cardiff I caught a taxi home where I got to have a well deserved shower and a nice big plate of spag bol!
Pictures information.
from top;
1. the swishy grass
2. old rail line bridge
3. redbrook
4. me on trail
5. wildflowers amongst new shooting bracken
6. undergrowth
7. me in forest
8. purple flowers that dotted the path
9. barn near tintern abby
10. bridge. 1.8 miles walk away, taken with my awesome zoom lens!
11. + 12. tintern abby
13. me and tintern abbey
14. + 15. View South over Chepstow and the River Wye as well as the severn Estury in the background.
16. Racecourse at Chepstow
17. Sheep at Piercefield park
18. piercefield park
19. Chepstow
Here is some pictures form teh things that I have been getting up to. There is a couple form when Sarah and I went to the beach, as well as when we had a picnic on top of the hill. Our recent trip to Tintern Abbey with Liz and the picture of te old man I saw walking his dog on my walk to Chepstow.
The walk was a nice easy stroll through the town, across the river Wye and then it would follow the Wye Valley Walk all the way to Chepstow. Well I thought it was going to be easy but as soon as I was across the river I couldn't find the trail. So I ended up walking through swishy, swishy long waist high grass till I was able to connect up wiht the trail. What a start, lost straight away!
From then on the trail was easy enough to follow alonside the river Wye. The route followed slongs side the river passing under a couple of bridges, a river monitoring station and alongside the Redbrook Road. The often passing cars made the walking less peaceful. I continued along the path till I reached the small town of Redbrook.
It was here where I decided to stop for a bit of a break as well as some lunch just before I crossed over the river again via a disused rail bridge. I had made it to Redbrook at 12:00 which I thought was good going considering that I had left Monmouth at about 10:00 that morning. After lunch I set off again, crossing the river and heading down the opposite bank, once again following the river. I was to walk on the bank of the river till I reached the village of Whitebrook.
rs driving down the B roads. So the walk was a nice brisk stroll along the river till I hit this bridal trail. Heading up the hill along the trail I was delighted to se my first wildlife for the day; well besides birds. I saw a young rabbit as well as a squirrel. Not that exciting I know but I was expecting a little more wildlife. So along this bridal trail for a while up and over a hill till I reached an intersection with a laneway. It was here where I realised my mistake. So along the laneway, which was downhill again, till I picked up the trail again, but to my dismay the trail was to leave the flat river bank and turn straight up the hill. 
By now the sun was out and about and the damp undergrowth was making the trail very humid.
where I discovered somw really large ants nests, some more wildlife, which I nearly steped on. I didn't ahng around long as I wanted to push on and try to reach Tintern for half past two or so. The trail went from laneways to singlefile tracks before opening up to like fire trail width paths. There was a number of different flowering plants along the way, with varying different colours fom yellows to purples to whites. All in bloom as well. After I passed the small village of Llandogo the path turned into a well maintained wide walking track and I frequently passed more and more people. I guess I was getting closer to Tintern.
There were some frequent vantage points with excellent views over the Wye river and valley.
From this the path followed a road for a bit before decending once agin to meet up with th river. Along the river once again this time passing large open fields with long swishy grass, lots and lots of dog walkers as well as the ocasional picknicker. When I hit the outskirts of Tintern I started to pass many attractions including a model rail way complete with turnign stations, some old rattler train carriages and it was here that the day trippers really came out in droves.
I would have liked to stop and have a look around, but my legs were getting weary and my stomach was again a little empty. So a stop for a break and a bit to eat as well as admire the ruins of tintern Abbey; from the outside that is. 3 pounds to go in an look at the ruins, a bit of a rip off, besides i had been walking continuously for nearly two hours so I wanted a break.
Itseemed like the racecourse took ages to pass until I realised that they are actually miles long. So I truged along the side of the racecourse until I reached percival park. It must have at one time been a large estate as there was a grand stables and manor house tho both have fallen into disrepair. They were a bit interesting to investigate, more interresting then Tintern Abbey. The sheep that I passed must have known how tired I was as they made little effort at moving away from me.
At one point I thought that it was going to take another hour, but at the same time I was boyed as I realised that my GPS was an hour ahead of me. So at about 6:30 I was using the last of my energy to run and catch the train from Chepstow straight to Cardiff. An epic effort I think and one that left me really tired and sore.
