The Wye Valley Walk in pictures

The Wye Valley Walk in pictures

Foreword:

Following the River Wye for 136 miles from the its confluence with the River Severn near Chepstow to the Plynimon Hills in Wales: Rolling fields, cider orchards, dramatic limestone gorges, stunning viewpoints and romantic ruins as well as gradients, rain, and many wrong turns ...

Day 1.1 Rain had been forecast for our first day of tackling the Wye Valley Walk and the skies were grey and heavy with precipitation when we arrived at Chepstow Castle, the official starting point.

Day 1.2 Under the crumbling walls of the old castle we found the large rock that signified the official starting point of this 136 mile adventure, and began taking the usual photographs that such an occasion demands.

Day 1.3 We left the road, and Chepstow, behind us via the grounds of a school where a path took us into a forest for some pretty woodland walking.

Day 1.4 As we progressed, the forest path climbed steadily and a series of viewpoints, laid out in the late eighteenth century for the benefit of the burgeoning tourist industry.

Day 1.5 Further along the trail we noticed two things, firstly the path was taking a more determined upward direction and secondly the wet ground was proving to be challenging at times as it was strewn with rocks and snaggled tree roots.

Day 1.6 Not much further on we reached a second viewpoint at the Giants Cave where indeed a cave (actually more of a tunnel) had been chiselled through the living rock.

Day 1.7 The view down to the river Wye, now far below us, was worth a five minute breather and then we passed through the dark chilly passage.

Day 1.8 We carried on, passing through Minepit Wood and along Black Cliff and then down a very tricky path which really would have been a game-changer if either of us had slipped.

Day 1.9 We threaded our way through Tintern's narrow back lanes and walked down to the riverside, passing the gaunt ruins of the abbey in the process.

Day 1.10 We turned down a lane and walked past several very pleasant properties and into the tiny hamlet of Cleddon.

Day 1.12 The day had become still and the wine-yellow sunlight filtered down onto the steeply wooded hillside of the valley below us. Colours were diffuse and dreamlike, painted in soft watercolours, and the gentle hills of the valley rolled away to the south.

Day 2.1 There’s not really a lot to Whitebrook these days, just a cluster of attractive cottages although in previous centuries it was quite an industrious place, famed for the quality of the paper it produced. That industry, along with its accompanying pollution, is now long gone but there are still echoes of the past, like the ruins of a paper mill we passed by on our way out of the village.

Day 2.2 We joined the river to follow a broad green track that used to be the Wye Valley Railway line and as such was a flat, straight piece of walking, offering us views of the opposite bank where sheep grazed in meadows.

Day 2.3 Stopping at one point we admired a carved wooden sculpture of a brace of Salmon that had been sited (or discarded - it was hard to tell) beneath the straggly cover of a hedgerow.

Day 2.4 We crossed the bridge from the Welsh side into England and the riverside village of Redbrook.

Day 2.5 Back alongside the Wye we passed by the remains of the two 19th century railway bridges. .

Day 2.6 We reached the Wye Bridge on the edge of the town, a substantial old bridge that carried traffic on the A4136 into the town centre. .

Day 2.7 We passed what remains of the old Monmouth Quay and continued along the riverside path and into the grounds of the pretty whitewashed church of St. Peters at Dixton. .

Day 2.8 Biblins Bridge is quite a small footbridge, suspended by thick steel hawsers across the river, and its narrow footway springs up and down noticeably as you walk along - in fact the whole structure squeaks and boings enthusiastically. .

Day 2.9 The day concluded with a walk along a path to Symonds Yat with the Wye a few meters below us on our right. .

Day 3.1 We were back at Symonds Yat preparing for another dozen or so miles of the Wye Valley walk. .

Day 3.2 The Brownstone rock from which the Yat hill is formed sometimes jutted out from the forest about us, forming little crags and miniature cliffs. .

Day 3.3 I had mentioned the ruins of an old croft to Colin which I remembered from my last visit to this area and sure enough we came across it, sited yards from the river’s edge, and bullied by the encroaching forest. .

Day 3.4 We left the forest behind us and broke out onto wide meadows of grass and clover, following the riverbank as it led us past flocks of sheep. .

Day 3.5 The stark angular profile of the abandoned factory at Lower Lydbrook began to appear above the tree tops, its chimney stacks and hangar-like buildings, its acres of shattered glass window panes, seemed totally at odds with its rural setting. .

Day 3.6 With the official route now closed off we instead made for the B4234 road, turning left for a march to Kerne Bridge. .

Day 3.7 We came to a break in the trees where below us the red rooftops of Walford village appeared. This tiny village may have given rise to our surname in generations gone by. .

Day 3.8 We were now on the summit of Howle Hill and we could see, separated from us by a narrow valley, Chase Hill in the middle distance; a tree covered dome of a hill some 660 feet from base to crown. .

Day 3.9 Chase Hill has a natural cleft bisecting it, and at least we were going to climb by passing through this defile rather than the two higher summits, but nonetheless it was quite a steep ascent. .

Day 4.1 Ross-on-Wye: The amiable Church Warden opened the doors, wished us a good morning, and after hearing of our planned day of walking suggested that a brief tour of the church interior might be a nice start. .

Day 4.2 We set off on a downward course through the streets of Ross, passing the The Man of Ross pub. .

Day 4.3 We walked away from Ross-on-Wye once more, along meadows of wild grasses and bracken. It was a Bank Holiday so, of course, the weather was miserable. .

Day 4.4 Soon we neared the strangely named hamlet of Hole-in-the-Wall, approaching it along a quiet little road between high hedges and verges of Cow Parsley. .

Day 4.5 Passing by an old mill the road swept down into an open valley, running parallel to the Wye. The rain let up for a spell and the day brightened just enough to do the scenery justice. .

Day 4.6 We climbed up, first through Hales Wood and then Capler Wood. .

Day 4.7 Capler Camp: As the sun made a bright and cheerful appearance we were at last offered a nice view to admire, looking out across a shallow valley of hedged fields, ringed with low tree-clad hills. .

Day 4.8 There was a nice finale to the day waiting for us in the shape of Lee and Paget’s Wood, an area of ancient woodland and therefore at least 400 years old. .

Day 4.9 We walked down a short farmyard driveway and emerged on a small road where, opposite a rather quaint stone bridge fording a brook, we saw the Moon Inn, a welcome sight since it promised both an end to the day’s walking and a pint of well-deserved ale. .

Day 5.1 Mordiford is not a large village and once we crossed the low stone bridge that spans the Wye at this point we left it behind, framed fetchingly against its backdrop of steep and wooded hills. .

Day 5.2 The first section of the walk would be repeated a few times during the morning .... .

Day 5.3 .... a raised green embankment, and shaggy horses cropping the grass contentedly. .

Day 5.4 As we wound our way slowly in the direction of the city of Hereford. Colin pointed out a great swathe of Himalayan Balsam that had colonised a large area. .

Day 5.5 Hereford: The rain became more insistent once we regained the river and followed it upstream to cross at a delicate suspension bridge of Victorian vintage; all wrought iron embellishments and white paintwork. .

Day 5.6 The bridge led us into the King George V Memorial Park, where a wide avenue of mature beeches offered some shelter under their canopies as the rain got into its stride. .

Day 5.7 The ancient Wye Bridge crossing the river at Hereford. The curiosity of this bridge, according to the guide book, was the fact that one of its arches was mismatched. .

Day 5.8 Hereford's great cathedral reared its spires above the river as we left the city. .

Day 5.9 The land rose here, not steeply but persistently, until we broke out across a field that gave us some far-reaching views in all directions. .

Day 6.1 We couldn’t help but stop just outside of the village of Bishopstone and admire the low rolling hills that surrounded us; it really is lovely countryside on the Welsh borders. .

Day 6.2 Eventually the bridle way widened and became a grassy path following the boundary of a cider apple orchard. A very large orchard indeed, according to the information sign set up by its owners Bulmers, of several hundred acres. .

Day 6.3 Monnington Church: A peaceful, secret little place, guarded by a wall of mature trees and ancient gravestones arranged in uneven rows about the building. .

Day 6.4 We stood at the start of a wide straight avenue, known as the Monnington Walk, a mile long stroll planted on either side with ancient yew and pine. .

Day 6.5 We reached a main road, turning left to reach the fine stone bridge at Bredwardine. .

Day 6.6 On Murbach Hill: I found a large flat rock to sit on, using the opportunity to pan the camera around the countryside below me, back to where the wooded hill where we had taken lunch poked up in the middle distance. .

Day 6.7 Looking back at Murbach Hill. .

Day 6.8 A short but pleasant stretch of disused railway led us to the village of Priory Wood and the end of the days walk. .