Thursday 10 August. Fownhope to Ross-on-Wye.

We left The Green Man at 9:30am on a fine day and walked back up the road we walked down yesterday. Near the top we met a UPS van coming down. I wasn't quick enough to snap it in a narrow part of the road as it came down towards us but I did manage to get it as it went away on a wider bit of road. Note the clearance!

After the road ends the path climbs up through a wood to Common Hill nature reserve. The climb was long but we did get good views down the far side. 

We went astray on our way to the next road crossing, distracted by another footpath. From the road the path climbs steeply past a farm with 'Glamping' facilities. From all the solar panels it was difficult to tell whether he was harvesting corn or sunlight.

We were at least rewarded with good views at the top of the hill.

We then descended the hill making a large bypass to avoid the road at Brockhampton before descending to a stream near Totnor. We followed the stream to How Caple, using tubular insulation provided to protect us from the electric fences crossing our path.

We crossed the road at How Caple, passing 4 walkers coming the other way who warned us of the heavy nettle infestation we would meet.

The path eventually joined the river, where I got our first shot of a fisherman on the Wye. There were quite a few in this area. We joined the road, for the walk to Hole-in-the-Wall, which provided some beautiful views of the river.

At Hole-in-the-Wall we took the river route into Ross-in-Wye, first through woodland, and then over farmland, a common feature of which is particularly boggy areas around stiles.  There were lots of birds near the river today, especially Canadian geese. We photographed them from a park bench in a paddock near the river.By this time we were both tired and resting frequently.

We crossed under the busy A449 road bridge, an elegant single span, but tricky to photograph, and entered Ross-on-Wye just after 4:30pm. 7 hours for only 21km. Are we getting old?