Wednesday 16 August 2017

Wednesday 16 August. Monmouth to Tintern Parva.

We didn't learn the lesson of Ross-on-Wye! We should have used our R&R day to find how the Wye Valley Way left Monmouth. We assumed our 1 in 50,000 electronic O.S. map was up to date, it wasn't. We walked over the bridge, to the east bank of the Wye to find the way down off the bridge blocked off. We decided to follow the A466 as we thought this may be the new route out. We walked past the town boundary, but still no signs, so we took a short right of way down from the road to river and found the path. How it left Monmouth we don't know.


The path was first in wood but opened out to give a clear view of the river. Not as many canoeists as yesterday though. The river bed got quite rocky as we approached Redbrook where we had to leave the river and join the busy road for a short way.




The path soon left the road to join a newly cleared way to the old rail bridge, now a foot bridge over the Wye. We crossed over to the 'Boat Inn' on the West bank but sadly it was only 10:30am  and the pub doesn't open until midday.



The path then followed the old rail bed to meet a road at Whitebrook. It was easy walking, but not very scenic having been diverted away from the river bank. It was more like a 'Greenway' in an urban area.



We followed a country road for a short way before the path turned off to the left and began a long steep climb up to Pen-y-Fan. As our height increased we got occasional views but remakably we were never far away from housing. There were roads up as well as our path.




We chatted for a while to a chap who lived by the track. He had a 15 year old collie dog. He gave us useful information about the track all the way to Chepstow. He warned us about a left turn from the track to a view. It was when the road had reached its peak and the going was flat and easy. Without his warning we may hae missed it. There was a seat to take in the view. It was fantastic, you could see all the way to the river Severn and its bridge pylons, all across the Wye valley. Sadly the wide angle photographs from my cell phone, shown below, do not do it justice. There was a second view a little further on but the view was a bit more restricted.



There followed a long descent through forest, at times very boggy. We stopped to chat to a young woman on a horse, accompnied by two dogs. One of them quickley trained us to throw a stick for it. The descent to the road, near  the bridge at Brockweir was steep and a little tricky but we met the A466 on an inside bend and we needed very acute hearing to effect a safe transit.



We followed the old rail track to  Tintern railway station, now a tea rooms, where we paused for refreshment. The whole way is lined with sculptures, wooden and metal, mainly we suspect to amuse children.

The path then joined the river Wye with animproved view of our srroundings.
Our B&B, Parva Farmhouse, was right on the track, and we were greeted by a black metallic dog, we christened Basil. We had an excellent evening meal at the pub across the road, The Wye Valley.





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