July 25 & 26 -- St. Briavels

Last year, I bypassed Cheddar Gorge because I was unable to find accommodation there.  This year, Janet and I decided to visit Cheddar Gorge to see what I had missed.  What I had missed is a tacky display of commercialism, reminding both of us of the American side of Niagara Falls.  I’m glad that I hadn’t wasted an entire walking day to view the gorge last year.  It was bad enough wasting a few hours driving there.

Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol

But the scenery en route to the gorge was lovely, and we again enjoyed seeing some of the places I saw last year.  One of those places was the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol spanning the River Avon.  It was completed about 1860 -- and is the forerunner to the Brooklyn Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge.  You may recall that Neil Butterfield took me to see it last year.  Janet had seen its image on my slide show many times, and wanted to see it in person.  It was far better than Cheddar Gorge.

Last year Don Gray escorted me through Bristol to the Severn Bridge by a series of footpaths.  Our rental car prefers roads to footpaths, and our road map made it appear that the best route from Bristol to Chepstow is by the M5, connecting to the M4 and the M48 – motorways (freeways) all the way.  Destined to retain my title as Sir Lost-a-lot, I missed the turnoff from the M5 to the M4.  There are very few exits on the M5, so we had to continue on the motorway for some 20 miles before reaching a point to turn around.

Eventually, we made our way to Chepstow, and then followed signs to St. Briavels, where we would be spending the night.  Well, we almost followed the signs to St. Briavels.  When I saw a sign to Brockweir Bridge, I decided to take a short cut, because I remembered that our B&B is only ¼ mile from Brockweir Bridge.  A long and tortuous route down narrow, hedge-lined lanes eventually brought us to Brockweir Bridge.  Then I remembered that the B&B wasn’t near Brockweir Bridge, but rather Bigsweir Bridge.  Of course, the lane was too narrow to allow us to turn around.  So was Brockweir Bridge.  After a few more miles out of our way, we finally reversed direction, and made it to Bigsweir Bridge, arriving at the B&B before dark.

Tintern Abbey

The following morning we visited Tintern Abbey, the particularly well-preserved remains of a large abbey constructed in the 15^th century.  The abbey was interesting, but we soon tired of being tourists (or at least one of us did), so we decided to take a walk in the afternoon. 

Wye River

A five-mile stroll along the Wye River ended at  a pub in Redbrook (the village from which last year I had telephoned that night’s innkeeper to advise her that I couldn’t reach the destination in the heat).  The pub wasn’t serving food, but it was serving cold refreshments, so we imbibed. After all, it was a hot day.

Janet walking Offa's Dyke Path

I knew a short cut along the Offa’s Dyke Path, which would get us back to our B&B in fewer than 5 miles, so Janet agreed.  What I hadn’t told her was that the shortcut was straight up over hill.  It didn’t take her long to realize that I had not been totally forthright in describing the short-cut, but hey – on an island where the highest peak is barely 4,000 feet above sea level, how high could this hill be?  And anyway, I explained, we were already starting well above sea level because we had walked upstream – everybody knows that a river which empties into the sea is always above sea level.  Janet admitted that my logic was infallible – although I didn’t exactly tell her that the Wye River is tidal all the way to Monmouth – at least 10 more miles upstream.

In any case, we made it back to the B&B in only 4 miles, and Janet’s still speaking to me – which is more than I can say about Nora Too!

(c) 2012 Ken Klug