Sunday 21st August 2022
After spending the night at Cherry Orchard Farm, I set off from the campsite down the road towards the Wye Valley, however, when I became fed up of the road walking I turned onto a track that heads up the side of the hill and onto the course of an old railway. This led me into a delightfully overgrown wood, but all too soon I had to come back down onto the road and eventually I reached the village of Redbrook at the bottom of the Wye Valley, There, I picked up the route of the Wye Valley Walk and headed south under overcast skies, which was a little disappointing after the sunshine of the day before. There were times during the day when the skies darkened and it looked like it was going to rain, but it never did, and there were times when it looked like the sun was going to break through the clouds, but it never did. It was still warm and I really didn’t want to be putting on waterproofs, so I was quite happy with the weather as it was. The route of the Wye Valley Walk at this point follows the course of the old railway line and soon crosses the river into Wales where I stayed on the western bank for a relaxing walk through fabulous woodland until I was near the village of Whitebrook. At that point, the Wye Valley Walk leaves the riverside to climb into Cuckoo Wood, whereas I stayed beside the river with farmer’s fields to my right until I reached Bigsweir Bridge.
Upon crossing Bigsweir Bridge, back into England, I came across a sign for the Offa’s Dyke Path, which directed me onto the alternative riverside route that allowed me to stay beside the river for a varied walk with interesting views including the many houses of Llandogo that decorate the western slopes of the valley until finally I reached Brockweir where I had left the Offa’s Dyke Path the day before. Going into this holiday I was very tired and it was taking me awhile to recover, and I was feeling particularly drained of energy on this section leading into Brockweir but I managed to drag myself along the path and reached the bridge where rather than immediately starting the Offa’s Dyke Path I crossed it, back into Wales, and returned to the Old Station at Tintern, which I had passed through the day before and now I stopped there to have my lunch and a rest. While eating the sun was most successful in breaking through the clouds, but it didn’t last and soon it was overcast again as I returned to Brockweir, back into England, and retraced my steps of the day before, but to prevent unnecessary climbing I turned off the track onto a gloriously overgrown path that keeps beside the Brockweir stream.
Large clusters of the red berries of rowan trees decorated the path and made the diversion that led me back to the Offa’s Dyke Path worthwhile. After crossing the stream a relentless climb along the narrow lanes, tracks and enclosed paths of St. Briavels Common had me sweating profusely as I slowly climbed up to the top of the hill. With no view and no wind to cool me down I was greatly relieved when I finally reached the top and passed through the Hudnalls where I was able to get some vitamin C from the bramble bushes before reaching what appeared to be the top of a cliff-face. A fence directed me right across a boardwalk and then left steeply down through woodland that would have benefited from a view into the Wye Valley, but all I could see were trees and some of those trees had fallen onto the path, which made route-finding difficult, but eventually I emerged from the trees and now, finally, I had a glorious view that revealed the Wye Valley before me and patches of blue sky overhead, though with no sign of the sun.
Soon after this point I managed to lose the path and reached a gate that was clearly not on the Offa’s Dyke Path, so I retraced my steps back up the hill but even when I found what the map claimed was the correct gate, I still could not see any mention of the Offa’s Dyke Path. Confident that I was on the right path, I kept going and reached a National Trail marked signpost that directed me to Bigsweir Bridge, which I had crossed earlier in the day. Now the riverside alternative rejoined the main route and I headed up a busy road before turning left onto a pleasant path through woodland to reach a section of the ancient Offa’s Dyke that lends its name to the long distance trail that I was walking. There now followed an extended stretch of woodland walking through Bigsweir Wood, Cadora Woods and Highbury Wood Nature Reserves, and I couldn’t help thinking that I was not doing this walk at the best time of the year as these woods must look fabulous in the spring when wild flowers are putting on a tremendous display. Nevertheless, even in late summer I had a great walk through these woods and particularly in Highbury Wood where I was walking beside a clear escarpment edge and part of the remains of Offa’s Dyke.
It was great to be walking along this ancient earthwork, but soon I left it behind and I would not be reacquainted with it for many miles. On coming out of the wood I was confronted by a view of the Wye Valley that actually improved as I descended when the old railway bridge came into view, which I had used to cross the river at the beginning of the day. On reaching the village of Redbrook I turned uphill and wearily realised that since I was camped at the top of a hill I would have to climb to get back up there. Leaving the Offa’s Dyke Path just above Upper Redbrook I took a footpath that climbs through uninteresting farmland to the village of Newland and finally returned to my campsite. Despite generally overcast weather on this walk it was warm, which most of the time made for good walking, but didn’t help me keep cool when climbing uphill. The hot summer had left me very tired going into this holiday and now I had just walked for over eight hours, which I had not done since I was on the Isle of Skye at the beginning of June, but there is nothing better for refreshing both mind and body than getting out in the wild. An eight hour walk is the cure for many of my ills and with two week’s walking on this holiday ahead of me I would soon be refreshed.
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