Monday, May 21
No wifi access yesterday, so some catching up to do...
Some final notes on Chepstow -
* Chepstow had a fine museum that we spent some time in. It was originally a private home (1700's) and retains the grand staircase, ornate moldings and intricate stained glass front doors. In the 1800's, it became a Girl's School and during the WWI it was turned into a hospital for returning wounded soldiers. It converted to a city hospital and was in operation until the mid-1960's. The museum shows just about every aspect of life in the Chepstow area, from Roman times (400AD) to the present...wine making, flour milling, firemen, policemen, agriculture, shipbuilding and on and on. Lots of old clothes, uniforms and household implements. A room fitted as a 1918 hospital room; another fitted as an 1850's schoolroom. A real good look at the history of the place.
* Chepstow also does a great job of highlighting points of interest around the town - information plaques on buildings and walking tour medallions on the sidewalks. The Castle may be the big initial draw, but the town certainly sucks you in and keeps you engaged otherwise, too.
* Chepstow boasts the second highest tides in the world - regularly to 30'.
* Our hotel, The Castle View Hotel, was built 300 yrs. ago as a private residence. The walls and foundation are 5' thick and oak beams dating from 1650 carry the ceilings and roof. A hand painted stained glass window towards the rear of the hotel shows the seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter - and is original to the building. Our room had a fragment of a 17th century mural and elsewhere in the hotel is a larger mural dating from the same time. Location was perfect and our stay was terrific.
Day 1 of the Wye Valley Walk
Chepstow to Llandogo
This was an up and down day - quite lovely, but long. Plenty of scenic overlooks of the river valley. Again, loads of descriptive plaques, this time taken from (get ready, this is the longest book title ever) "The Historical and Decorative Accounts of the Ancient and Present State of the Town and Castle of Chepstow Including the Pleasurable Regions of Piercefield, etc.", by Charles Heath, 1821. The pictures on the plaques are from art of the 1700's.
We walked by the Tintern Lime Kilns - in operation from 1700-1902 - (limestone is heated to 1000 degrees to make lime) on our way to Tintern Abbey.
Tintern Abbey is very impressive on approach as it is massive and the 2-3 surrounding buildings (a pub and a couple of inns) are small and low-slung. The arched windows are ornate and the columns and rooms plentiful and equally ornate. The Abbey was started in 1131 by the Cistercian Order, whose vows included "adopting austerity and rejecting possessions and unnecessary ornament." Apparently, this did not apply to their own home. Anyway, the Abbey was a worthwhile stop and it is easy to see why Wordsworth (?) went nuts over it and immortalized it in his poetry.
As I mentioned, it was a long day made longer by the fact that our B+B for the night was off the path, down a mile-long (not kidding) extremely steep, narrow lane. My knees were screaming and my dogs were barking.
At last we arrived at the Fairfield Guest House and were warmly greeted by our excellent hosts, Bruce and Ken.
Bruce and Ken lived in South Africa until Apartheid ended 12 years ago. At that point, they were forced from their large property in the "redistribution of wealth" scheme and left South Africa with only a fraction of their possessions. There is more to it but it is painful for them to recall.
They are ultimate innkeepers. Ken is a superb chef; we ate in that night and enjoyed a spectacular leek and potato soup, peppered pork shank, root vegetable pancake and some crazy delicious brown sugar sauce. Dessert was a chocolate mousse, chocolate crumble, chocolate shell, caramel torte/pie that just about killed us. And a good bottle of South African Chardonnay. We waddled and farted our way upstairs and slept like logs.
11.5 miles
Day 2 of the Wye Valley Walk
Llandogo to Symond Yat
Bruce drove us back to the trailhead to save us the straight uphill climb. We started the day feeling fit.
Since we began at the top of a ridge, and would walk most of the day at the river's edge, we had a nice, easy stroll down to the Wye past Pen y fan, a hamlet of 3-4 homes and along an old railroad bed path.
The Wye Valley is a "Site of Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation" under the European Habitats Directive. Sounds grand but all it really means is that the place is pristine in its beauty and will stay that way.
Springtime in the Wye Valley is verdant and abundant. We watched a pair of swans building their nest, baby ducks are already paddling around and an enormous-bellied mare was lying in a field fairly ready to pop with her foal. The birdsong each day is loud, joyous, and constant. The balance of everything seems perfect.
We passed the Seven Sisters Rocks - a limestone quarry from the 1800's when limestone was mined and shipped down the river. This was a bit eerie as the river was on one side of us and just 25'-30' on the other side of us rose these 70'-100' limestone cliffs and the cliffs ran for a good 1/4-1/2 mile. It is understandable that the Sisters were mined then, with lime used for fertilizers and the Sisters so full and so close to the river.
Towards the end of our walk, we came upon a local Fire and Rescue Team drilling in the river with stretchers and a zip line across the Wye. Then, we were done and at The Saracen's Head Inn, drinking pints of the local and heading up to hot showers and free and happy feet.
We ate in the Inn restaurant and were pleasently surprised by the quality of the meal - goat cheese tart and hummus with olives, caramelized onions, and sun dried tomatoes for appetizers and whole sole for the main. Rhubarb Crumble for dessert. This is not your Mother's English cooking.
The bed is comfy. I hope to post this tomorrow morning at breakfast.
13.5 miles.Monday
He Said:
Today was a long walk (13.5 miles), and fortunately, most of it was flat walking along the river Wye.
We started in Wales, then went to England for just a few hundred meters, then back to into Wales, then back to England after a few more hours. So, the England/Wales border is not strictly along the river Wye.
The Saracen's Head Inn at Symonds Yat East, our stay tonight, is in England with a wonderful view up and down the river Wye, just above a set of rapids.
Wye Valley Way, near Cleddon
Near Pen Y Fan
Swans
Suspension Bridge
Symonds Yat East
Pints at the Saracen's Head
A view from our window upriver
You should take pictures of all your B&B innkeepers :)
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