Touring the Severn and Wye

The wayward weather behaved for the lucky passengers on a Bluebird Coach tour starting from Chepstow Castle. We went around the town and towards the Forest of Dean via Wintours’ Leap and St Briavels. We turned to go past Dark Hill, viewing iron works, as well as a monument dedicated to Forest heroes — the Mushets –  metallurgists who worked on the process for self-hardening steel. We then went on to Parkend before heading to Speech House. This gave us a chance to glimpse the newly restored stained glass window, Cathedral, which is a highlight of the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail. We then went past Beechenhurst, up the Cannop Valley and over the Monmouth-Gloucester Road A4136 to Lydbrook, before following the River Wye to Kerne Bridge. With Goodrich Castle on the skyline we headed to the A40. We were lucky enough to view fallow deer grazing at Wyastone Leys.  Lunch in Monmouth.  We drove up the High Street before 250 scouts and guides paraded for St George’s Day. Back in the Forest we headed to Forest of Dean Railway at Norchard where we had an enjoyable trip both to Parkend and Lydney.

We returned to Chepstow along the Roman road, the A48.  Throughout the day there were fabulous views of the Severn & Wye Valleys. Many of the spring wild flowers were out. We had

more than a hint of the bluebells that will be at their best in May.

Tags: Coach and Minibus tours

Woods coach trip from Monmouth

Colours in the Forest are lovely any time of year. Although it was still too early to see bluebells and wild garlic, there was plenty of yellow from the daffodils and  primroses. There was some unexpected dark brown/grey colour as well. We were very surprised but delighted to see a large family of wild boar picnicking not far from Wenchford picnic site!

Wordsworth Viewpoint above the Wye Valley

A group of guests on a walk led by a Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Tour Guide.

The guests, all from the Lindors were able to spot the Lindors roof and distinctive chimneys from the viewpoint.

Wordsworth wrote his famous lines describing the Wye Valley after his second visit in 1798. He was accompanied on this visit by his sister Dorothy.

Tags: Guided Walks

Cleddon Falls, January 2012

Lindors Guests led by a Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Tour Guide took advantage of un-seasonably warm weather to visit Llandogo, Cleddon and Trellech Beacon. They were rewarded by the sound and sight of a good flow of water at Cleddon Falls following the recent rainfall.

The group made the descent to Llandogo on the Jubilee Path – so named in 1935 when it was renovated to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George VI. Further renovation was carried out more recently by the Wye Valley A.O.N.B. as part of the highly successful Overlooking The Wye project.

Lindors guests

Walkers enjoy the New Fancy Geomap

A group of walkers and a dog called Mischief defied the threatening skies to walk from Parkend to New Fancy and back.

The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley tour guides are conducting regular walks and talks for visitors to Whitemead Forest Park — the holiday centre owned by the CSMA club.

The guide started off the walk by pointing out a very curious landmark on the site. There is a monument to Satan who was the beloved dog of Philip Bayliss, early 20th century Deputy Surveyor in charge of the Forest of Dean. He then led the group through tracks and trails, through rows of lime trees, and past ancient oaks. The group ended up on the site of the former New Fancy coal mine, now landscaped with works of art commemorating the Forest’s industrial heritage. The group gathered around the Geomap, made by local stone sculptor David Yeates. This map, made of local stone, shows the geology of the area, as well as the sites of old mines and railway lines. The group then climbed up to a viewpoint where keen bird watchers can keep an eye on local birds of prey.

And, belying his name, Mischief was actually very well-behaved!

View from the Coach

The drive from Monmouth to Hereford was never as enjoyable as when the members of the Llandybie Male Voice Choir (Cor Meibion Llandybie) serenaded us. The choir visited the area to give a concert at Hoarwithy. While in the neighbourhood, the members and wives took a coach trip through the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley. Starting from Holme Lacy, they toured along the Wye, past Goodrich, over Kerne Bridge, through Lydbrook to the heart of the Forest. Although we did not meet any wild boar, the ubiquitous sheep were spotted lounging in the sun by Speech House.

We stopped off at Tintern Abbey for ice cream and culture, then made our way through windy, twisty roads to our main lunch stop, the market town of Monmouth. Even though it was October, it was too hot to do a walking tour, so we had to enjoy the views of the Shire Hall from the coach.

The ride back along the old Hereford Road featured the mini-concert. Clearly, they had heard enough from the guide!

The horse could not manage the stile

A small but energetic group journeyed to middle earth as part of the St. Briavel’s 100 walking challenge. We wandered through the Devil’s Chapel scowles that apparently inspired JRR Tolkein’s imagination in the Lord of the Rings series. As we wandered through the Lydney Park Estate and Rodmore Grove to Clanna we enjoyed views of the Severn. We faced up to inquisitive horses, determined to block our path.  The llamas and the camel were more co-operative.

If you want to sign up for more walks, see http://www.ftg.org.uk/SB100/products.php

Is this the pond where Harry Potter found the Sword of Gryffindor? Who knows.

Tags: 100 of St Briavels walks

May blossom on the Spring Bluebell Walk.  The warm weather this Spring has meant that the Forest has burst into leaf earlier than normal. The bluebells popped up early and copious amounts of blossom cover the trees and shrubs.

The walkers visited Noxon Park and heard how the local poet F W Harvey described nearby Devil’s Chapel.  Wild garlic was in flower in the scowle holes but the blossom in Little Drybrook was spectacular. The bluebells were still present on Bromley Hill where the walkers heard Keith Morgan’s poem Varest Ship and F W Harvey’s “In Wartime”.

A cricket game was in progress at Parkend on the village pitch that boasts a new obstacle in the form of a former mineshaft  which opened up recently. The walkers speculated on how many runs would be scored if the ball entered the hole – which is securely fenced off but gives rise to a very unusual boundary. After a visit to Satan’s memorial and tea at CSMA, the walkers returned to Bream.

Lindors walkers at the Harold Stones at Trellech

A group of walkers from the Lindors enjoyed a guided walk from Whitestone above Llandogo with it’s “Wordsworth” viewpoints, then continued over Beacon Hill to Trellech. The ‘Willand Walkers’ from Devon made up the group, joined by more walkers from Eastbourne. Our guide was grateful to the group for their explanation of the characteristics of the Exmoor ponies that usually graze the heathland on Trellech Beacon.  The guide in turn was able to explain how Harold Stones came to be in Trellech with the aid of a book by Ivor Waters on the ‘Folklore and Dialect of the Lower Wye Valley’. The book also supplied the legend of the witch of Pontysaison – although no hare or greyhound was spotted on the return journey.

Tags: Guided Walks

All Saints churchyard, Newland.

Hastings and St Leonards Natural History Group

Day 2

The Hastings and St Leonards Natural History Group on a walk devised and lead by the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Tour Guides.

The walkers from Sussex enjoyed warm sunshine as the guides described the local Forest area which has many things in common with their home territory. Both the Forest of Dean and Sussex had iron industries dating back to at least Roman times.

At Newland, All Saints the “Thursday Walkers” learned of the connection between the Hall and Gage families of the former Highmeadow House here in the Forest and their own Firle Place back in Sussex.

Bob their driver from Hams Travel was on hand at Redbrook to offer a visit to Monmouth in the afternoon as an alternative to the pleasant walk up to the Kymin with the Roundhouse,  the Naval Temple and the fabulous view over Monmouth and far beyond.

Thursday Walkers on a Kingfisher Cruise and ascending the Little Doward

Day 1

Following a visit to English Bicknor,  the Thursday Walkers enjoyed a river trip on the Wye at Symonds Yat East with Kingfisher Cruises before crossing the Wye on the Saracen’s Head rope ferry and tackling the ascent from the Biblins to King Arthur’s Cave and the Iron Age Hill Fort on the Little Doward

Previously the tour guides had shown them the salient points between English Bicknor with it’s Motte and Bailey remains and Symonds Yat Rock with the ramparts of  the iron age promontory hill fort and world famous view.

At New Weir, Kate Biggs of the Wye Valley A.O.N.B. Overlooking the Wye project kindly summarised the work being carried out to this important site. The interpretation was aided by the depiction of New Weir on the information board taken from an 1800 watercolour by Hereford artist James Wathen

Tags: Guided Walks