The Wye Valley around Tintern

Sunday 22nd September

Tintern Abbey and the River Wye from Offa's Dyke

Saying farewell to the WOUGS people and leaving our somewhat quirky accommodation (especially the plumbing), we headed to Tintern in the lower Wye valley, parking near the Abbey.

Following the road past Abbey Mill, we crossed the old railway bridge over the River Wye. The tide was still high, though the strong current was already gathering speed and ebbing. From there, we turned right and went up a bit from the river to follow the route of the old railway for a couple of miles. Then steeply up the hill near the disused Tintern Quarry towards Tidenham, to join the Offa’s Dyke path to the Devil’s Pulpit.

Black and white photo of flow patterns on the River Wye, Tintern

The steep uphill bit was sticky in the still muggy, overcast weather. The main drawback of this walk was the lack of views for much of the way. Even on the lower levels, nearer the river, the Wye was hidden by trees still in full green leaf. We did though, get a sneaky view from the Offa’s Dyke, just before we got to the Devil’s Pulpit – across a cow field to the 2^nd Severn Crossing, with the upper parts of Chepstow in the middle distance. Had lunch here. Then, there was a view over the Wye and Tintern Abbey from one of the few open stretches of the Offa’s Dyke path here. There was still a similar view over along the valley from the Devil’s Pulpit, but disappointingly, the pulpit itself, a big lump of Carboniferous limestone shaped a bit like a pulpit, was now fenced off, with the Offa’s Dyke path now running above it.

 

Second Severn Crossing from Offa's Dyke

Zooming in on Tintern Abbey, viewed from Offa's Dyke

The second half of the walk, was down from the Offa’s Dyke, passing the now closed Horse Rescue Centre at Brockweir, Que Sera Sera and the like permeated from the vintage / military vehicles / 1940s nostalgia fair on in a field on the Welsh side of the Wye between Brockweir and Tintern. Though this felt a bit intrusive and not really my thing, the steep incised valley made for good acoustics. Then followed the lower level path back to the bridge we’d crossed this morning, back into Tintern. There, we had an ice cream at the Abbey Mill – now a café, craft centre and tourist info-cum-gift shop. Liked the ceramic tiles on one of the walls, designed by local school children, depicting views along the Wye Valley, many of them suggesting windows and arches in the Abbey. The Abbey Mill was the last of a series of mills once built along the small stream which ran steeply down the Welsh side of the valley into the Wye, the Angidy. By the now the tide on the Wye was well out, with shallows just above the old railway bridge. The tidal range here is still 20ft (6m) on springs. River was still muddy, the current strong, as always here.

 

Wye Valley tiles at Abbey Mill

Left Tintern around 3.00pm to head home. As the First Severn Bridge (Severn Road Bridge / Pont Hafren) was still closed, we followed the M48 westwards to the M4 to the Second Severn Crossing which we’d used to cross into Wales on the way to Pembrokeshire.