May 13: Our trip to Wales

Today we decided to forget Bath, postpone Lacock, and spend our last full day together seeing something new.  We decided to head over the Welsh border to see Chepstowe Castle, Offa’s Dyke, and Tintern Abbey. 

We got off to a reasonable start, for us, all in the car at just about 10:00.  Everyone was on his or her own for breakfast this morning.  I had undrinkable tea, a crumpet, and potato chips, for example, while Beverley had crumpets, cheese, and a cup of coffee that she left in the microwave.  Our wonderful hosts, Roz and Colin, were able to explain all of the things that we had done wrong yesterday, then helped us plan for today, and we were off!

We headed up to Gloucester, to the other end of the Severn Valley, because I still had the Garmin set to avoid toll roads.  (You might remember that in Turkey one can only use the toll card one receives with one’s licence, and as we hadn’t received one from the rental company, we had to avoid tolls completely!)  We decided we didn’t mind, as this would give us a circle route.

Once we were across the Severn, we changed the destination in the GPS from Chepstowe to Offa’s Dyke Centre.  Big Mistake.  At first we wandered down between lovely hedgerows, and even Ian wanted to stop and take a few pictures.  As I took the pictures, he didn’t even have to stop! 

However, when we entered the City of Hereford, we knew that we were heading in the wrong direction, and turning around in any city is always difficult.  Turning around in the middle of a marathon, as Ian had to, is even worse!  Ian was a little crabby as he muttered away about missing both of his last two days driving around in circles. 

However, we rekeyed the GPS to take us to Tintern Abbey, and the drive back and forth across the English/Welsh border, following the Wye River Valley, was beyond beautiful.  We loved seeing the signs in both English and Welsh, and when we arrived at the start of our hiking journey we were almost sad the drive was over!

Dorothy, Beverley, and Alanna headed across the footbridge over the Wye, while Ian and I parked the car.  We were heading over the bridge ourselves just as Dorothy and Beverley headed back in search of a table for lunch at the scenic Abbey Mill, which still has a working millwheel.

The walk up was beautiful, and we caught glimpses of Tintern Abbey through the trees.  Ian’s mood lightened, even though we never did quite reach Offa’s Dyke.

We went back down to join the others and had a lovely cream tea.  We weren’t sure what it was, but now that I know, I think I will only eat cream tea from now on. 

Our next stop was only a short distance away, Chepstowe Castle.  This castle was built over three periods, and is a great example of how castle fortifications changed over time.  It is a great castle, full of crumbling towers, twisting staircases, great halls with fireplaces hanging in empty space, now that the floors are gone.  I thought that the fact that the original doors were there, and that they had hung in place from 1190 to 1962 was almost unbelievable.

Everyone was in a great humour as we headed back to the cottage to begin packing.  I have typed this up – no idea when I will be able to post it, as we still have no Internet – and we are preparing for our last outings together tomorrow, first to Lacock Abby (at last!) and then on to Heathrow.