An enjoyable start to walking the Offa’s Dyke on a warm day in mostly familiar countryside

Date walked: 7th July 2017

Distance: around 8 miles

Map used: OS Explorer OL 14 – Wye Valley and Forest of Dean

Guide used: Offa’s Dyke Path by Mike Dunn. Published by Cicerone  in 2016

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I had decided that I wanted to have a “solo” walking project to do in parallel to my walking the Cambrian Way with friends. Having walked  the Wales Coast Path between 2012 and 2014, Offa’s Dyke seemed the logical choice, thus completing my perambulation around the edge of Wales (more or less).

Having found that I could get a bus back to Chepstow from Brockweir, I left my car  in Sedbury and walked down the hill to find the path and then follow it to its start by the cliffs. Coming up the hill was an obviously serious walker.

She was an Australian and had just finished the path, having done it in one stint over the last two weeks; she loved the experience but wasn’t too impressed by the way it ended (or began as far as I was concerned).

It’s true that the marker stone is just plonked on a mound in front of a scrubby bit of hedgerow that mostly blocks the view to the Severn Estuary, though I could see the old bridge.

Naturally, I thought I should start with a selfie.

Note that in consideration for my knees, I am a pole carrier these days.

Starting back towards Chepstow the first familiar sight over to my right were the walls of a garden that I had photographed for the magazine of the Womens Institute, belonging to Stella Caws.

We first met her about 30 years ago when she founded the Chepstow and District Garden Appreciation Society (CADGAS).  She has made a rather good walled vegetable garden which has a double row of lavender down a central path; it has proved to be one of my best-selling pictures. Rather alarmingly, I seem to have lost the image, so here it is in tiny form from the link to my images at GAP garden photos.

I understand that for much of the route  the path does not actually follow the Offa’s Dyke, but for this first bit the “hump” of it was quite pronounced.

I am writing this over 7 months after I actually did the walk so my memory of  the day may be a bit hazy but I obviously thought this couple out for a stroll were quite sweet.

And perhaps I thought that I would try to provide a bit of a guide to the plants I came across since in quick succession I snapped ragwort….

Jacobaea vulgaris – very good for nectar, not so good for horses.

….bindweed….

Calystegia sepium – the scourge of many a garden, including ours.

… and our native clematis.

Clematis vitalba – amazingly my friend Paul claims not to know this plant!

The path passes by the backs of houses that overlook the Wye Valley. Across its muddy banks I could see the shell of the Fairfield Mabey steel plant – now designated for 450 homes to add to the congestion that the current residents of Chepstow experience.

As I walked past many houses I was struck once again by why we have a reputation for being a nation of gardeners.

The path crosses the busy A48….

… provides several glimpses of Chepstow Castle…

….and winds its way through several alleys…

…. before reaching a field on the edge of Tutshill.  Here stands the ruin of a windmill that according to my Guide was recorded in 1584.

He clearly takes issue with Ordnance Survey which shows this on the map as a lookout tower.

After passing through a few more alleys…

…..another open field to be crossed provides a good view of a rather garishly (IMHO) painted Arts and Crafts style house called Pen Moel.

In May 2016 Penmoel was put up for sale for the first time in eighty years priced at £1,500,000.

The path then skirts this property, takes you onto the B4228 for 100m and then heads back to the Wye Valley up Moyle Old School Lane.

At the top of this lane was my first invitation to trespass.

I did not, of course, but quite nearby there were some fabulous views onto the now disused Woodcroft Quarry.

That gorge of trees must be fascinating to explore

Just along from here is Wintours Leap. Named after Royalist Sir John Wintour who, hotly pursued on his horse by Parliamentary forces during the Civil War , according to local myth survived a leap off the cliff and, landing safely in the Wye below, swam to safety in the nearby Chepstow Castle.

The story is clearly a load of old baloney

This area is very popular for rock climbers and I paused to have a chat with a young couple who had just finished an ascent. Sorry, no pic of them.

Just after the Leap, the path turns away from the Wye Valley, crosses the B4228 and then follows the edge of a field. From here there was a good view East across the Severn to the (now decommissioned) Olbury nuclear power station. 

Yes, it’s the hazy white blob in the middle

It then rejoins the road near  Tidenham Chase Court – a property who’s owners have clearly got a love of topiary and for dodgy concrete ornament and security.

From here the path enters quite dense woodland …

….. crosses the access to (also disused) Tintern Quarry….

…… and then follows the edge of this wood for a mile or so, affording a pleasant if unexciting view to the surrounding meadows.

I was rather excited to find a dropped hankie though. I nearly always keep these finds, and so far in my travels have accumulated several hankies, a lens cap, camera case, a small pouch of tobacco and an umbrella.

One can’t have enough hankies – think of me as collecting litter.

The Devil’s pulpit is a somewhat underwhelming natural rock feature that provides a nice view of Tintern, though a better one is to be found a little further on.

One of countless Devil’s Pulpits worldwide and probably one of the least impressive

Not a very good picture admittedly

From here the path passes through the quite dark and quite wonderful Caswell, Wood with many old Yew trees, some dead, others barely alive.

As I stood by one a woman approached, camera in hand, who was also obviously taken with the trees. Standing by one, she remarked that she had probably killed the tree by looking at it. In the face of such a poor self image, I’m afraid I could only mumble at attempt at assurance that I thought  it had been dead for some time.

It was much darker than this pic suggests- hence the camera shake.

The path was descending now and emerged from the wood near Madgett Hill which gives a fine view to Brockweir.

This descent was quite steep, so I stopped to get my walking poles set up; I do find them very reassuring to use when going down hill, though on the flat I put them away.

Some of the grassland around here was very fine indeed, and was probably under management by a member of the Monmouthshire Meadows Group – an extremely friendly bunch of local people who are doing much to preserve and improve the surrounding grassland.

Brockweir is a tiny village but it has a very nice pub in the Brockweir Inn  that I have been frequenting for nearly 30 years, and a village shop and cafe that has gourmet (and basic) produce.

The approach to Brockweir from the path doesn’t show its best side, though.

The Dyke path has two alternative routes. One would have been to have stayed up the hill and take the network of paths through the woods of Hudnalls to Bigsweir. The other, which I chose, was to take the riverside path to Bigsweir. If you want refreshment Brockweir is your only choice.  For now, I shunned both shop and pub and crossed the bridge over the Wye. The bus stop back to Chepstow was on the far side of the bridge.  I was happy that I had had a very nice start to my Offa’s Dyke adventure.