Poetry in motion: why the Wye Valley fuels inspiration
Andrew Frankel heads to picturesque Ross-on-Wye to start a journey through some of the most historic and spectacular countryside in the land
It may be slightly unorthodox, but if you want a rough idea of the environmental importance of a place, trying counting the acronyms. Do so for the lower part of the Wye Valley and you will find it is not only an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), it also has many SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and is also an SAC (Special Area of Conservation) within which lurks no fewer than four NNRs (National Nature Reserves). By any standard it’s a very special place. The Wye Valley AONB starts just south of the cathedral city of Hereford (home to two national treasures, its Mappa Mundi, the world’s largest medieval map, and that famed other local acronym, the SAS regiment) and, as the name suggests, is dominated by the River Wye as it winds its way approximately due south for 47 miles to where it empties into the Severn Estuary just outside Chepstow. Along its length you’ll find Britain’s best salmon fishing south of the Wear, and endless opportunities for other recreations, from canoeing to rock climbing. But for most passers-by it will be either the striking natural beauty of the river as it wanders through limestone gorges or the immense historical significance of an oft-disputed, much fought over part of the country that will make them park the car and head out on foot. For us the car is a new Audi S4 Avant, its dark blue paint advertising not at all the potency of a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 petrol engine strong enough to fling this compact estate car to 62mph in less than 5sec flat. It’s one of those cars that will go very fast if you so desire but does not insist upon it: leave it in Drive, ease off the pedal and it suddenly becomes a very effective, quiet, comfortable and entirely discreet device in which to hop from stop to stop along the route. The best place to kick off an exploration of the lower Wye Valley is the picturesque market town of Ross-on-Wye. Access to Ross is easy as it sits at the junction of the M50, bringing traffic from the Midlands and the north, and the A40 on its journey from London to the west coast of Wales. It was in Ross in the late 18th century that the two-day Wye Tour riverboat trip to Chepstow became wildly popular among those who could not afford the traditional European Grand Tour and when the Napoleonic Wars made travel abroad both hazardous and impractical. Here you are actually in Hereford
The first castle you reach is Goodrich, a ruin loved by none other than Wordsworth
shire, but the route south straddles the border between Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire and along its length you’re never far from evidence of what a disputed part of the world this once was. Castles in varying states pepper the border with England and Wales, and those with some energy and a full day to spend visiting three of the best can do the well-known Three Castles Walk, a triangular hike linking the castles at Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castle, 18 miles on the flat but rather more once the considerable elevation changes are taken into account. You can start at whichever castle you like, but I’d recommend Grosmont, not least because you can have a well-earned pint in the Angel Inn on your return. But the first castle you reach south of Ross is at Goodrich, a ruin loved by none other than Wordsworth and to this day considered one of the UK’s finest. It was in use for 500 years from Norman times until successfully besieged by forces loyal to Parliament during the English Civil War in 1646
and deliberately damaged beyond practical repair to ensure it could not be used again. Those looking to enjoy the more peaceful elements this part of the world has to offer need only venture a little downstream to the preposterously pretty village of Symonds Yat. People come here not just to enjoy the river but to rock climb, birdwatch and walk. The village is situated on both banks of the river and it’s a five-mile drive via the nearest road crossing to get from one side to the other. Happily, there’s what is claimed to be the last regularly used hand-pulled ferry working on the Wye to get you across the river. A walk down one bank, across the Biblins pedestrian suspension bridge and back up the other bank takes about 90 minutes and ends outside the excellent Saracen’s Head pub directly opposite where the ferry will take you back to where you started. A short run down the A40 then brings you to the county town of Monmouth, in whose castle Henry V was born in 1386. Henry of Monmouth, as he is known in these parts, is one of two local heroes and you only have to see Agincourt House, park in Agincourt Square, walk the Agincourt Trail or send a child to Agincourt School to know how celebrated is his finest hour. Monmouth’s other celebrity is Charles Rolls, who was born just outside the town at his family seat at The Hendre, an enormous mansion now home to the Rolls Golf Course. Rolls himself was so much more than one half of the world’s most prestigious car brand: in his sadly foreshortened life he still found time to become an avid balloonist, unofficial holder of the Land Speed Record and fearless aviator. Many will know it was Louis Blériot who first flew across the English Channel, rather fewer recall that it was Rolls who, the following year, was the first to make the considerably more hazardous journey there and back. When he was killed aged 32 after his Wright Flyer disintegrated around him during a display off Bournemouth beach in 1910, he became the first Briton to die in an aircraft accident. The following year a statue of him holding a model aircraft was gifted to Monmouth by his father Lord Llangattock. It stands there to this day outside the Shire Hall, in front of its statue of Henry V. But the most famous single tourist attraction of the lower Wye Valley is surely Tintern Abbey. This Cistercian monastery started life in the early 12th century but the bulk of the enormous abbey as seen today dates from late the following century. It was in continuous use until Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 ended its working life, the building falling quite rapidly into disrepair and ruin thereafter. Today it is a major source of tourist income to the local community and receives about 70,000 visitors a year. Tintern’s preserved railway station is also a popular destination, with the station building now a café with a souvenir shop located among the rolling stock that has been here since the last passengers were carried along the Wye Valley Railway in 1959. Or, of course, you could just come and walk. But whatever you do, you’ll not be in the Lower Wye Valley for five minutes before realising why it’s attracted all those acronyms – and why it’s earned every last one of them.