Today is a big deal! I have finished my 4th week on this journey walking through Britain, and I have finished the second chunk. Today I passed through South Gloucestershire county and into Monmouthshire, which means I’m on my 6th county so far, and it also means I’ve entered Wales! I walked 14.1 miles in 4hrs 50min today, and 297 miles for the whole trip! I’ve walked for 26 days and taken 3 rest days. Tomorrow will be a rest day here in Chepstow; Rachel will join me tomorrow and we set off Friday morning on the Offa’s Dyke National Trail.
This will be short today, because the trail was long and I’m beat. Also think I might be getting a little cold. At the pub across the street from my Airbnb I’ve had a delicious dinner of chicken pie with spotted dick for dessert (really a thing, my aunt used to make it for me. Look it up.). Now I’m sipping a lemsip cold medicine, all tucked into bed after a bath, water bottle at my feet, ready to sleep deeply. I have quite a few things to take care of tomorrow on my day off, laundry being the first thing!
This was a dull, long, windy, flat, pavement-y kind of day. I started by walking through industrial park laden north Bristol, crossing the M5 to the Severn Way, also now overlapping with the newly christened King Charles III Coastal Path. He visited a beautiful section recently to inaugurate it in Sussex; I don’t think the King will be making an appearance soon at this Bristol section. It is way marked, and it has been mown relatively recently, but there is a lot of industrial type rubbish along it, like piles of tires.
It got better though, and parts were pleasant, walking along the marshes and seeing a beautiful kestrel hunting and later a huge regal looking heron. There was a group of adorable preschoolers exploring the muddy flats of low tide. Made me wistful for my granddaughter. There were two ladders at a turn in the path and I first feared I’d have to climb them, but then realized they are probably there to get fruit from the trees. And I crossed my first rail tracks of the trip!
The surprising highlight of the day was crossing the Severn Bridge; it’s 2 miles long, it was windy, and 10 miles into my walk, so I expected it to be a tough go of it. It turned out to feel quite safe and the view back from its height to where I had walked the last few days quite inspiring. I ate my lunch while I walked across it because I just needed this day to be over as it was so long and generally monotonous.
Arriving in the small town of Chepstow was another delight. Mostly because this 14.1 mile day was over, but also due to the fact it’s a really nice place. The houses are built on contour-lined roads that cascade down the hillside (which meant I had to climb up to get to the center). There has been occupation here since the Iron Age Silures tribe, there is a castle, and there are interpretive signs and markers everywhere, like an outdoor museum. Very much in my happy place!
