I set off for Monmouth around 11 am on the 19th October and stopped at Morag Services and had my first McDonalds for a long long time. It tasted just as bad as it ever did. I really don’t know why I decided to indulge. After my poor lunch I travelled onto Monmouth Premier Inn and asked if I could check-in. The receptionist said that I could but you need to pay a charge of £10 before 3 pm. It had just passed 2:45, so I waited the 15 minutes and avoided the cost.
The others were staying in a campsite at the other end of the town, about a mile away. We arranged to meet in the Queens Head which looked about half-way between the campsite and the hotel. The campers already had drinks and were sitting chatting away. We engaged greetings and I joined in the conversation. Like most times with Nick, Jon and Steve the chatter centred around the past; films and music particularly. I don’t have their memories so I am not always involved in their banter.
The pub had no life. I think we represented the young clientele as we certainly laughed more than anyone else there. After a couple of pints we moved on and found a restaurant called the La Piccola. The meal certainly improved on the lunchtime but I chose Cannelloni and later that evening had indigestion for my troubles. They all rated the place highly and said we should come again. We booked for Saturday night at 8;30.
I drove over to their campsite the next morning. Where I saw the cut off sewage pipes they slept in.
We set off all in a good mood as the rain had just stopped as I arrived.
We started by following the Wye along the river back towards the town and then crossed the river. From then on the path went up and up and up. I measured my heart rate at the top and it had reached 135 bpm.
The route then meandered through the woods. Lady Park Wood is an experiment in unmagement that started in 1945. All is going well except they have to cull the deer population as they have no natural predators in the UK.
The descent from the ridge presented some challenges as the steep slopes were muddy and very slippery. I hadn’t taken my stick so had no support. However I managed to reach the bottom without mishap.
We crossed back over the Wye via a chain bridge and watched as the strong muddy current passed underneath us.
We returned to the campsite along the river and ended a very pleasant walk back where we started. I drove back to the hotel and had a hot bath and agreed to meet them in the middle of town where they had spotted a more lively pub.
We met up only to find the pub full. I had looked on google maps and discovered a place that had a number of stars called the Kings Head which served both food and drink. We ate and drank there and watched the match between New Zealand and Argentina. A very one sided affair that the All Blacks easily won.
Saturday 21st October
I drove back to the campsite in the morning and we set off again taking the same route along the Wye and climbing up the steep slope. We turned off yesterday’s path near the top and carried on upwards. Eventually we reached a point called Kymin which had a beautiful view across the Wye Valley.
Apparently during the Napoleonic Wars when the aristocracy couldn’t take the Grand Tour they visited the Wye Valley and made this spot very popular. Some great dame had built a memorial nearby to all the great British admirals of the past just nearby.
From here the route took us down again back to the Wye where we had our lunch in what looked like a bus shelter.
Just like yesterday the walk culminated in an our following the red muddy river back into Monmouth. However this time the path became very narrow slippery and a little bit precarious. We all managed it and I went back to the Premier Inn to change and meet them later.
I drove back to the campsite at 4:45 in order to take Steve to the Green Dragon where they advertised the Chelsea Arsenal game on at 5:30. When I arrived Nick and Steve had decided to join us, but as usual the pair of them weren’t ready. I hung about for another 15 to 20 minutes and we finally left to go to the pub. We watched as Arsenal had a very poor start to the game. They gave away a very unfortunate penalty and ended up at half-time 1-0 down. At the start of the 2nd half Chelsea were lucky again. A speculative cross drifted over our goalkeeper Raya and now the gunners were 2-0 down. Fortunately a mistake by the Chelsea keeper left Rice with a chance that he took brilliantly. A few minutes later the gunners levelled the match with a goal from Trossard. and that’s how it ended. We spent another hour in the pub before we went back to La Piccola for our evening meal. I had spaghetti bolognaise this time and no indigestion.
Sunday 22nd
We all met up at the Premier Inn where we had a cooked breakfast and then set off for home. I arrived back about 2:30 and then cooked my meal of aubergine, lentil and bean curry.