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Wye Valley<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n A<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span>t last, we have freedom to travel for our walks and to meet in increasing numbers. Four of us travelled to Goodrich Castle (English Heritage) in Herefordshire for a walk beside the river Wye.<\/p>\n The beginning of the walk was along the road to Kerne bridge, a beautiful old stone bridge with several arches. Despite the traffic on the road this stretch was spectacular as, we could see the outline of Goodrich Castle on the hill, a country house set back from the road and bright yellow fields of oil seed rape all with a backdrop of dramatic purple, grey heavy clouds and even though we knew we were in for a soaking of a different sort we soaked it up.<\/p>\n The country house, whose buildings are Grade I listed, was originally the refectory of the Augustinian, Flanesford Priory. Weakened by the Black Death the priory was one of the first to succumb at the Dissolution of the Monasteries.<\/p>\n At Kerne Bridge we descended to the footpath alongside the Wye and from the start we were accompanied by canoeists on the river, increasing in number as the day wore on. We spotted lots of swans on the river (some nesting) as well as mallards and two mandarin ducks.<\/p>\n The footpath was blocked by a fallen tree whose root ball seemed to be about 10ft high. Others had passed before us, so we were able to get around it. Walking through open fields we saw the usual symbol of spring, lambs aplenty but mostly in \u2018gangs\u2019 away from their ewes. Cows grazed with calves and we were lucky to see a calf suckling.<\/p>\n At Welsh Bicknor there is a flamboyant High Victorian Church and the youth hostel, a former rectory. The land is owned by the YHA and we noticed a couple of stylish, camouflaged glamping pods were being installed. We stopped here for lunch. A quick look around the outside of the church shows an amazing amount of decoration, including 3 arches in the porch besides the one above the door<\/p>\n We came upon a new memorial to a group of scientists who died when their aircraft caught fire 15,000ft above the Forest of Dean and plummeted to earth. It was on a return journey to RAF Defford, near Worcester, from South Wales. Alan Dower Blumlein, a driving force in the development of airborne radar, was one of the dead, along with other colleagues from EMI, the RAF and the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE). They were working on H2S radar which was a cutting edge \u201cAir to Surface\u201d radar system that went on to help win WWII. The plane was carrying the highly secret cavity magnetron and Sir Bernard Lovell (who was later knighted for his work at Jodrell Bank and had given up his seat on the plane to another scientist) sifted through the wreckage on the night of the crash to retrieve it. He was affected by the tragedy for the rest of his life. Blumlein\u2019s wife is quoted on the memorial \u2018If you have to die, this is a beautiful place\u2019. The sacrifice of the 11 men is also remembered by a memorial stained-glass window which was installed at Goodrich Castle chapel on the 50th anniversary of the crash.<\/p>\n Continuing our walk one of us looked back and spotted a deer where we had just been. As we stopped and watched lots more followed and began to graze. Later as we passed woodland, we saw another herd of deer. How lucky was that two herds of fallow deer in one day?<\/p>\n As we approached Symonds Yat, we passed the grave of a child in his 16th year who drowned while bathing in the river. At an outcrop of rock, we could see two separate birds We left the river on a path to Coppet Hill, climbing back to Goodrich village and then up to the castle.<\/p>\n What a fabulous walk, apart from one (very heavy) shower the sun shone all day, the area is beautiful with lots of interest, both historic and natural. This stretch of the River Wye, from Kerne Bridge to Coppet Hill, is shaped a bit like an upside-down heart. Goodrich Castle is red sandstone, dates mainly from 13th century and is worth exploring but the caf\u00e9 was still open for refreshment, so we had tea and cake in the spring sunshine whilst wondering what the traffic on the M4 was going to be like on a bank holiday Friday.<\/p>\n Walk 9 miles, level walk apart from the climb back to Goodrich Castle at the end.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wye Valley At last, we have freedom to travel for our walks and to meet in increasing numbers. Four of us travelled to Goodrich Castle (English Heritage) in Herefordshire for a walk beside the river Wye. The beginning of the walk was along the road to Kerne bridge, a beautiful old stone bridge with several arches. Despite the traffic on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-2xz","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1102,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=1102","url_meta":{"origin":9769,"position":0},"title":"Goodrich and the River Wye","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th October 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Another beautiful day, starting in Goodrich we passed the church and headed uphill via Coppett Hill common, a nature reserve to Coppett Hill. The views were clear for miles across a relatively flat landscape and the church and the ruins of Goodrich castle stood out. We walked south catching occasional\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10461,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10461","url_meta":{"origin":9769,"position":1},"title":"The Icehouse & Chepstow Racecourse","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th October 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"To the Icehouse A larger group has walked a couple of times this month, though these events haven\u2019t been advertised in What\u2019s On as we are not ready to open the group to all comers yet. Bert and Gwyn Bates are doing a sterling job of offering local walks, once\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Picture14.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15702,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15702","url_meta":{"origin":9769,"position":2},"title":"Redbrook and Pontsticill","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th July 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Redbrook and Pontsticill Redbrook We parked at Redbrook and walked up the Wye valley, away from Monmouth, towards Bigsweir bridge. We entered Highbury wood, an example of ancient semi-natural woodland typical of the Wye valley. For centuries, until the 1950s, it was managed by coppicing, to provide wood for charcoal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Footsteps-July-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14450,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14450","url_meta":{"origin":9769,"position":3},"title":"Monmouth","author":"Alan Williams","date":"8th July 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Monmouth Monmouth\u2019s history goes back at least 2000 years to the presence of a Roman garrison. Its position at the meeting place of 3 rivers \u2013 the Trothy, Monnow and Wye, and one of the few places where the Wye could be safely crossed, allowed it to grow from a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Picture11.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15023,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15023","url_meta":{"origin":9769,"position":4},"title":"Wyndcliff to Tintern","author":"Alan Williams","date":"8th January 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Wyndcliff to Tintern Wyndcliff to Tintern The Lower Wye valley, Blackcliff and Wyndcliff, form a Site of Special Scientific interest containing rare plants and an ancient semi-natural woodland (dating back to at least 1600). Unusually small leaved lime trees grow over yews and rare plants include Twayblade orchid, toothwort, Tintern\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Picture8.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1100,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=1100","url_meta":{"origin":9769,"position":5},"title":"Wye Valley \u2013 Tintern, Brockweir & Tidenham Chase.","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th October 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We parked at Tintern Abbey and started by walking across the bridge at Abbey Mill over a full river Wye. The Abbey Mill\u2019s old water wheel was made around 1870 and ran until 1951 when electricity replaced water power. The mill paid an important role in the industrial history of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9769"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9769"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9773,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9769\/revisions\/9773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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sat on nests but so far away it was difficult to identify them. Symonds Yat Rock viewpoint is well known as one of the best places in the country to watch peregrine falcons, so maybe we saw one.<\/p>\n
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