Fabulous night of sleep, a solid 8 hours (no surprise there). Up nice and early for salmon and eggs on toast. The Wild Hare also made me up a lunch for the journey, cheese and chutney on brown bread and some crisps and fruit. It was a bit misty as I set out, but all the more beautiful for that.
Unlike some places along the WVW, the resumption of the path was unambiguous from Tintern. My guidebook said 10.25 miles to Monmouth, where I planned to spend two nights. I was very curious to see what my Fitbit would say I walked, since 5.75 turned into almost 10 miles on Day 1! At any rate, the Cicerone book said my walk would be pretty benign to Monmouth, and I was more than prepared for any understatement.
Climbing away from the river and up into the hills, the woods and flora again took me to magical places.
The path took me through the delightfully-named Cuckoo Woods, wherein I neither saw nor heard a cuckoo but was charmed nonetheless by a neatly camouflaged European Robin.
It was a long slog into Monmouth town! Across several fields I tromped, stopping to consult my OS map frequently due to paths crossing. Finally, I gained the town! and sure enough — Fitbit had me at a good 5 miles more than the guidebook stated.
This pub was downstairs from my room at King’s Head Inn, originally a 17th century coaching inn. It is run by an outfit called Wetherspoons, which purchases historic pubs and inns and does a fine job updating them. The pubs are all quite serviceable, and the rooms very reasonably-priced. Since I was going to be in Monmouth for two days, this was a perfect place to stay.
2 May, 2022
Debkakes in the UK 2022 
Leave a Reply