Category: Travelogue
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09. Day Four of the Walk: Symonds Yat to Kerne Bridge
The walk started out clearly enough, but I had to crawl under a fallen tree just steps into it. As it turned out, the walk began and ended in much the same fashion. Today’s walk was to be 7.5 miles with negligible elevation changed. The latter is true, but the former felt incorrect at the…
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08. Day Three of the Walk: Monmouth to Symonds Yat
I took the Peregrine Path from Monmouth to Symonds Yat instead of the Wye Valley Walk, as I’d heard there was a closure on the WVW. The walk was level and sedate, paved most of the way (could have worn my Allbirds), no challenges at all. Met lovely folks along the way, a couple of…
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07. A Day Off in Monmouth
I planned my walk to have an extra day when I had walked 10 or more miles (by the descriptions in the Cicerone book), and this mostly worked out. I came to believe that my Fitbit was measuring my miles by my stride, which is rather short. (I could have gotten a more accurate reading…
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06. Day Two of the Walk: Tintern to Monmouth
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…
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05. Day One of the Walk: Chepstow to Tintern
My notes describe the day as “transcendent and brutal.” The path had a huge amount of up, and much harder, down. The walk out of Chepstow was pleasant: it was raining, not hard but persistent. I was very grateful for my waterproof trousers and my Sherpa shell, and also for the waterproof cover for my…
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04. Chepstow, a Town and Its Castle
A short train ride north took me to Chepstow, the starting point of the Wye Valley Walk. In its own right, it’s a very cute and quaint little village. It knew a fair amount of fame in the 18th century when it became the hub of Wye Valley tourism. Read more about William Gilpin and…
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03. A Super Busy Day: Tea, Art, Boat ride to Millennium Center, Packing Up
I had a bunch of stuff I still had on my very loose list, but with the super long days, I knew I had time for all of it. But first, tea and breakfast! Barkers Tea Rooms was Derek’s recommendation, and it didn’t disappoint. A nice pot of (I think) vanilla black tea, and a…
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0. In the Beginning
In 2017, my beloved mother died. I had just turned 60, and she was a vital 99-year-old who was, truth be told, tired and ready to join her life-long love (my dad) in The Great Beyond. She left me a lifetime of memories, and some money, too. I decided I wanted to spend some of…
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02. Settling In: The Castle, The Market, A Movie, and The Pub
Castles. It’s what you do in Wales. That and a pub meal were my main goals for Day 2. It was fun to get up and not have a huge agenda for the day. It got light REALLY early (around 4:30 AM), but I’d gotten enough sleep and was keen to explore a little. Enjoying…
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01. Starting in Cardiff
From SFO to Taffs Mead Embankment Clear sailing through the skies from SFO to Amsterdam and on to Cardiff. Arrived early at SFO (after good-bye breakfast at a little hole-in-the-wall in Redwood City) and breezed through security like a champ! After the tiniest snafu at Amsterdam (was under the mistaken impression that I needed to…
Debkakes in the UK 2022 