An account of the trail in Wales and England, starting in Chepstow on the Severn Estuary and ending in Prestatyn on the Irish Sea, as walked in July 1997.     Click on any of the photos to see an enlargement and cutline.     | Day Two | Day One - 17.5 miles Sedbury Cliffs to Monmouth ll MI'd already hiked down to the cliffs, so my trip was reduced to 15 miles and started with a walk across a short bridge from Chepstow into England. Out of town, past a nice country manor, some fields and then a climb to the ridge that follows the River Wye past Tintern Abbey. MThe ridge above Tintern is heavily wooded. Later in the day, the path opens up onto hilly grazing pastures, eventually arriving in Monmouth. Monmouth occupies a strategic position in the line of defense in the lower hills between the moorland of Wales and with wide fields if the Midlands at the confluence of the Wye and Monnow rivers. The Romans established a camp there and the Saxons built a chapel, and it was further developed with construction of a Norman castle in 1067. From then, it lay on the front of the struggle between the Welsh and English, changing hands several times over the next several hundred years. Still standing in town is the Monnow Bridge Gatehouse, built in 1270. | Back to Main Page |