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The September ’21 Wales Grand Tour Day One
Visiting
Ross on Wye and Tintern Abbey
Now much
better at this ‘packing a few days before we go’ malarkey, we are at the
storage site by 9.10am and away by 9.35am. Twenty minutes or so to load up food
and various electronic kit (cameras, drone, telescope kit mainly). I check the
oil and screen wash as well for good measure. We top up the diesel tank to take
it to three-quarters full (£40 of fuel for good measure) on our way out.
The route is
simple. Saltash to Launceston, pick up the A30 to Exeter and the M5. We could
have gone Saltash and then the A38. (We later discover there isn’t much
difference time wise between the two routes. More hills via A30 so probably
slightly more fuel consumption going that way.)
Quick stop at
Taunton services and Mag does her first ever drive of a motorhome, taking us up
to Sedgemoor services. Having never driven anything bigger than a Skoda Yeti
before, it’s a new experience for her and, as always, she aces it first time. Having
driven minibuses on fieldwork trips for most of my teaching career, driving a
motorhome didn’t come as so much of a surprise to me.
We select the
northern Severn Bridge route and then up the Wye valley via the A466, stopping
off at Tintern Abbey. It has only just opened back up (today in fact) and staff
are unable to do an annual subscription to Cadw. “You will need to sort it out
online” comes the reply, so for now, we just pay the entrance fee. We will
muse on whether it’s worth getting this annual membership later when we arrive
in Ross. (Cadw membership would give us 50% off English heritage site entrances
for the year as well.)
Tintern Abbey
is a monumental, magnificent, roofless wonder, still standing 500 years after
it fell from grace. A Cistercian abbey, founded
in 1135, the simple stone church and cloisters were greatly expanded from 1269
and so it came to be one of the most splendid masterpieces of British-gothic
architecture. Useful information boards locate you within the ruins and show
artists impressions of what it would have been like back in the 1200’s.
It allows you to step back in time and visualise what it might have been like. Here the seven-lancet west window and the soaring arches of the nave are extraordinary. Sadly, the good work of the monks was bought to an end in 1535, for Tintern was one of the very first abbey’s to be surrendered in the dissolution of the monasteries.
There is more to see than just the main monastery building. There are the remains of cloisters, kitchen, refectory hall, gardens and infirmary.
But don’t
overlook the Abbeys location, for there are river walks, local vineyards and
steep sided woodlands to explore.
“…………….
again I hear
These
waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With
a soft inland murmur.—Once again
Do
I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That
on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts
of more deep seclusion; and connect
The
landscape with the quiet of the sky”.
So wrote the
Young Wordsworth in his poem ‘Tintern Abbey’ (Lines Composed a Few Miles
above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour. July 13,
1798).
Five years
have passed since he last visited this location, encountered its tranquil,
rustic scenery, and heard the murmuring waters of the river. In the opening
sections of his poem, Wordsworth recites the objects he sees again, describing
their effect upon him: the “steep and lofty cliffs” that impress upon him
“thoughts of more deep seclusion”. Leaning against the dark sycamore tree,
looking at the cottage-grounds and the orchard trees, whose fruit is still
unripe, he sees the “wreaths of smoke” rising up from cottage chimneys between
the trees, and imagines that they might rise from “vagrant dwellers in the
houseless woods,” or from the cave of a hermit in the deep forest.
“The
day is come when I again repose
Here,
under this dark sycamore, and view
These
plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which
at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are
clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
'Mid
groves and copses. Once again I see
These
hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of
sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
Green
to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
Sent
up, in silence, from among the trees!”
The poem is a
classic example of the relationship between geography and literature; a quick
glimpsing insight into a past geographical landscape. You can read his full
poem here https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45527/lines-composed-a-few-miles-above-tintern-abbey-on-revisiting-the-banks-of-the-wye-during-a-tour-july-13-1798
I always
think it is worth trying to find some travel literature or poetry of the place
you travel through. It brings an added dimension to your understanding of what
made the landscape in front of you.
The
misfortune to follow a huge artic truck up the rest of A466 brings a new
‘motorhome’ experience – spine tingling ‘around the corner anticipation’. We have
to stop several times to avoid tree branches brought down by the lorry. It is
carnage. Will it be a few twigs and leaves or a 3” branch blocking the whole
road? Can we drive over it or do we have to stop and physically move debris to
clear the road? Ah what fun! The joys of
being the ‘traffic convoy’ leader following a decimating artic lorry.
We duly arrive,
unburdened by additional shrubbery, at Broadmeadows Caravan and Camping site in
Ross-on-Wye around 4pm and having set up on grass pitch, we go for a walk around
Ross town centre, a five-minute stroll away.
Broadmeadows
site is £72 for three nights on a grass pitch with water, grey waste and EHU all
next to the pitch. Well-spaced out with clean facilities, we had a warm
welcome. There is a small fishing lake to stroll around and the whole site is nicely
landscaped with trees between some of the pitches. Morrisons supermarket (with
a petrol station) is a five-minute walk away.
Ross-on-Wye
is a delightful little town. Dominated by the ancient market house in the town
centre, there is a castle, some delightful river walks and a variety of ‘local’
shops. The market House was built circa 1650 and it replaced a wooden building
which probably dated back to the twelfth century when King Stephen granted Ross
the right to hold a market in the area.
What’s with the knitted post caps and tree decorations? We aren’t sure. However, there is a movement called ‘urban gorilla geography’ which does nice little touches like this – so maybe it is this!
A388 – A30 – M5
– M4 – A466 – A40
Distance 220
miles
Expenditure:
£40 fuel
£72 three
nights
Tintern abbey
entrance fee - £11
Car Park £3
Useful
websites:
Tintern Abbey
website: www.cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/tintern-abbey
Broadmeadows
website: https://avon-estates.co.uk/broadmeadow/
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