Where was Red Squirrel 18/8/2020

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

So was Briz to Monmouth entirely on the bike? If so, is there a reasonably traffic free route there?

[Red Squirrel]

Yes, all by bike. To get from Bristol to the old Severn Bridge, we used a combination of the Southmead Quietway and NCN4^» (National Cycle Network route nr 4 - website) (which took us over the M49 at Amazon - an expensive new junction currently only accessible by bicycle!). The Severn Bridge cycle path continues into Monmouth Chepstow, after which there's a short section on the A466 followed by another cycle path to the right of the road from the racecourse to St Arvans. At that point the recommended route is to go up Davauden Road, avoiding the A466, but that's quite a hill and we decided to stick with the shadier route. After a short climb it's mostly downhill and it's quite possible to keep up with the cars for much of it.

Just after Tintern, you can get on the route of the Wye Valley line for a bit at Tintern Station; you can (I'm told) cross over at Brockweir and use the bridle path to Bigsweir Bridge (the old iron bridge with the traffic lights). At Bigsweir, we took the (quiet) road along the west bank of the Wye (to The Narth); after about 2km you can get back onto the Wye Valley line where the road swings round to the left just before Whitebrook. You can then ride along the old line to Penallt, at which point you will not be able to resist stopping at The Boat for a pint of Butty Bach. Cross the railway bridge over the Wye, and head north along the A466 for about 200m, passing the Newland turn, and look out for a steepish path on your right - this leads up to the railway again, which will take you another 2km to Wyesham and into Monmouth.

So no, not all traffic free, but not too bad. It'll be better when the route through Tidenham Tunnel opens! And it would be good to see the remaining track formally taken into the NCN.

_{Edit: the town on the other side of the old Severn Bridge is Chepstow, not Monmouth. It would be quite confusing if there were two Monmouths that close together...}

[johnneyw]

Most useful.  I think I'll dip a toe in the water with a trip to Chepstow to start with....if that goes well then the world (well, the river Wye) is my lobster!

[grahame]

from Facebook - a picture on the return journey

[johnneyw]

from Facebook - a picture on the return journey

There's a part of me that would rather like to be able to still do that.

[grahame]

from Facebook - a picture on the return journey

There's a part of me that would rather like to be able to still do that.

Still can, I think ... Corran Ferry.    Here are some (slightly) more recent photos: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=54789.0

And sadly not running this year - the Kylerhea to Glenelg ferry

[johnneyw]

from Facebook - a picture on the return journey

There's a part of me that would rather like to be able to still do that.

Still can, I think ... Corran Ferry.    Here are some (slightly) more recent photos: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=54789.0

And sadly not running this year - the Kylerhea to Glenelg ferry

That'll do nicely...well it would if it were a tad closer to Bristol.  That said though, I think the No.7 Boats cross harbour ferry from SS Great Britain has a drop front arrangement for bikes.