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Day Walk to Tintern Abbey and the Wye Valley - January 2020

Day Walk to Tintern Abbey and the Wye Valley - January 2020

Wednesday 15th January 2020
David Gleed

Setting out last Saturday from Tintern Abbey, we said to each other...
May God make safe to you each steep
May God make open to you each pass
May God make clear to you each road
And may He take you in the clasp of His own two hands.
(Carmina Gadelica)

The mud and rain serving only to further cement our wee band of pilgrims, we made our way in good spirits, for the high ground above the Abbey on the other side of the Wye.

Along the way we paused every-so-often to listen to a verse or two from William Wordsworth's Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey - with a short time of silent walking after one stop.

Lunch was in a hollow, just back from the cliff edge, with an ancient tree in the middle. Frost, wind and rain had I imagined, eroded the lighter ground around the tree over many years, leaving the Yew alone and supported by a pile of boulders, with roots protruding between strata - an amazing sight!

The whitewashed Moravian Chapel in the village of Brockweir, provided a lovely additional stopping point.

Crossing back over the river, then following its course for a mile or so, we arrived back in Tintern in good time to enjoy coffee and cake in a quaint café, next door to the Abbey... having first removed mud from boots!