As part of the third Radar Weekend at The Manor on the Monnow we stayed an extra day so we could get an good hike in on the Sunday. I've added some additional photos from a sunnier 2025 re-walk.
With Deb, John and Taff the dog we donned our waterproofs and headed off from the Manor to the border with England. This is the route we took, the black dashed line to the right is the Wales/England border.
The weather looked a little iffy with some pretty dark clouds and since it had been thundery weather for most of the weekend we didnt expect to finish this hike dry. But we were lucky and the only time it rained was when we were on our way back in the woods by the dismantled railway.
So we left Tiggy to look after the Manor...
...and headed off into Monmouth over the bridge on the River Wye we then headed south along the river bank. Turning off the road and onto the footpath here at Monmouth School Sports Ground.
Along the riverbank for some of the way the path is through lots of trees and hedges.
Passing under an old metal bridge and behind that a stone bridge.
Some more pics from the sunnier 2025 re-walk showing the path following the river and the view across the river.
Along the riverbank for a couple of miles to the village of Lower Redbrook where there was another bridge on the route, but this one had Wales at one end and England at the other.
And even better, it also had The Boat Inn at one end.
The view from the bridge.
The pub has a beer garden set on a number of tiers, we picked the top tier for this view of the bridge.
After the pub we headed back over the bridge where the footpath heads uphill to Lower Redbrook, passing by an award winning project!
"Most derelict water feature?"
Crossing the road to head back along the same side of the river we had travelled along earlier but this time following the path of a dismantled railway parallel to the first path. Under cover of trees which came in handy as it was then that the rain started.
The 2025 re-walk took us one path higher than the dismantled railway, a bit of a climb, but further from the road.
Taff and some mushrooms.
To show how bad the weather got in the area during the 2024 hike, here are the before and after photos from the bridge at Monmouth.
Before the rain:
The same view 3 hours later, a slight rise in water level and quite a change in water colour:
Another couple of pub stops in Monmouth at The Old Nags Head and the Punch House and it was time to head back to the Manor.