The Severn Bridge walk starts at 11 o’clock and we are recommended to get to the start point at 10 o’clock. “OH,” I said “I didn’t realise it’s a starlight walk!” Back came the reply that no, it was 10 o’clock in the morning. Now for a retired person that is the middle of the night, and add to that the 30 minutes travelling time to get to the start, and I’m wondering whether to walk it in my pyjamas.
So I thought it would be a good idea to sus out the start point so that we are not left wondering where it is on the morning (night) of the walk.
The start point is the car park of Riverside Court in Chepstow, and I did not know this building. Clear instructions are given on how to get there. I know most of the journey anyway but a postcode is also given so I put this into the satnav and off I traipse to the persistant beeping of the satnav because it thinks the speed limit on the M4 is 50 whereas it is variable and is the normal 70 on this morning. All goes well until I near my destination when the satnav tries to send me back onto the M48. Fortunately the instructions state quite clearly “Thornwell” so I follow that turn off.
“RECALCULATING!” says the satnav in that fed up tone that only satnavs can muster, before telling me to return to the M48. I ignore its imperious tone and follow the instructions given by Macmillan. “Recalculating” it says again, seemingly a little more shrill than last time. “Oh shut up” I shout and
turn the satnav off. I don’t suffer fools gladly since having cancer! To my horror the road ends in four large boulders blocking my way. I get out of the car and look around, there are two large buildings. One a dental surgery so large you could have each tooth drawn in a different room and still not have seen all the rooms; the other called “Office Space” which is even larger. No sign of “Riverside Court”.
I return home (via Tintern for lunch) to consult Google maps.
Google maps showed the road exactly as I found it; switching on satellite view it showed green fields in the area which is not exactly helpful. Searching for Riverside Court on the internet there were several commercial property agents offering offices in the building and one had pictures and a map from yell.com which showed I was in the right place and so I returned now I knew what I was looking
for. Satellite view on this map showed the location of the building at the end of the road where Macmillan had said it was.
So why hadn’t I seen it!?! (You are not required to answer that question – please read my excuse below).
The yell.com map also offered to produce a route – this route turned out to be exactly the same as my satnav and stopped in the middle of the slip road to the M48! I now felt better; if my satnav and the internet mapping couldn’t find the way to this building, I would have to employ all the cunning of a Nordic god to find it. So with Sleipnir saddled up and disguised as a blue Skoda Fabia and the ravens despatched to act as pathfinders, I set off in the spirit of the great explorers of old. Perhaps not so much a Marco Polo, but more a Dr Livingstone I presume.
Arriving at the destination Riverside Court was immediately recognisable by its curved roof and following the road past Homebase it ended in a carpark with lifting barriers and no longer huge boulders. It was still called “Office Space” in large white letters at the side of the building, but was also called “Riverside Court” in smaller red letters over the front entrance.
I must admit, I did picture a building called Riverside Court to be on the banks of a river not beside a motorway, but the offices must have stupendous views over the rivers Wye and Severn where they meet as well as the two river crossings.
Having assured myself that the journey to the start point should be straightforward, I decided to have a look at the start of the walk. Iparked in a layby on the A466 and, donning my Huckadee hat, walked towards thebridge and the walkway on the eastern side and was surprised to see a sign prohibiting pedestrians on the cycle track; pedestrians had to divert down under the motorway to the western walkway.
The Severn Bridge crossing consists of two bridges, the Wye bridge which joins Wales to England and the Severn bridge which is wholly in England. It only has two lanes of traffic in each direction, and the incline on the Severn Bridge slows lorries which caused long tailbacks when it was the
only crossing. The newer Second Severn crossing is a different construction and is flatter and wider (as well as longer – so I’m glad we only have to walk across the Severn Bridge.
There was a steady wooded incline up to the level of the motorway and since it was on the side
which would give a good view of the Second Severn crossing, I decided to walk as far as the centre of the Wye Bridge to get a photograph of the Second Severn Crossing. There was a light rain falling and a stiff breeze, but as I approached the exposed part of the walkway, the rain increased and the wind became a howling gale. The wind was coming up river and there was no way I could take a photograph in those conditions. My trousers were getting cold and wet (note: take waterproof trousers on the walk), my knees were complaining, so I turned back and returned to my car; by which time of course the rain had eased!
I returned home via the beautiful Wye valley to the A449 at Monmouth, where I stopped off for a coffee and a squirt.
