Stage 5 - the last day!

Goodrich to Ross-on-wye

Today we left our hotel genuinely sorry to leave, it was, by public opinion, the best inn so far! But leave it we did and soon we were in the rhythm literally. Gus remembers a surprising amount of chess lyrics! We walked over Kerne bridge and up a hill where there was a crashed car that caused us great difficulty! Then we walked down a hill, walked up a hill, walked down a hill and gus ran up another hill! However, at the top of this hill was an iron age fort/village! Only we weren't able to see it, we just walked past it! What a let down! We then walked down the hill and into ross on Wye, at which point Hamish was called away to overlook our extension plans, conveniently disabling our navigator. However, lucky scouts has trained me well and I was able to get us there with my superb navigational skills. But would you believe it! Later, once we had all checked in and Gus's had settled down in front of the TV Hamish and I went for a walk and he got us lost again! Lucky I was able to direct him and he even said ''yes boss" to me! (Make note of this, this is my virtual and thus uneraseable record as he assures me it won't happen again!) Hamish didn't think the hotel would be up to scratch as it was the only one availabe, but we are in the midst of luxury now and awaiting a beautiful dinner! Today we walked for 4h and covered a distance of 10 km! Yesterday we walked for 6h and covered 12km!(forgot to put that in yesterdays blog!) Overall we covered a distance of 55km and clocked up a walking time of 21h and averaged a speed of 3mph! Tomorrow we bus to Gloucester and take a train home. Although the going was tough, we tough got going and I am sad to see this holiday go, and not just because of school! Only one more post!
See you soon
Oscar

The victory pose!

Chilling out at the hotel

On the road to Ross on Wye

A vineyard! In Wales/England!

So close!

A crashed car

A pretty tree

Woops, Mac and cheese isn't a burger!

Stage 4 of the Wye valley walk

Symonds yat to Kerne bridge
Just too clear up any confusion about the jump in the stages, we walked stage 2 and took a taxi through 4. Now that the confusion has cleared I'll talk about my day! Today we woke up, not entirely sorry to see our inn go, for such a high rating, it didn't seem quite as luxurious as I had hoped! So we set off heading up to a local viewpoint where we were able to see our entire walk! (We thought it was ludicrous that we would be able to walk all that way, but we did it and had time to spare!) We walked down to the river Wye and walked along the river bank into a field full of sheep and pheasants, and I can now confirm that pheasants do go gobble gobble! Then we made our way to a disused railway bridge. It broke a couple of years ago and now it is just a temporary bridge that looks like a box with scaffolding around it. We then walked on, Gus and I pining for lunch, and we came to a field. We couldn't go under it we couldn't go over it, uh oh! We had to go through it! It was full of murderous looking cows though, and it seemed to us at the time that they were slowly making our way towards us and giving us the evil eye! But it was alright though, we had voted that Gus was the one to be left behind in case of a cow attack and Gus, well, didn't really have a choice! We stopped, Hamish finally listening to our pleas for food and rest, in the next field. However the inhabitants (sheep) got closer and closer until we were forced to move! We finally arrived at Kerne bridge and then walked down to the local village of Goodrich, named after the local castle. Our inn was lovely and we had a good dinner and fitful sleep, ready for the day ahead!

A log full of coins

Breakfast

The view from the viewing platform

A log full of coins!

I have slain a Basilisk!

The viewing platform

The viewing platform

Some paddle boarders passing under the railway bridge

Goodrich castle

Stage 2 of the Wye valley walk

Tintern to Symonds yat
Today we woke up, sorry to leave our luxurious hotel, but nevertheless leave it we did and set out into the frozen welsh outdoors. And it was cold this morning and we were glad for those thermals we packed. Cold in Wales this morning, but thankfully not in England, for our boiler back home broke! Hopefully it's fixed now but it did mean that we lost Hamish for the first good 30 mins. But, on the plus side we did see some disused railway track, cartridges and signal box just outside of Tintern. We traveled today from Tintern to Symonds yat. We walked from Tintern to Monmouth for about 7 hours covering a distance of about 17 km. (We had to get a taxi to Symonds yat due to the fast approaching evening). So not much today, a lot of walking but not much else, we are now settling down in a 4 star hotel, the royal hotel. But we did manage to have a ferocious game of yes, no, black and white. Argh, I lost! I probably won't blog again until evening and by that time you lot will probably be trick or treating so I will say this now, Happy Halloween!
See you guys soon!
Oscar

A frosty morning in Wales

Searching for the fish, the marker for the wye valley walk

Almost at the top! A very steep hill

Going down now!

A disused railway bridge

A pleasant view from the top

Stage 1 of the wye valley walk

Chepstow to Tintern
Today we walked to Tintern to chepstow, a distance of 9.2 km over about 4 hours, and it was tiring! We walked mainly uphill, so whilst we got some amazing views, if not for a steady supply of scroggin, I think we would still be out there! (for anyone who doesn't know, scroggin is a fuelling, filling and yummy mix of nuts, chocolate and dried fruit). We did get some pretty amazing views though, (historical info alert!) In the 1970s, viewpoints were erected through removing trees, whilst also being kind to the environment, and public footpaths were made also by the landowner, Valentine Morris. Whilst unfortunately not all of the paths are public along this stretch anymore, we still get some amazing views. This day has been very tiring though as we traveled mainly uphill, so I speak for all of us when I say we were relieved to arrive in Tintern. But our day was far from over! After a filling lunch at an inn we proceeded to check out Tintern abbey, the very relic that made Tintern a tourist site. (Some more history ahead). In the 12 century (1100s) bands of Cistercian monks would travel around Europe building great abbey's in Europe. In 1131, the Cistercian order were given land in Tintern by Walter de Clare of Chepstow, the largest local town. The monks built an enormous abbey complete with a church and permanent accommodation. Interesting fact, the only place allowed a fire was the kitchen and day room and it was only allowed in November to February, it was 2 degrees web we set out today! The abbey has now fallen into ruin, with lots of books and crannies, perfect for an epic game of hide and seek! After the game had ended, and I had been crowned victorious, we began the long trek to the hotel, 2 miles away. Wait, no… 2 minutes away, Hamish got us well and truly with that one, but it wasn't funny at the time, I can tell you (Although he says our expressions were well worth it). Now we are in our hotel restaurant, settling down for some well earned grub, resting our weary soles, and dreading tomorrow!
See you soon
Oscar

Tintern abbey

Tintern abbey

Panaramic view from the giants cave

View from the giants cave

Woodland stream

View from the "eagle's nest" viewpoint

Tintern abbey

View from Tintern abbey

View from the eagle's nest

Chepstow castle at the start of

The mouth of the giants cave

Rabbit pie and chips dinner at our hotel

The official starting point for the wye valley walk.

I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION THAT THE ENTIRE WYE VALLEY WALK IS 17 STAGES AND 221 KILOMETRES LONG. FOR OBVIOUS RESONS WE ARE ONLY DOING 5 STAGES!

Bromley to Chepstow

Bromley to Chepstow
First and foremost, I will apologize for the quality of the photos delivered, my phone camera deserves to be photoshopped and my skills are not adequate for any expert photography. Anyways, today's journey was long. Its was supposed to be 5 hours, leaving the house at 10 and arriving at 3, with time to check in and explore the castle. But due to a serious power cut at Paddington, 5 hours turned to 9 and a simple journey turned complex. From Bromley to Victoria to Paddington to Waterloo to reading to Northport to Chepstow. Then, at around 6:30 we arrived at our b'n'b/hair salon/pizzaria, and unpacked and settled down for some award winning Welsh pizza! Tomorrow promises cold weather, 2 degrees when we set out, and a lot of walking!
See you soon,
Oscar

My view on the train to reading

Sas and Talia to see us off at Paddington station

Gus and Hamish entertaining themselves

Wye valley pizza in an award winning Welsh pizza restaurant. The perfect end to a tiring day.

We're off!

The beginning

Hello everybody and welcome to the blog of the Rose boys (Oscar Gus and Hamish). Seeing as we have an extra week of holiday, Hamish decided to take us on part of the wye valley walk, from Chepstow to ross-on-wye, over the course of 5 days, going from Inn to Inn. During this time we will be having lots of fun and taking photos along the way. Then I will upload them onto this blog along with some of our adventures. I hope you enjoy!
See you soon! 
Oscar.