CYCLING DAY 7 Chepstow – Hereford, 43.7 miles – 21.5.2011

We got up early at 6 to catch the 8.15 train back to Chepstow. Chepstow by the way has the oldest dateable stone castle in Britain. The train had many football supporters on board and they were very happy, singing and some were a little drunk and only 9 o'clock in the morning! Today we had to cycle from Chepstow to Hereford. The first half, to Monmouth, was an absolute delight right through the Wye Valley. Stunningly beautiful and not too many hills. Only at the beginning did we have to climb up to 600ft, after which we then descended all the way down for 4 miles. It was heaven. Cars behind us just watched us descend. They couldn’t overtake us because there was a double white line and oncoming traffic just made them unable to overtake. Afterwards they waved to us and gave us a big smile, so they had fun too. So, we travelled from Chepstow with the wind in the back on the A466 to Tintern Parva, where we stopped to have a quick look at Tintern Abbey, now a ruin thanks to Henry VIII. From there on to Monmouth, straight through, busy place on a Saturday afternoon with shoppers. We carried on to Hereford and had to deal with monster hills, but we yet have to ‘walk’ a hill! We were not too late back and had fish and chips for supper cooked by an Award Winning Fish and Chip shop in Herefordshire. Lovely!