Sunday 16th July 2023

We were kindly invited to join some fellow Redway Runners to celebrate the start of Ros’ retirement and to walk some of the Wales Coast Path. And so it was that Ros Crawley and David Jockel welcomed Steve and I plus David Rose into their magnificently renovated property in the historic town of Chepstow. This picturesque town is resplendent with castle … and several castle car parks which confused us at first but we soon got our bearings and felt very much at home.

For the purposes of this blog I have chosen to think of us as Enid Blyton’s Famous Five characters (George, Dick, Julian, Anne and Timmy) rather than accept that we are all 60+ and beginning to suffer the inevitable aches and pains! Having said that, I found myself in the illustrious company of an Ironman, Ultra runners and Marathon runners … and then there was little old me with my solitary 10k medal – I was a little apprehensive but always up for an adventure!!

Late afternoon, we had a little walk around the town, crossing the bridge into England and strolling along the pretty banks of the River Wye. Made it back in time to see Carlos Alcaraz’ fabulous Wimbledon victory before popping the champagne corks to celebrate Ros’ retirement. A fabulous evening, enjoying a delicious raclette feast, kindly provided by our hosts, some planning for the next four days of walking, lots of banter …. and of course, lashings of ginger beer!!

Monday 17th July 2023 Cardiff to Newport

Today’s plan was to travel by train to Cardiff and walk from there to Newport, which the guide informed us would be 15 miles of flat and easy walking. We were joined at the station by John, a college friend of David’s – a fellow Welshman. And off we eagerly set in the sunshine.

Now, we had 4 chaps in the group all keen to share their expertise in orienteering, we had a map, a Wales Coast Path guide, an Ordnance Survey app, plus someone local to the area but sadly rather a lack of helpful coastal path signs. The few signs that we did find encouraged us onwards, stopping for some discussion at points (which admittedly Ros and I just went along with and followed) … what we hadn’t figured was that we were following the signs that took us out of Cardiff in the completely wrong direction. So, although we got to see more of the city than we had bargained, it meant some unpleasant walking with traffic and fumes, plus an infuriating extra 2 hours and 6 miles added onto today’s hike!!! At this point we nervously laughed about it and felt hellishly relieved when we finally found the turning to take us down the lane to the Sea Wall and the views of the Severn Estuary.

At last we were on our way – sadly not too scenic to start as we passed the Water Treatment Works shortly followed by a sprawling Travellers’ settlement. Now we all try so hard to be accepting of people’s choice of lifestyle but this proves more difficult when for the next half mile we had to walk through piles and piles of their discarded waste – not the most pleasant of starts. Things did improve though and after a short stretch of shingle walking followed by scrambling through some ferociously overgrown brambles, it was mostly that flat and easy sea wall walking the guide book had suggested. It seemed pretty endless at times, the embankment just stretching miles ahead, as far as the eye could see. We had intermittent showers too which meant waterproofs were on an off at regular intervals as the showers were quite heavy and then followed by roasting sunshine.

It was along this stretch that we were introduced to Ros and David’s kissing in the ‘kissing gates’ tradition – in the five years they have been together, not one kissing gate has been passed through without a romantic embrace – so lovely. And there were numerous such gates today – a lot of smooching.

After 10 miles we stopped to have a picnic – much needed sustenance. We tucked into deliciously prepared sandwiches and crunchy apples and took the chance to rehydrate and rest our weary feet … and then we soldiered on.

More straight and flat sea wall, occasionally manoeuvring between cows and sheep, definitely the miles started to take their toll as we finally reached the city of Newport. It might have been our weariness but we all said that Newport seemed a bit unloved, litter everywhere. And it certainly didn’t endear us to the place by discovering the humungous hill that we had to climb to get the Railway Station. Lots of moans and groans at this stage … mostly from me!! We practically crawled our way up to the platform after 21 miles of walking … everything hurt! And then at the last minute, our train arrival changed to a different platform – so more crawling for our blistered feet … if we hadn’t laughed we would have cried.

It was a tough day but we rounded it all off with Steve’s scrumptious homemade lasagne, lots of laughs, beer, wine … and a very early night.

Tuesday 18th July 2023 Newport to Goldcliff

A more leisurely start to today as we had planned a shorter walk and also decided to use two cars rather than relying on public transport. Some excellent logistic planning successfully resulted in a car at either end and the ‘Famous Five’ all booted and backpacked up in Newport ready for today’s adventure. We were missing John today – our honorary gang member – he was back to his PE Teacher job today and I’m sure feeling the sting of yesterday.

We had to endure about 6 miles of industrial and urban walking first, accompanied by some heavy traffic … and once again the waterproofs were on and off. We had great views of the Newport Transporter Bridge, built in 1906, which transports vehicles and passengers in its suspended gondola – this could have been our route and would have saved a couple of miles but (thankfully) it was closed. My feet had got so badly blistered yesterday and I’d plastered up the best I could but it honestly felt like I was walking on broken glass. So between that and getting engrossed in more chatting today, the pace was somewhat slower.

We stopped off in the tiny village of Nash and made use of the deserted children’s playground to sit and have our bountiful picnic – today we’d gone all out – sandwiches, crisps, fruit and welsh cakes – we were living the life! It then took some searching and going back on ourselves to pick up the path that would eventually lead us to the estuary. Not far from Nash we found a wonderful cafe set up on the Newport Wetland Nature Reserve and were able to treat ourselves to hot steaming coffee while observing the fabulous wildlife – heron, great white egret, bobbing geese and parades of ducklings. Steve even managed two slices of carrot cake even though his lunch had hardly settled – he wasn’t going to miss any feeding opportunities!

Shortly after we were back on that familiar sea wall, but we had had some variation earlier with some woodland walking, meadows and some long unpleasant sections of overgrown prickly things. Lots of boardwalks on this stretch which aided the journey …. and a plethora of kissing gates which meant a plethora of kissing. xxxxxxx

Our watches clocked 11 miles as we reached the car and we enjoyed getting back to Chepstow at an earlier time today. Because that meant one thing … afternoon naps for the elderly.

David (Rose) knocked up an incredible ‘Cawl’ – the most comforting Welsh Lamb stew you could imagine – served up with strong Welsh cheese and crusty bread – mouth watering. Followed by Scrabble and Articulate and many many laughs.

Wednesday 19th July 2023 Goldcliff to Caldicot

A pretty straightforward walking day … that’s once we’d got going of course. We had decided on the two cars again but parking up at Caldicot (near the Rogiet Parkrun) proved a little tricky. Those darned parking meters! Ros and I giggled in the car as our three men did battle with various meters before settling on roadside parking. Even our little joke … “how many men does it take to use a parking meter?” met with frustrated silence!!

We made our way back to where we finished off yesterday and nearly the entire walk was on the sea wall with the Severn Bridge in the distance – flat and easy … and dare I say, a little monotonous. Luckily we were rich in company over these few days and covered an array of topics in conversation – the Education Sector, British and American politics, the economic crisis, Cricket, Football, Music and history as well as exchanging stories about our life to date, our families and friends – especially mutual friends (some of you Redway Runners might have found your ears burning this week)!

After a mere 9 miles we were back to where the car was parked on the road near the Rogiet Parkrun … another section in the bag.

We were back home in time to see some of the Ashes Cricket which particularly thrilled a few members of the gang. Chantelle, David’s lovely daughter had driven over from Bristol to join us for our last evening all together. Another evening of delicious food, wine and getting to know each other even more.

Thursday 20th July 2023 Caldicot to Chepstow

A quiet and charming easy day considering its proximity to the Severn Crossings. All quite spectacular.

We started the day with a bus ride from Chepstow – and we bagged the front seats upstairs with the big window. Winding our way down narrow country lanes was a right adventure – who’s the bravest? And tree branches clawed the roof and made us jump each time ( we’d brought secateurs with us today but this was a little out or reach). What larks!

The blue circle mosaic marks the end of the 876 miles stretch of the Wales Coast Path … and it was the end of our 4 days of walking, arriving back in charming Chepstow.

What a marvellous 4 days of walking it has been and 51 miles covered. And more especially, some fabulous friendships made, Ros’ retirement celebrated and the new holiday pad in Chepstow well and truly christened.

I researched Enid Blyton’s Famous Five novel writing and the intended moral was “to make each day count and live life to the fullest.” I reckon that sums us up – we may not be spring chickens but we’ve all got plans not to waste anytime – things to see, places to go, memories to make.

I can’t wait for our next ‘Famous Five’ adventure.