Wye Valley camping meet

Meet Report: 10-12 May 2024 at Beeches Farm campsite in the Wye Valley.

This meet was surely a first for the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club. It was a small affair but out of the four attending, three were from the distaff side. It all went very well apart from the one input from the fourth member, a barbecue that failed to stay alight long enough to cook the food.

Helen Brewitt arrived on Thursday evening at the busy but pleasantly uncrowded Beeches Farm campsite. She climbed all Friday with a friend at the nearby Shorn Cliff.

Tim arrived mid afternoon and set off for a 38km circular on his bike, mostly on byways up to St Briavels then down to Tintern before returning very steeply to the campsite. Helen and Fiona Smith arrived late afternoon to share in the barbecue which ended up in a frying pan.

Saturday dawned as gloriously sunny as Friday had been. The Smiths walked from the campsite through woods carpeted with beautiful wild garlic (ramsons) in full flower – the scent was almost overpowering. They initially walked south along Offa’s Dyke stopping for Fiona to scramble up the Devil’s Pulpit – with its spectacular view of Tintern Abbey below. The legend is that the devil would taunt the monks who were living nearby. Following the Gloucester Way with its attractive view of the Severn Estuary, they eventually wound back to rejoin Offa’s Dyke before branching off on the disused railway line to visit Tintern for a very late lunch and ice-cream. The glorious weather had clearly encouraged the crowds but Helen does not remember Tintern being quite the honey pot it is today when she last visited 45 years ago. The climb back up to the campsite in the late afternoon heat was taxing.

Helen B and Tim drove a short way to Lancaut and walked down to Wintours Leap where they climbed Central Rib 1, a classic severe that Tim had previously climbed over 25 years before. The last pitch was climbed by the VS variant, a steep crack made harder by the loss of a few flakes on the crux move. Taking the Easy Way Down to recover the sacks, they found the hot humid weather made the attractions of the Rising Sun community pub greater then the prospect of another route.

In the evening, another friend of Helen’s, Colin, joined us at the campsite and we all went for a pub meal. Next day, sunny again but with the threat of storms later, Helen and Colin returned to Shorn Cliff for more climbing. The Smiths parked at Brockweir and strolled northwards along the river as far as the bridge at Bigsweir which they crossed. They ascended steeply through Cuckoo Wood, stopped to explore Cleddon Falls, before walking back to their starting point via Botany Bay and the Wye Valley Way. It was a beautiful walk, the conditions seemed less humid than Saturday and the trees were not so densely packed so the greenery was stunning. They trotted the last few km to ensure there was plenty of time for lunch at the village cafe in Brockweir before heading to Gloucester for Fiona to catch the London train.

Tim made a dent in his journey home before stopping at Coed y Brenin, north of Dolgellau to ride a loop of constructed mountain bike trails and forest roads, arriving back at the car minutes before a thunderstorm broke.