25 March 2015 - Tredegar House, Coedkernew, new Newport, South Wales

My first view out the window this morning was straight out of an old English Nursery Rhymes book I had as a child, a Robin Red-Breast sitting on a rail above snow scattered ground. What a treat of nostalgia; the proof that snow and red robins of story book status actually existed, albeit in my childhood New Zealand.

We set off immediately after breakfast, before detecting any signs of life from either the caravan across the lawn or the farmer and his canine companion. Again Chris was concerned about his exit from the icy grass camp, but again there was no problem at all. Rather than risk intersecting the closed Highway A36, we retraced our steps across the hills and vales just south of Bath, those that had reminded me yesterday of the book I had as a child, The Water Babies, and the vale that little chimney sweep Tom sprints through as he escapes from Grimes, his master, before encountering the school mistress teaching the clean and beautiful children of the pristine countryside. Needless to say that my vivid imagination stimulated by the coloured pictures in this childhood treasure is a powerful thing given that we are speaking of memories well over fifty years old!

Alas the perfect morning was spoilt when we merged with the school traffic, the business traffic, the numerous road works and the detours through Bath. I did not time well our passage through the city we had so enjoyed the previous day, but needless to say, we were not quite as enamoured today! Finally we were free of the city and rather than take the easy but boring major highways, we travelled north on the A46 to Gloucester, through Nailsworth and Stroud, up through the rural lands of the Cotswalds, then north west toward this once thriving metropolis.

Gloucester was firstly important as a Roman garrison to guard the River Severn and spy on Wales, later to become a major port as goods moved hither and thither through the trade routes of Europe and being a centre of major political importance under the Normans, with William the Conqueror a frequent visitor. It also served as an important religious centre.  Alas by the fifteenth century the River Severn was no longer as navigable, now silted up, and relinquishing that important port status to Bristol. However when the canal link from Gloucester to Sharpness was opened up in 1827, trade picked up again but it was only a temporary stay in the big picture.

The Rough Guide does not credit Gloucester with much tourist appeal although did draw our attention to the perpendicular styled cathedral, the museums and the renovated warehouses in the dock area. Again, frustrated by the parking in these cities, we found a temporary space in a shopping precinct, and found our way along the docks to the National Waterways Museum, a three  story shrine to the canal history of Great Britain. We both enjoyed this enormously and learned numerous facts and generalities about the industry, now overtaken by the tourist narrow boats on the restored canals.

• Most of the Gloucester warehouses were named after the original company using them. The two warehouses adjacent to the museum, Biddle and Shipton, were built in the 1830s and were two of the smallest in the docks. They have formed the background for television and film productions from “The Onedin Line” to “Sherlock Holmes”. But back in the day, Gloucester’s trade was based on corn, which was moved in sacks through these warehouses.

• There was a large area set aside to explaining the “roses and castles” decoration of the narrow boats, a practice that served to cheer up the otherwise drab and harsh realities of hauling coal and other unattractive cargos up and down the waterways, and also to draw attention and help win business. The painstaking work was a clear sign of the pride people felt in their boats and their way of life.

• The colourful decorations on boats and belongings looked different to anything in homes on the land. Everything from a biscuit tin to a horse feed tin could be painted.

• Road transport in the eighteenth century was slow and expensive. Business owners wanted a better way of carrying goods to their factories or customers and many got involved in schemes to build new canals.

• As a young man, the Duke of Marlborough saw the Canal du Midi in France and was very impressed. The new Bridgewater canal opened in 1761 and slashed the Duke’s transport costs. He was able to sell his coal at half the price and still make a big profit.

• Josiah Wedgewood ran a potter factory in Staffordshire. He formed a partnership with the Duke of Bridgewater and James Brindley to build the Trent & Mersey canal. Wedgewood used the canal to bring coal for the kilns to his factory, then sent his finished ceramics to Liverpool and Hull.

• Some people made a fortune by investing in the early canals and this sparked a period of “canal mania”. In 1790 just one canal was authorised by Parliament; in 1793 more than twenty canals were approved.

• In 1792 the Grand Junction Canal Company advertised a meeting for investors in Stony Stratford. So many people turned up that the meeting had to be moved from the inn to the parish church. The company was looking for 250,000 GBP of investment. In fact they were promised almost 1,000,000 GBP then and there.

• In 1827 a ship canal to bypass the dangerous stretch below Gloucester opened from Sharpness to new inland docks at Gloucester. The Act authorising the canal was authorised in 1793, but the canal took thirty four years to build.

• Mylne, the first of its many engineers, was dismissed when work stopped at Saul in 1797 after a few years digging. The company’s money had run out, and it was twenty years before a Government loan allowed the project to continue. By then, massive inflation caused by the war with France had raised the eventual building costs to 432,000 GBP against the original estimate of 140,000 GBP.

• Gloucester Dock Basin had been completed in 1799, but was not opened until 1812 when the lock that linked it to the tidal River Severn was first used, the new tramway from Cheltenham had arrived at the docks by then, and the canal company wished to take advantage. When it opened the Gloucester & Berkley canal was the deepest and widest in the world, and able to handle the ocean going ships of under 1,000 tons typical of the 1820s. By the 1870s ships of 5,000 tons were common, and Sharpness Docks were built in 1874 to meet the new challenge.

These were some of the facts that particularly appealed to me along with the fact that there are 3,000 miles of waterways throughout Britain.

We tore ourselves away, concerned that some Hitler type might have clamped our motorhome, a threat spelled out in the car park. Back in our temporary home, we found ourselves still “unchained”, ate our lunch and then headed off again, but not before attempting to drive near the Cathedral. The one way system through this city does not make for fun driving however we did get close enough to note that we should have made a better effort to visit this impressive structure.

Our route took us west through Gloucester, across the hills of the Forest of Dean to Monmouth just inside the Welsh border, although at no point did we see a sign welcoming us to this new country. We found a park in the Sainsbury car park and made a great dramatic show of shopping here, before slipping up the street to do a quick recci of this lovely town.

Monmouth sits at the confluence of the Monnow and Wye Rivers and was the seat of military importance through the ages. We walked up to the ruins of the Monmouth castle, the first version of the structure probably constructed of a wooden tower keep inside an oval ditched enclosure, protected by a timber palisade and gate. The timber defences were replaced early in the 12^th century when the curtain walls and Great Tower were built in stone. Around 1230 a circular stone tower of great height and strength was built just to the north then later in the 13^th century the Great Hall was built adjoining the Great Tower. Radical alterations were made to the castle in the 17^th century when the round tower was demolished to make way for Great Castle House and later, when Little Castle Home and the parade ground were established. However despite all the changes and the fact that much of the structure is in ruins, it is still an impressive site and we were glad we had bothered to call.

The future King Henry V was born in Monmouth Castle in 1387. The castle belonged to his grandfather, John of Gaunt, and Henry’s father was hunting in the Forests of Dean at the time. Henry became Prince of Wales at the age of twelve when his father seized the throne from Richard II. He spent his teenage years suppressing rebellion throughout Wales, especially against Owain Glyndwr and in 1413, at the age of twenty six, he succeeded his father to the throne. This Monmouth has also played an important part in the history of Great Britain.

We walked back down the street to the gate over the River Monnow, took the obligatory photos then made our way back to the motorhome, displaying our few purchases to justify our parking.

On we drove now south along the banks of the Wye River, a beautiful valley, back into England for a while and then back into Wales. Returning to England, we were welcomed by clear signs, not so the return to Wales. Perhaps there is a message in that?

We were absolutely delighted to come upon the ruins of the Tintern Abbey, (or Abaty Tyndyrm) just south of the village of Tintern Parva, just one of the small villages stretched up the steep hills rising above the river, reminiscent of those along the Rhine in Europe. Time was running out, the afternoon was slipping away from us, so we pulled in only long enough to take a further photo or three out of the window before carrying on south.

Subsequent checking revealed that this well-known Abbey, to all but me, is the remains of an incredibly ambitious building project which began in 1131 and ran over four centuries. Today it is hailed as the first Cistercian Abbey in Wales. In pausing as we did to marvel at the site, we joined the painter, Turner, and the poet, Wordsworth, although I suspect they dedicated more time that we did, but then the parking machines and streams of traffic would have been greatly less when they passed by!

At Chepstow (or Cas-gwent), just a little distant from the Severn Road Bridge across the Mouth of the Severn, the structure impressive even at this distance, we turned west now following the A48, rather than joining the major route, and drove through more gentle rural land, here where there are more Roman ruins to be seen by the traveller with more time than us, on through Newport, or Casnewydd, seemingly a very industrial town, on bridges across the ugly tidal mouth of the River Usk, through the gathering day-end traffic, crawling our way through dozens of round-a-bouts, finally arriving at our camp, the first Caravan Club site located here on the grounds of the Tredegar House.

We have booked into here for a couple of days and should spend tomorrow sightseeing, however we have found there are laundry facilities here and may end up spending the day in a more domestic  manner, a bit scary when we see the limited travel days we have ahead of us.

Over dinner Chris and I remarked once more about the muddy drain-like River Usk, and we remembered that it is here at Newport, the river joins the Mouth of the Severn, and this itself is a very interesting geographical feature. Here there are massive tidal variations, the second largest tidal range in the world, fifteen metres exceeded only by the Bay of Fundy on the north eastern coast of the United States and north to Canada.