As a teenager I had a picture of the old Severn Bridge on my wall. I recently visited an exhibition about bridge building at the Institute of Civil Engineers to see a massive Lego model based on the old Severn Bridge. So I have been looking forward to walking across this beautiful bridge for a while.
It's a perfect morning for it.
Before you reach Wales the bridge crosses a spit of Gloucestershire land housing an army base. The soldiers run around far below.
And then after a mile I'm in Wales!
I walk through Chepstow and pick up the Wye Valley Walk. This is, for me, perfect walking. A woodland walk, up high above the river and following the contours (there is even a section which runs through a cave).
And then coming round a corner on the road, in a deep sided wooded valley sits the 12th century Cistercian Tintern Abbey.
I leave Tintern hoping that the coming storm won't break on me.
And then up into the hills heading for Camp Hillcrest in the village of St Briavels, on the edge of the Forest of Dean. All day I have been hearing the forester accent - a mixture of West Country and Welsh (you can hear some examples here).
Camp Hillcrest is great. Loads of interesting people hanging around; goats, chickens and dogs; an indoor skatepark and loads more. I even chipped in to help paint one of their bunkhouses before settling into my caravan for the night.
