Today is a cracking little two pub walk
from just outside Lydney. It takes in the southern edge of the Forest of Dean,
with pub stops in Bream and Whitecroft. What's fascinating about living on the
river Wye is being able to see how differently each side of the valley is.
Wales truly has a very different identity to the Gloucestershire side.
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| What have you seen Daddy? |
As you all probably know I'm a big fan of
free parking. We found a two car lay-by just north of Lydney on the B4231. The
walk starts about 100m down the road. Lydney park woods abuts the Forest of
Dean to the south. It has some incredible trees and rock formations in it. A
truly hidden gem. It's definitely worth exploring thoroughly rather than just
wondering through it. We made quite a big loop around the woods and I'm glad we
did. It's fascinating how the trees have carved out the landscape. There's some really interesting rock formations as you can see below.
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| Light through the trees. Filter by Instagram because I'm lazy. |
After a brief trip across some fields being
watched by some inquisitive horses we reached Bream. This is a typical forest
town. Quiet, laid back locals and sheep just wandering about minding their own
business. The Rising Sun pub is perched on a hill next to a war memorial
overlooking the lower Forest of Dean. It's populated by friendly locals who are
happy to chat. Obviously Chuck was a minor star as usual. Drinks were
reasonable. We didn't have any food but there was a separate dining area.
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| Trees growing out of the rocks. Weird. |
We left Bream down a steep hill towards
Whitecroft. The next pub was very different. Set in acres of land with a view
of the steam train station the Royal Oak looks huge on the outside but is surprisingly
cosy on the inside. We were hungry when we got there but they'd just stopped
serving food. Despite this they still cooked us up a bowl of chips which I
thought was very nice of them. The landlady was smitten with Chuck and we had a
long doggy chat.
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| Out of the woods in style. |
The path back was unfortunately along a
main road for about a mile and half. But then we cut into some woods and popped
out on the other side of the road from our lay-by. This was a great walk. About
5 hours including probably nearly two hours in the pub. Oh well. It's better
than sitting around watching TV at home. I'll post a more in depth reviews of
the pubs in the coming weeks.
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| Cheesy chips in The Royal Oak. |
#Lydney #Bream #Whitecroft #theforestofdean #walkingblog #Gloucestershire #theroyaloak
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