50th Anniversary Walk – Monmouth to Redbook circular

Route detail

Overview                           Blending Offa’s Dyke Path and the Wye Valley Walk, leave urban bustle for wooded paths, country lanes and waterside wanderings along the riverbank, enjoying a great leg stretch for spectacular views from the summit of Kymin Hill followed by a visit to the Kymin Round House and Naval Temple.

Distance:                            7 miles / 11 km

Start location:                  Shire Hall, Monow Street, Monmouth

Start Grid Ref:                  SO 50771 12844

What Three Words:        w3w.co/racetrack.deciding.untruth

Start

• Begin your travels from the Shire Hall at the top of Monow Street. With your back to the hall, turn right and as the road begins to curve turn right along Church Street, a narrow street lined with small shops. Following signs for Offa’s Dyke Path, turn right into St Marys Street and at the end left into St James Street briefly before turning right and heading toward the subway, up and over the bridge, to leave the town behind.

• Climbing away from the hubbub of activity follow the pavement along a leafy roadway, crossing the road to pick up a pathway running parallel but just above the road. Emerging from the trees the country lane guides you onwards and upwards toward the hillside woodland and the Kymin.

• An idyllic wooded leg stretch, passing through the Woodlands Trust owned Beaulieu Wood, brims with wildlife and as it hits the National Trust managed land, springs into an open vista with soaring views over Monmouth and the surrounding countryside. The 18^th century Round House and Naval Temple, which celebrates some of the greatest British admirals and victories of the time, provide the perfect backdrop for a pause and picnic, just as it had many centuries ago.

• Leaving the hilltop delight, pass through the car park and follow a wooded path toward fields and a stone track that leads gradually downward, meeting a country lane and at the junction turn right toward roadside cottages, nestled in the valley.

• Approaching the bridge, take the sign posted track to the left and make your way behind houses as they hover above the road and drop down into Redbrook, grabbing supplies from the village shop as you go. Sitting on the River Wye the town was once bustling with industrial activity, for many hundreds of years filled with blast furnaces for copper and iron smelting, corn and paper mills and lastly, the manufacture of the finest hand rolled tinplate sheets, known as ’taggers’, in Europe. ​

• Having explored the village and the old railway river bridge, pick up the long distance path of the Wye Valley Walk, linking your route near the rail bridge crossing and just before a small grassy seating area next to the football pitch.

• A wonderful waterside return clings to the riverbank, where river folk float, wildlife flourish and on the outskirts of Monmouth engineering marvels hover overhead in the form of old rail bridges and the Monmouth Viaduct.

• Follow the river to the cricket ground and meet your outward journey, where you retrace your steps back over the Wye Bridge, beneath the road and through the streets to where you began.

Notes/transport to the start

Parking

Parking available at a number of public car parks

Bus

n/a

Train

n/a