Ludlow, England to Monmouth, Wales

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Geo: 51.8142, -2.71292

Ludlow, England to Monmouth, Wales

After leaving Ludlow, we past the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. The route to Plymouth would weave us in and out of Wales and England for a good part of the afternoon. We entered Wales again at 3:56 and then back into England at 4:04 and then back into Wales at 4:12 as we traveled along the Wye Valley. We stopped near Monmouth to see the Tintern Abbey. The abbey was founded in 1131 and by the 14th century was the richest abbey in Wales. It was dissolved in 1536. A plaque on the wall of the Abbey stated that in 1568 brass was first made nearby this location. We didn't have time to enter the grounds, but you could see a lot from the sidewalk. Across the street another Cricket game was being played. I tried to learn some of the basics from one of the Australian tourists who had played when he was younger, but it was difficult to understand the rules and procedures. Everyone was getting ice cream from a nearby shop, so I decided to try one. It was a hard ice cream in a pointy cone. The vanilla ice cream tasted good, but the cone tasted bland and papery. I ended up throwing away the cone. We traveled a bit longer in Wales, and when we crossed the Severn River about 5:13, we were back in England again. The bridge we crossed was built in the 1960's and the new bridge that we could see downriver was just built in 1995. These two bridges charge English people a toll to cross into Wales. They are the closet bridges to the Wye Valley, which is a very popular weekend get-a-way location. The next nearest bridge is over 50 miles out of the way! Smart people those Welsh!

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