Upstream from Tintern Abbey there is a panoramic view from a rocky cascade called Cleddon Shoots, described by Wordsworth as a ‘sounding cataract’. Andrew Swift takes a walk and revels in the vistas.
In July 1798, while on a walking tour of the Wye Valley, William Wordsworth was inspired to write what is regarded as his first great poem. Although forever associated with Tintern Abbey, its title makes it clear that it was written a few miles upstream, while certain details, such as the panoramic view described in such detail and the ‘sounding cataract’, pinpoint the location as Cleddon Shoots, a rocky cascade which tumbles down a wooded ravine to the village of Llandogo.
Cleddon Shoots is just as rugged and untamed as it was in Wordsworth’s day, and a perfect choice for an inspiring if challenging spring walk. Although only four and a half miles long, the walk suggested here is not for the faint hearted. I last walked the precipitous slopes above Llandogo a few years ago, but when I visited this spring I discovered that last winter’s gales had taken a terrible toll, uprooting trees and blocking paths. This meant not only that I had to reroute part of the walk, but also that one relatively easy section had been transformed into a tricky scramble by a fallen tree.
For those reluctant to tackle the trickier sections, there is the option of following a two-mile route with relatively easy access through woods carpeted with bluebells, and taking in three spectacular viewpoints as well as the falls at the top of Cleddon Shoots. If you are tempted to go for the longer version, however, the views and the ravine down which Cleddon Shoots flows should make the challenges well worthwhile.
*The starting point is 38 miles drive from Bath. To get there, head west from Bath on the M4, branch off onto the M48 and, immediately after crossing the Severn Bridge, turn off to head north along the A466 for 7 miles. After passing Tintern Abbey, carry on for another three-quarters of mile before turning left to follow a sign for Catbrook. After a mile and a half, when you come to a T junction, carry straight on to follow a forest road to Whitestone car park (SO525029; NP25 4PN).
At the far end of the car park is an information board. Follow the trail markers beside it to head north along a broad drive into Bargain Wood, which, after 150m, leads to the first viewpoint. The second is 300m further on, while the third – and finest – is another 250m.
Here the drive bears left to a T junction, where you turn right (SO521034). Carry straight on, following signs for the Wye Valley Walk, and after 400m the sound of rushing water heralds your approach to Cleddon Shoots, Wordsworth’s ‘sounding cataract’ (S0520039).
If you’ve opted for the easier access route, this is where you retrace your steps to the car park. For the full version, after crossing the top of the falls, turn right – not down the steps, but along the ‘Wordsworth Walk’ (from which you can make a short diversion, along a path with an unguarded cliff edge, to the Falls Viewpoint). After 200m, just after crossing a boardwalk, turn right as the path commences a series of zigzags down the hillside. Mossy boulders, birdsong, tall trees and springs flowing across the path make this an awesome but enchanting spot.
Eventually, you come to a point where the path downhill is blocked by a fallen tree. Here, you need to bear right to follow a path which, after 250m, leads back to Cleddon Shoots, which you have to pick your way across on boulders – one of which appears to have come from a cider press (SO522040).
Carry on along a path on the edge of the ravine. After 100m, it swings right and a view down the Wye Valley opens up. A few metres further on, bear left down a path signposted to the A466. When you come to a lane, with Bank Cottage straight ahead, turn left and follow a footpath sign down past Cleddon Stile. When you come to a road turn left (SO524040), and after 200m turn right down a footpath by an old cider press.
At the bottom, cross the main road to the Sloop Inn. St Oudoceus’s Church is also worth a visit, not least for some superb wall paintings. Turn right past the back of the Sloop (where you can see a datestone for 1707) and then left to follow a footpath beside the Cleddon Brook. After going through a kissing gate, you come to a handgate, beyond which lay the trackbed of the Wye Valley Railway, closed to passengers in 1959 and to all traffic five years later. Continue through another handgate and follow a waymark diagonally across a meadow.
Cross a footbridge over the brook and continue alongside the Wye before another gate leads back onto the old trackbed. As you go through a gate on the right a little further on, you will see the Old Ship Inn ahead (SO525038). Its name, like that of the Sloop, is a reminder of the time when trows and sloops tied up at a nearby quay. The Wye is tidal as far as Llandogo and was once busy with craft plying down to Chepstow and across to Bristol – which is how Bristol’s Llandoger Trow got its name.
Turn right uphill. At the road turn right for 50m before crossing by Rosebank Cottage and heading up steps. Carry on past Orchard House, up a footpath signposted to Cleddon. After climbing steps to a lane, cross and continue up another footpath.
At the next lane, turn right. Just past Misty Cottage, 30m along on the left, a sign for the Top of Cleddon Falls indicates the final – and most serious – part of the climb (SO523038). Further up, however, a tree has fallen across the path, requiring a serious scramble to negotiate its enormous rootball. If you want to avoid it, carry on along the lane to rejoin the zigzag footpath you came down earlier and retrace your steps from there.
If you do decide to turn up by Misty Cottage, once you have got past the fallen tree you will come to some large boulders, known as the Bread and Cheese Stones (SO521037). The view from here of the sylvan Wye far below should be some compensation for all that climbing, and, according to legend, is the precise spot where Wordsworth was inspired to write his poem.
Be that as it may, here the path turns right. A little further on, it turns right again beside a wall, at the end of which is the Wye Valley Walk, where a left turn leads you back to the starting point.
Andrew Swift has written books such as On Foot in Bath: Fifteen Walks around a World Heritage City (akemanpress.com).
Starting point: Whitestone free car park SO525029; NP25 4PN
Distance: 4.5 miles (full walk); 2 miles (easier access walk)
Challenge: From the car park to the top of Cleddon Shoots the going is easy; thereafter it is steep, rough and slippery, with numerous steps.
Refreshments: Sloop Inn, open lunchtimes Wednesday to Friday, and all day Sat, Sun and bank holidays. (thesloopinn.co.uk)