Always take a map and compass with you.©Crown copyright 2019 Ordnance Survey. Media 051/190km 2 4 6 8 10 12 14150
100
50
01234561 Start/Finish
Symonds Yat Rock
car park
GR: SO562156
From Symonds Yat Rock
viewpoint, follow the unnamed
public road steeply downhill to
a discreet sign on your R for
Welsh Bicknor and Ross. Keep
following signs to Ross until you
reach the broader track of the
Wye Valley Way.2
Stay on the Gloucestershire
bank until a pedestrianThe Wye & Symonds Yat
Gloucestershire ENGLAND
14.7km/9.1 miles/5-6 hours
Ascent 330m/1100ft^8
THE TROUBLE with a
riverside walk – and I love
riverside walks nearly as
much as hill and coastal
walks – is that rivers are
linear. They flow one way.
Unless you can walk along
both banks, you will have
to retrace your steps. But
not if you are following
the River Wye. Between
Hay-on-Wye and the sea,
the river twists and turns
like a politician ditching
old policies. At Goodrich
it almost doubles back on
itself, a satisfying linear
walk transformed into a
circuit for the cost of just 1.5
kilometres across a narrow
neck of land. But Goodrich
and its castle aren’t all. At
Symonds Yat, it also flows
past one of England’s mostbridge takes you to Welsh Bicknor
on the Herefordshire side.3
Stick to the riverbank until
a sign to Goodrich: take this
path for a view of Goodrich Castle
near the top.4
Optionally, climb Coppet
Hill, accessed by a path
behind a sign for Coppet Hill
Common.5
Walk into Goodrich, take the
right of way past the schooland church, turn L and then R on
another RoW at Granton House
B&B. This avoids walking along
the B4229 south of Goodrich,
which is narrow and dangerous.
Follow the line of the RoW to
Huntsham bridge.6
Turn L to follow the
riverside again. After 1.5km
the path starts to go uphill then
meets the broader track of the
Wye Valley Way. Cross it and
climb steps, which lead to the path
you first descended.Gradient profile Metres above sea level
Craig Weldon
follows the
twists and turns
of the Wye
The Great OutdoorsAugust 2019 101