Monmouth/Chepstow area locals – old railway down the Wye, is it rideable?

Putting together a little two-day tour for next weekend, I’ll be doing it on a roady-tourer, she’ll be on a nice hybrid-y thing, both with tyres that will take light offroad type stuff (canal towpaths, that kinda thing).

We’ll be getting to Monmouth along the path along the Wye from Symonds Yat. From there we need to get to Chepstow to get back over the Severn, with a stop overnight in Llandogo

I can see on the OS Map and RWFGPS that from there seems to be a path along a disused railway continues alongside the river pretty much all the way from Monmouth to Chepstow. Does anyone know how much of it is rideable on a towpath-capable bike?

Specifically I’m looking at these sections:

1) Crossing the footbridge at Lower Redbrook and following the path down the west side of the river to where it joins the road at Whitebrook
2) Crossing the footbridge at Tintern and following the path down the east side of the river, through the tunnel to Woodcroft (this looks the most optimistic, I’ll admit)

If 2) is not really an option, how busy is the main road between Tintern and St Arvans, is it worth instead heading up the side of the valley through Chapel Hill to avoid big lorries etc?

All advice gratefully received 🙂

Option 2 is open and you can have coffee in Tintern. I’m local. Main road to Chepstow is closed for the foreseeable future

Thanks Pawsy, good to know. Any issues with 1) do you know? If not, should be able to be traffic free down most of the river.

What’s the deal with the main road, how come it’s closed?

1) will be fine on the bikes/tyres you describe.

Road is closed between Chepstow and Tintern, I believe to sort out some sections that have been prone to landslides.

(I hadn’t realised the tunnel was open already, will go and have look!)

Wicked, cheers chaps.

Tunnel is still closed

Si beat me to it, it is definitely still closed I ran to netherbridge and looked.

Another local here. Heading up Chapel Hill will Take you though lots of lanes and decent sized roads as you wind your way through to St Arvans. Just keep an eye on the contours as it certainly isn’t flat! As for the main road, it’s a reasonably busy A road but I’ve ridden it plenty of times. It’s also less hilly then going via Chapel Hill.

Tunnel is still closed

Well, I’m glad I checked this thread again…

Is the closed Tintern/Chepstow road passable on a bike? I could do with avoiding any proper hills as MrsIHN is currently recuperating from a leg op.

seem to remember it open when I was in the area 20+ yrs ago.

wrong tunnel…

s the closed Tintern/Chepstow road passable on a bike? I could do with avoiding any proper hills as MrsIHN is currently recuperating from a leg op.

Dunno if A466 is passable by bike and don’t have time to do another recce this weekend.

Bare in mind that even if passable it requires a climb of 150m. The ncr42 route up the Angiddy valley is 200m. In your circumstances I wouldn’t want to risk climbing up the A466 only to have to turn around and go back to Tintern, if the route is blocked. It sounds like they’re doing some pretty serious work up there, so fare chance you might not be able to get through.

At Monmouth the line stays on the English side but after Wyesham it is technically private. Walkers, mostly local dog walkers who shouldn’t be there either, can get really arsey. Tell them to shove off.
Road downstream from Tintern is security barriered so probably really closed. Steep wood lands/cliffs either side make walking round no fun.

Hi Simon. From end of Peregrine Path (Yat to Monmouth) at mini-roundabout keep straight ahead up hill through Wyesham keeping straight on eventually past barrier into woods. After barrier take 2nd path down on right to old railway track and follow to Redbrook (never had an issue over last 30-40 years Matt!). At Redbrook cross on old railway bridge (and have a pint at The Boat) then follow old railway then lane to Bigsweir Bridge. Cross bridge and turn right to follow riverside bridleway to Brockweir. Instead of road to Tintern from here you can stay on left side of river along a track but then have to walk down steep rocky footpath to cross old railway bridge into Tintern. Have a coffee at Filling Station Café then take lane opposite up through Angiddy and over top to St. Arvans – even if she has to walk the steeper parts it’s preferable to the (currently closed) main road. Enjoy!

Dunno if A466 is passable by bike and don’t have time to do another recce this weekend.

The road is still closed road, I went through yesterday, no one on site, so just cut round the fence and walked through. There is no official provision for cyclists or walkers to get through.

Cheers all, again.

Mrmo – the closed bit is pick your way throughable on a bike then?

If so, I’ll probably give her the choice of longer, more scenic but steeper, or shorter, less climbing but less scenic.

there are three fences that go right across the road, two on the north side and one on the south, but it is possible to go around them either left or right by cutting into the woods a little.

If there are people on site I suspect it is a no go, but there was no one there. The only point, it is at the top of the climb so you might get there and have to turn around. I did read they were meant to be working 7 days to get the road reopened.

As the road is closed it makes the main road actually a nice climb, you get the odd car trying but far fewer than normal.

Right-o, quick check in after doing our little bikey tour this weekend.

We went over the top from Tintern in the end, rather than up the closed road. We met a couple of roadies in the caff at Tintern who said there was a security guard at the roadworks who wouldn’t let us through. Anyway, it was a nice steady, scenic climb up through the woods then a great drop down into St Arvans and then Chepstow.

At Redbrook cross on old railway bridge (and have a pint at The Boat)

Yeaaaaaaaaaaah. Got to Redbrook on Saturday afternoon, thinking “this is where that pub is, what was it’s name again, sure it began with a B”. Saw a pub, it was called The Bell, thought “that must be it”. Had a pint, wondering why a, frankly, pretty grotty pub had been recommended (MrsIHN was particularly non-plussed), then set off again, crossed the bridge and the penny dropped…

Cracking route all in all though, 120 miles over Saturday and Sunday. Three counties, two countries, two rivers 🙂