Thursday 6th September – Ross on Wye and an enchanted forest

A slow morning for me with a lovely egg and bacon roll for breakfast 🙂

After picking up my lost sunglasses from the site owners (I left them on the picnic bench last night) I was off to my paired down day in Gloucestershire.

When visiting the Forest of Dean, if course I need to visit a forest or wood, so my first stop was PuzzlewoodPuzzlewood.

Puzzlewood is a maze of mysterious pathways cut between moss-covered rocks called Scowles, which are unique to the Forest of Dean and give Puzzlewood its enchanting, magical feel. Scowles get their name from the English word Crowll, which means cave or hollow, or the Welsh word ysgil, meaning a recess.

The rocky, quarry-like archaeological features were formed over millions of years through the exposure of underground cave systems and iron ore mining. Puzzlewood was used by Iron age settlers through to Roman times for the extraction of Iron Ore. Evidence of Roman occupation is supported by the discovery of over 3000 3^rd century AD Roman coins at Puzzlewood. Once the Romans left, nature reclaimed the old workings with moss and trees.

There is a mile of pathways first laid by a local mine owner in the early 1800s to amuse his family and friends and more recently the fabled forests of Middle-Earth that feature in J.R.R Tolkien’s books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are said to be inspired by Puzzlewood.

It was pretty incredible walking through the pathways – I felt very small next to the huge boulders and did expect Gandalf or a fairy to suddenly appear! The scenery was very special and although the weather is the absolute opposite to yesterday (wet and horrible) it didn’t detract from the atmosphere – in fact it probably added to it.

I only had a mild panic once when I realised I had no clue how to get back to the entrance! You aren’t given a map and there are no signposts, but luckily after wandering around for a bit, I found the way back by using my ears to listen out for children running about at the park near the entrance – kids making noise is helpful for some things!!

I also met some lovely donkeys, who were not interested in talking to me at all.

Next on my (short) list of things to do was to visit Ross-on-Wye, a recommendation from one of my BIL’s who has passed through previously.

Did you know (I didn’t)…

Ross on Wye is hailed as the birthplace of modern tourism as it was central to the 18^th century Reverend Gilpin spotting a great opportunity and then establishing the Picturesque Wye Tour. In 1745, the Rector Dr John Egerton, started taking friends on boat trips down the valley from his rectory at Ross. In 1782, William Gilpin’s book ‘Observations on the River Wye’ was published, the first illustrated tour guide to be published in Britain. Once the book was published, demand grew so much that by 1808 there were eight boats making regular excursions down the Wye.

I looked online and found a vintage trail around the town that takes you to second-hand shops and antique/vintage shops too, and spent a lovely hour walking around, going into all the shops to get out of the rain! I found these lovely 1960s brandy glasses in one shop, at £6 for the pair, they were a bargain.

I popped into the shops to pick up something for dinner and headed back to the van, as by this point, I was rather bored with getting wet and wanted to dry off and relax for a bit.

It’s my last night in my caravan tonight (on this trip anyway) so will spend the time writing down my thoughts on this journey to write up tomorrow, once I get through one last 3 hour drive home. Wish me luck!