July is my Birthday month,so to celebrate I decided way back in February 2024 to book a night at YHA Wye Valley to stay in one of their six Bell Tents beside the beautiful River Wye.
One of the key considerations was that the hostel is dog friendly,which it is. It cost £63.00 for the night and cooked breakfast in the morning at £9.95 each. For two people,maybe the cost of a B&B with four walls and heating,but for five people which the bell tent sleeps pretty good value.
Also, it only takes us about an hour and forty minutes to drive to the Wye Valley.
The road by passing Gloucester was made more enjoyable by seeing this lovely dog in the back of a landrover.
Herefordshire’s countryside;after by-passing Gloucester, always seems to me to be to be real organic farming land,green luscious with an abundance of small businesses with poly tunnels and fabricated buildings for storage and growing of all sorts of crops.
Like most rural England, it is seriously business minded, not a cow in sight,so it’s definitely different from rural Glocestershire and Wiltshire where we live.Cows are very much part of the landscape there.
As we later found,through conversations with staff and residents at the hostel. The road down to the Wye Valley Hostel is hair raising and not for the faint-hearted. In wet weather conditions,it would certainly make a good episode of The World’s Dangerous Roads.
As we bumped and trundled down the steeply inclined single track road ,avoiding deep ruts, drainage holes, and the sawn off trunks of trees that had blocked the road in the past.
We briefly followed the cyclist whose bike is propped up outside the hostel’s reception (picture above) and who we thankfully passed when he dismounted just before the steep downward incline at the cattle-grid before the cut meadow.
We learned later that he was from California on a trip around Europe.Been ex military he had participated in the Normany landing memorial that had happened a few months previously.
Getting back to our journey ,I was blissfully unaware of the view of the sheer drop from the driver’s side window.Uneven ground was all that lay between us and tipping over into a vast gulley.
While driving dry-mouthed and basically frightened I was told by said driver in no uncertain terms that I was to check with him before booking another remote location,should we survive this one; and should we ever go away again together.
The hair pin was the final straw as we had to do a three point turn to get around it.I said
“Well done” as we made it around .
I was thankful that we could now see what looked like the hostal building in the distance.
Later,the husband of another couple who were in one of the other Bell Tents told me that his wife had said that the hair pin could have been done in one go.
“Well ,we took two.”.Thinking if you’re not driving,then best stay quiet.
As the man later waved a very sharp knife around in the communal kitchen ,(I think he was cutting the rind of some bacon and was very pleased to find the knife. ) I was making myself a cup of tea ,but it crossed my mind maybe that his wife was living on borrowed time.
Still, despite a rainy weather forecast,we arrived and it was sunny and warm, and we saw where the bell tents were located.
I breathed in the fresh, warm air and looked for our bell tent ,which was No.5. As usual ,I was overwhelmed with the booking in procedure and was only half listening to the gentleman explaining where our bell tent was.
However,no 5,( the only one not numbered) smelt a bit rancid and only had uncovered duvets and pillows.I was accused of not checking if duvet covers and sheets were supplied I thought they were,but I suggested to keep the peace that we could use the blankets from the car.So we made up the beds as best we could and him indoors needing a call of nature went up to the hostel by foot.
On his return,we decided to go back up to the hostel to order pizza for tea as the shift change was at 5.00pm, and the guy who was going to cook would be there.
Fortunately, a lady and her daughter who were camping in a tent opposite were heading up to the hostel to wash some clothes justas we were leaving and that was how we we discovered the back steps.Steep but better than the long road around which him indoors had taken initially and brilliantly it gave us access to all the self-catering kitchen and spotlessly clean toilets.
When we got up to reception and while talking to the guy who was going to cook the pizza(which we forgot to order) I asked about the duvet covers,chaos ensued,he was beside himself,the two bell tents should have been made ready.
So we headed back down and found it was No.6 that had been made up. So we transferred our stuff and sat on the picnic benches beside the tent, drinking ginger beer and eating our sandwiches.Foolishly, we had declined the wood for the wood burning stove ,it was summer after all.
We then decided to go for a walk along the River Wye.It was a lovely evening and our dog likes to paddle,but we were a bit wary of the signs saying fast flowing river.It was lovely to be on the non-populated side ,just fields and the banks of the river .Across over the water was a main road and houses and a very noisy pub at one point.So, the peace and tranquillity of our meander along the river was much appreciated.
Tedi disappeared ,attached to his long lead, into the undergrowth, and discovered a sandy beach with a paddling area.So he was happy to get his paws wet and have a good drink from the river.We clambered after him down the steep bank and back up and somehow survived.
The sun was beginning to go down, and as we were right at the bottom of the valley,we decided to head back while it was still light. On the way back, we decided to have a look at the portaloos, which were for the campers in the field.They were handy but pretty awful.We did the necessary and headed back to the tent.
We settled in for the night ,had sips of ginger beer, and munched on some crisps.We used wet wipes to wash our faces and hands and charged our phones on the car battery,not realising that there was a battery pack in the tent.Neither of us fancied making the trek up to the stairs to the main hostal.
There’s this really oddly located Church and graveyard beside the hostal and the camping field . Apparently, it is now owned and maintained by the Methodists. It has a working bell tower,which chimes every hour, and the building fabric is solid and looked after.However, it would be difficult,given the terrain for a congregation to gather there and as far a we could see no one was allowed in the gates.
When the sun went down,the tent went from being very hot to freezing cold. I luckily had brought some Ron Hills to wear in bed and a jumper.So with the duvet on top,it was bearable.My better half was not quite so lucky. He was feeling the cold very badly.
The dog, though, was quite happy,wrapped up in his blankets and duvet. Not a squeak out of him.
The dog managed to get asleep and stay asleep. However,we tossed and turned, feeling the icy cold on anything that was exposed to the atmosphere,we just couldn’t get to sleep. Really, we needed the wood burner,it was a shame we didn’t make use of it.
Inevitably, at 3am in the morning,we felt the need to reply to the call of nature. We had a tacit agreement that if I needed to go,we all would go,including the dog.So we trotted off to go to the portaloos . (Walking by the disused Church and up the stairs seemed a bit spooky at that time of night.)
The dog weed in the bushes, and we relieved ourselves in the nearly overflowing portaloos.At least the walk relieved the freezing cold in the tent.
We were nearly back at the tent when we came across a large hedgehog crossing our path.The dog took one look and ignored it.We did the usual awe isn’t that wonderful and then after a short walk we all got back into the tent.
We moulded ourselves into the double duvet ,and I suggested that we make use of the duvets from the other beds.So I think we finally got some sleep for a few hours.
I woke up when it got light and sat on the futon and used the last of my phone charge to keep up with my Spanish Apps,Memrise and Duolingo.I then decided to go up to the hostal for a wee and make myself a cup of tea which I did.It was lovely.I wondered back down,half drunken mug in hand and warm sun on my face and thought this is the enjoyable part of camping.
When I got back, Dog and Bod were still fast asleep ,and my phone battery had died.So I sat on the futon and snoozed.
We’d booked a cooked breakfast for 8am,so we went up to the hostel for that.I made some more tea and we had two very good cooked breakfasts,plus a cold sausage for the Dog,which he was most appreciative of.
It was nice just staying one night,packing and unpacking was easy, and when it was time to go, it didn’t take long to put our things in the car.
We were assured that the road up the hill would be clear,as those going down had the right of way. The staff are often asked to reverse people’s cars down the hill when they meet an oncoming delivery lorry.
On the road up ,I was, of course, on the side looking down at the drop,it was impressive. We made it, and we had already decided as we were in Goodrich that we would visit Goodrich Castle,that though is another story….
thenotsomightyom 