Jane’s Walk 2024 – Day 10

We arrive back at Upper Framilode just as the tide turns again and see clearly the Severn Bore wave coming up the estuary although not as spectacularly as at certain times of year. All signs of the sand banks have disappeared. Today’s walk takes us around the Arlington peninsular, which means we walk for 8.5 miles but end only 3/4s of a mile from the start. The path is well maintained all along this route mainly on flood banks.

During the day, we witness the change in the estuary from deep fast, fast-moving water to swirling mud flats as the tide goes out again and the birds return. On the West side, we can see into the Forest of Dean, and ahead, as the river bends to the right, are the Cotswolds stretching back to our home in Oxfordshire.

The houses of Newnham, on the west bank of the river, are only a mile away, but to get to visit your neighbours means at least a 50-mile trip, as there is no bridge on this stretch of the river from Gloucester to the old Severn Bridge in Bristol!

We reach The Old Passage Inn, which is closed and looks as if it is going through a complete whether it is to remain as a pub is unclear.

In prehistoric times, Old Passage was a crossing connecting the Arlington peninsular with the iron mills in the Forest of Dean. The Romans are thought to have crossed here, too, and some accounts suggest this was on the backs of elephants. Cattle drovers would favour this spot to cross the river, and a ferry operated here from 1809 until after the Second World War.

We picnicked on the porch of the parish church in Arlington. Poor Tom has a very bad back, so Richard finished the walk with me, and Tom met us at Fretherne with the car.