It’s that time of year again when we tend to get a boost in people joining u3a so this trip was designed to cater for a larger group than normal without too many road crossings. Lydney harbour was however also a risk as there was no real shelter so on a wet day would have been a bit of a struggle. Luckily it was a dry but grey day. Unfortunately the trains were in a bit of a mess when most of us arrived at our various stations with loads of delays and cancellations. Luckily things improved and our train left about 30 mins late just leaving one or two I think stranded at other stations and not able to join us.
Lydney harbour is about a mile walk from the station down a dismantled railway track. As we neared the harbour we were met with a series of sculptures and views of the River Severn. The history of the harbour itself is nicely laid out on information boards and in the little Information Centre next to the café. And what a lovely little café Hips Harbourside is.
A lot of us then extended our days walk by going to do a circular stroll up onto the cliff top. We took in views of Naas House, home of William Jones in ~1600, who made a fortune as a haberdasher and whose wealth was used to create Monmouth School. We also learnt how tragedy struck the Jones family a century later when Mary Jones was murdered on her way home after taking lunch at the rectory. Her ghost is still seen periodically in the area.
They’ve done a good job of redeveloping the harbour to make it an interesting place to visit for the day.
