Arrival Day

On our arrival day, we took a bus from Heathrow to Chepstow.  We walked down through the old city gate to our guest house across from the castle.  After taking our backpacks up to our room and putting on our boots, we set out.  First we visited the castle, which is an impressive ruin. It was built at various times;  much of the castle built in 1067 by a friend of William the Conqueror is still standing.  Most of the rest was added in the 13th century.
 

Inside Chepstow Castle                    On Rennie's Bridge, Chepstow Castle behind country boundary marker

After admiring the castle, we crossed the Wye on the Rennie Bridge, thus walking back into England.  We were impressed by how low the river was.  It's tidal, and rises and falls about 50 feet at Chepstow.  We walked the two miles down to Sedbury Cliffs, the "official" start of the Offa's Dyke Path.  On our way we crossed the first of the estimated 650 stiles on the route!  We also did our first stretch of walking on the dyke itself.  We were surprised to find that the path goes along the actual dyke; we had thought that it would be protected for historical conservation purposes.  But there were many miles, as it turned out, of walking on top the dyke.  Another first that afternoon:  we had our first view of the spectacular show of hawthorns in bloom.  They're small trees (or big hedge bushes) totally covered in white blossoms.
 

First stile!                                                                                   First walk on Offa's Dyke and first hawthorns

Back in Chepstow, we stopped in Tesco and bought apples and prepackaged salads and took them back to our room for our dinner.  Then, after repacking our backpacks, bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, we went to bed.