Day 7: 10th July 2008 - Bristol to Caldicot, South Wales

About to cross the old Severn Bridge into Wales.


The Second Severn Bridge can be seen in the distance.

Josh said his goodbyes to Beth, in Bristol, and then set off towards the Severn bridge. Because the Second Severn bridge has no provisions for pedestians or cyclists he had to walk further north, adding at least 5 miles to his journey. He called me at about 4:00 P.M. as he was just preparing to take his first break for the day near the entrance to the bridge. Here, in London the weather had turned bad, dark clouds, rain and wind but I knew that the weather could get much worse along the Severn estuary and the forecast was not good so he was very much in my thoughts all night. We were unable to contact him until the following day, because he had walked into an area with very poor mobile phone reception, but it turned out that he was okay and had pushed on until about 6:30 when he came upon a pub and possible camping spot for the night. The landlord offered to let him pitch his tent but as he wanted to move a bit closer to Cardiff he asked if there were any other pubs or campsites further up the road. He was told that there was nothing for miles but he decided to push on, even if he had to walk all night. He was determined to get as close to Cardiff as possible to bring it within reach of another days march. So he walked for another hour but no sign of anywhere to pitch a tent. Just miles of road ahead, Ministry of Defence land on both sides, which offered nowhere to pitch a tent, and the rain was begining to lower his morale. It was starting to get late and soon the light would begin to fade. if he couldn't find a pub before closing time the chances were good that he would have to keep walking all night, or until he had reached some open land on the other side of the small town that he was approaching. He walked on until about 8:45 PM and suddenly another pub came into view. Josh walked into the pub, dripping wet, and said that he had never been so glad to see a pub before. The pub went silent and every head turned to look at him. There were a number of friendly people there in the shelter of that pub who took an interest in what Josh was trying to achieve and he was welcomed with offers of free drinks and conversation. The landlord permitted Josh to pitch his tent in the garden so he took his pack out into the rain to get everything set up. He paused before pulling his tent bag out and, just as he was about to loosen the draw string, a hole appeared in the clouds and a beam of warm sunshine pierced the gloom, illuminating the grass at his feet. Josh just smiled back a big thank you and waited for the grass to dry out a little before errecting his tent. One of those magic golden moments.


I just want to say thank you to Beth for being there for Josh, and the cause, on this first week of the journey. I'm sure that Josh appreciated your company and I hope that you enjoyed the walk. Really well done!

Distance travelled today: Approx. 25 miles!