Blog Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, April 16, 2025

On Wordsworth's Hermit

I am, literally, writing these words a few miles above Tintern Abbey. The occasion is a short Easter break, in a wooden bungalow-hut holiday-let, located in a farmer’s field on the hilly Wye’s left-bank a way above Brockweir: amazing views, and cosy enough inside, but because it’s made of wood the property trembles fearfully when the winds strike it, and when the rains come it resounds, like we’re inside Keith Moon’s drumkit. But we’re having a lovely time. Rachel’s birthday on Saturday coincided with Passover. We had a Seder. Dan, like many a 17-year-old surgically attached to his phone, has deigned to emerge from his digital cocoon and has come out with us for walks, with the dog, exploring the Abbey itself, motoring down to Chepstow Castle, exploring the woodlands and the river. Tomorrow we’re going to see Raglan Castle and, perhaps, we will go down a mine.