A cycle ride from Chepstow, the Severn Bridge, Severn Way Trail and following the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to Gloucester Docks.

I've had this idea in my note book for quite a while but hadn't quite joined the dots. We start in Chepstow, Wales and head over the original Severn Bridge to England picking up the Severn Way trail along the banks of the Severn River.

Heading north towards Gloucester we pickup the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal near Purton, visiting the remains of the iconic Severn Railway Bridge that was demolished in the 1960s. The few remains were impressive and were certainly worth the extra effort to get to along the trail.

From there we then follow the whole canal trail along the tow path all the way to Gloucester Docks. The winter sun really gave a fragile golden light for the day reflecting mirror images off the still surface of the canal.

Some parts of the trail were tougher than usual comprising only of thick tufts of grass with divots that were energy sapping. But these were relatively short across the whole journey with much being hard packed earth trails though with narrow tyre-width trails between the grass.

The whole journey was about 46 miles and needed some restraint from pressing-on too hard early on. The Severn Way trail along the river bank was extremely muddy and soaked and so I abandoned using the whole of this trail to Sharpness Dock taking to the country roads and heading back to the coast later on. If I had stayed on the trail I would have probably lost an extra hour or more and much needed energy to complete the trip to Gloucester.

This ride delivered more than I expected, I really enjoyed seeing the remaining structures of the old Severn Railway Bridge that I've always been fascinated with and which seems on the whole to be largely forgotten.

I hope you enjoy this cycle film!