Calaus one

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A tale of two bridges. It was the best of times, it was ...the best of times. A really nice interpontinental stroll between the old and new bridges taking in the salt marshes of the Severn. Easy flat walk with the chance to visit the museum of the railway tunnel in Sudbrook and the historic village of Mathern, with the church dedicated to St Tewdric, once King of Gwent who is interred there, and the private Palace of Mathern, which apparently has grade 2 listed pigsties. The proper (old) Severn Bridge looms up as you approach the motorway, and the crossing to England is an experience not to be missed. It used to cost half a crown to cross in a car when it opened in 1966, but the walk has always been free and it's so great that it has been designated a Sri Chinmoy World Peace bridge apparently. There are big views over the estuary and a couple of decommissioned nuclear power stations before you settle into the bucolic rural peace that is Aust.

I love walking along the Severn Estuary. It's a dependably heady combination of mudflats and saltmarsh, new and historic industry, nature and restless transport arteries, and expansive views of the big roiling tidal river. Walking - or wheeling where possible - is definitely the best way to appreciate it and this Slow Way, like others in the area, gives a great sense of place as it transits between the two huge Severn road bridges, and crosses the Severn on the older one. Highly recommended (in good weather!).

We walked it Caldicot to Aust. It starts from a little modern shopping centre and heads out of town along the road and through some playing fields (you can go straight to the playing fields via the ASDA carpark and stay off the road altogether if you like, it is all open access), then fiddles through a housing estate, crosses the mainline railway on a level crossing, and eventually exits through pylon-decorated urban edgelands to pick up the well-signed Wales Coast Path.

As you approach the bank of the river, the spans of the 1990s new Severn crossing bridge become visible ahead, the route heads along the sea defences above the saltmarsh on a good path to Sudbrook. The village is clustered around a huge old brick pumping station where the Victorian railway tunnel goes under the Severn. There is a miniature museum here and various interpretation boards.

From there follows an easy path to a picnic spot with fabulous views across the estuary. This area had plenty of walkers on a sunny bank holiday Saturday. After that, it became rural and much quieter as the coast path took to unmade paths along the sea-defences. At the next creek inlet, it turns inland, and recrosses the railway on a foot crossing with a useful warning traffic light. From here the way is mostly through pastures, some with grazing cattle, to the village of Mathern, with a short interlude across a golf course strangely devoid of golfers for a sunny weekend. The ground in this whole area was just about dry enough for enjoyable walking at this time of year, but likely to be very wet and boggy in winter, especially where the cattle have been grazing. As a fan of old breeds of cattle, I was pleased to meet a beautiful herd of Belted Galloway cows - the ones which are black at either end with a broad white band around their middle - which had delightful tiny calves (these were safely separated from the footpath by an electric fence).

The Slow Way now nears the old Severn Bridge, and arrives via an anciently churchy end of the village of Mathern, followed by a path edging of a zone of massive warehousing which is so well landscaped that you hardly know they are there until the final approach to the bridge. As it arrives alongside the M48, the path dips down and the Wales Coast Path departs left through the motorway underpass into Chepstow while the Slow Way continues on, heading uphill again to join the two and a half miles of the cycle/footway across the old Severn Bridge.

This bridge crossing is fantastic on a clear calm day, and popular with runners and cyclists. There is a huge view up and down the estuary, a big sky, and the mile long suspension bridge itself - an engineering wonder of its time - is wonderful. The pathway is a little lower than the road deck, so it is not so dominated by the traffic as you might expect but it is very exposed to wind and bad weather.

On the other side, the footway goes downhill to join the road to Aust. Here you have to cross the dual carriageway of the A403 to get to the village. This road is not as fearsome as it looks, as it was superseded by the M49 a long time ago and is usually fairly easy to cross, with a central reservation, good sightlines and traffic slowing on the appoach to the motorway roundabout. However, heavy lorries are using it more now as a new wave of distribution depots mushrooms along the coast, so take care.

Despite being hard by the motorway (and a motorway service station rather ghostly since the M4 was rerouted to the new bridge in the 1990s), Aust is a quiet little place with a good pub. There is no public transport whatsoever though. The nearest is either back in Chepstow, or several miles further on south at Severn Beach (good rail links) or the village of Easter Compton (some buses), both of which are reachable using ongoing Slow Ways.

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