THE JOURNEY
From home, near Hayle in Cornwall, we took the A30, M5 and M48 to reach Chepstow, where our exploration began in October
475 miles
THE COSTS
Sarah and I have been to the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, once before, primarily to see the amazing bluebells in spring.
On that trip we visited some of the popular tourist attractions, including Symonds Yat Rock and Tintern Abbey, so this time, on an autumnal visit, we decided to choose some different places based on two of our passions: mine for wildlife and Sarah's for steam trains.
If there was a target species for this trip it was the rare and elusive hawfinch, a beautiful and quite large finch with a huge beak capable of breaking cherry stones, and we were lucky enough to see one in the first couple of days on a walk from Newland as we explored the multitude of paths, lanes and cycle tracks,
