Val and I are always searching for new walks within about one hour’s drive of Cardiff. The Walking World website (www.walkingworld.com) is a good source and it was there that I found a walk of nearly 8 miles, from Oldbury-on-Severn, following the English bank of the Severn to the first motorway crossing and returning via an inland route.
A quick look at the map showed that a short extension to the hike would encompass the site of the ferry embarkation point at Aust. Remembering Tim Ryan’s excellent talk on the Beachley-Aust Ferry at the U3A General Meeting in September 2011, we wondered if anything remained of the terminal and resolved to investigate.
There was bright sunshine in Cardiff when we set off, but there was a thick mist hanging over the Severn valley as we crossed the M48 bridge. The sunshine made a reappearance as we drove through Thornbury, but the shroud fell again on nearing the river at Oldbury-on-Severn.
The mist remained for the whole of our walk along the river bank, with, at times, the shapes of other walkers, travelling in the opposite direction, looming out of the gloom. As we neared the bridge, the twin towers would occasionally come into view as the mist swirled.
We passed the former Aust Services building, now offices, it seemed. The motorway was crossed by a footbridge over the toll booths and another mile of walking brought us to our goal, the ferry terminus.
Large, steel gates bar the entrance, but these had been forced apart (illegally, no doubt!) to allow pedestrian entry to the site; we weren’t the first trespassers . The single storey terminal is in a derelict state, with the whole frontage of the building gone. A tall turnstile remains at the landward side, now rusted to immobility. The toilet cubicles are still readily identifiable!
The wooden slipway has fallen into disrepair. The shore is separated from the river itself by marshy ground, and the ferry was reached by a lengthy wooden pier. The road deck on the left side of the slipway towards the river was just wide enough for one car; a narrower section on the right formed a footpath. The road deck is in a sorry state but, for whatever reason, the planking of the footpath has survived in much better condition, but even this ends after a while, leaving just a wooden framework. The boardwalk re-appeared nearer the river, but the thick, intervening mud dissuaded us from exploring further.
Bob Dylan was photographed waiting at the Aust terminal in May 1966; barely visible in the background of the photograph is the almost-completed Severn Bridge, which opened in September that year.
It was a pivotal moment in Dylan's career - he'd just begun a UK tour in which he was moving, not without controversy, from folk to rock.
He was waiting to catch the ferry en route to a gig at Cardiff's Capitol Theatre, having been booed in Bristol the previous night for playing electric guitar.
A week later, Dylan would famously be branded "Judas" by a disgruntled folk fan at Manchester's Free Trade Hall.
Our attempt to reproduce the iconic photograph of Dylan outside the ferry building lacks that “je ne sais quoi”. I’m not sure which was in a more dilapidated condition, the ticket office or me.
The sun finally broke through the mist as we prepared to leave and the Severn Bridge was seen in its entirety for the first time that day.
We stopped for lunch at a picnic table outside Littleton-on-Severn Village Hall on the inland return leg of our trek. Finally, after a walk of 10 miles, we arrived back at Oldbury-on-Severn.
Our next quest? We will now have to visit Chepstow to view the Severn Princess, the last remaining car ferry from the days of the service operated by Enoch Williams of the Old Passage Severn Ferry Company Ltd.
Steve Monaghan
P.S. I have a copy of Tim Ryan’s compilation DVD about the Beachley-Aust Ferry, which members are welcome to borrow.