Last night I went for a stroll in the wye valley that turned into a most curious experience. I started from Tidenham Chase and planned to follow Offas Dyke for a while past what's marked as East Vaga on the map before dropping all the way to the river on a public footpath, this followed the bank for a short distance and then struck back uphill to cross the disused Wye Valley Railway and then join forestry tracks either of which I'd follow back to the car.
All went as expected until halfway down to the river on the footpath. Here I emerged onto an unmarked and substantial bulldozed track which I'd guess at being less than ten years old, descending to the south, clearly made for vehicular access but didn't look recently used. I cast about for the continuation of my footpath but couldn't find a thing so, curiosity piqued, I followed the track down and round a bend until I was descending north and soon spotted a substantial building in a quarried out area surrounded by a strange mixture of things, boat trailers, hay bales, transport containers etc, there was a van parked there too. The building looked like it was originally a vehicle shed as it had a large high door but now almost had the trappings of a residence. I didn't poke about even though it seemed unoccupied (there was still that van though). As I passed the building there was suddenly a loud beep and a stern amplified voice informed me that "Intruder detected, please leave or the authorities will be notified", it was only a recording but I was a little rattled and hurried off along a forestry track.
What is this place? I don't think it's anything to do with the Forestry Commission as it's off their land.
The walk continued strangely as I found an abandoned tent in a most hidden spot, and a larger, occupied encampment on the bank by Wall Weir.
