Day 1

This trip was a bit last minute so we decided to leave a bit later in the day. The drive down along the M5 was painless and took around 90 minutes. 

We arrived at our hotel later afternoon early evening so there wasn't much time to go sightseeing as we had to get settled into the hotel and get familiar with the hotel and our location. 

Day 2

We headed out into Chepstow heading to Chepstow Castle. We always prefer to eat out when travelling and found a nice cafe in 5-10 minutes walk up the hill from the Castle car park, (The Ugly Mug Cafe). 

Once we had eaten we headed back town the hill and headed into Chepstow Castle. We purchased a pass from the Castle called an explorer pass. It gave us 3 days unlimited entry into several tourist attractions all over Wales. The great thing about this pass is it doesn't need to be used in 3 consecutive days, you can use the pass for up to 3 days in any 7 day period. 100% worth it if you plan to visit several of the local attractions like we did. 

After the castle we headed towards Tintern Abbey. and spend some time browsing here. There is a charge for the car park which is redeemable in the shop.

We wasn't able to explore fully due to construction work going on but we did manage to get round a lot and we both really enjoyed it, we would love to go back sometime in the future once the conservation project has finished. 

We then headed further north to Goodrich Castle. Although it's not Wales it was close enough for us to visit and with our English Heritage membership it meant entrance and parking are both free. 

Day 3

Something a little different today as we headed towards Eagles Nest Viewpoint. 

We parked up in the lower car park and first we headed south down one of the trails and followed this trail for a bit before returning to the car park and heading to eagles nest viewpoint. If you park in the lower car park you need to cross the road and follow the trail up the hill. After a short walk you will come to a crossroads in the path and have a decision to make. Turn left and follow the pathway for the "easier" trek or turn right and follow the "intense" trek that takes you up the mountain trail tackling more than 300 steps along the way. We decided on the easier route to get up the hill and then we would come down the other side and we are glad we did. The steep steps are slippery in places making it difficult underfoot. In some places its more of a climb and not a walk/hike. Small tight walkways over rocky dirt tracks. This route is def not for the faint hearted.

Once we got back to the car we headed towards Devil's Pulpit. To get to this location meant parking up and following a long walk but unfortunately the weather had other ideas. The sky turned dark, the clouds loomed and the rain started to fall. We looked at the time and we decided to head back to our hotel and het ready for lunch that evening with an early night as we had a long day planned the next day. 

Day 4

We headed out early in the direction of Caerleon. 

Caerleon Roman baths and fortress. The baths and the Amphitheatre in Caerleon was included in the explorer pass. Although the museum was closed due to refurbishment we still enjoyed the baths and especially the Amphitheatre. 

From Caerleon we headed towards Cardiff to find Castle Coch, (Castell Coch) which had some conservation work being done so there was some scaffolding up around the castle. Castell Coch is a castle with a difference. It's small in comparison to many of the castles we visited but a very fairy tale picturesque castle. A charming lovely castle to visit. It doesn't take long to get around the castle and worth the visit. 

Next we headed to Caerphilly Castle. We parked in the supermarket just 5 mins walk from the castle. The supermarket has a 3 hour free parking limited and we barely made it back within the time due to the size of the castle and the time it takes to explore properly. 

We finished our day with a meal at Indian Empire restaurant. This restaurant was just a few minutes drive from our hotel so it was an easy decision to come here. It was also a great choice as the food was good and the service was matched the food. Would recommend Indian Empire.

We headed into Bristol the following day. Stopped for a bite to eat before heading to the Hippodrome and watching the festive annual pantomime which was hilarious.