THE WYE RUN

Following the River Wye from sea to source, on a real mix of roads

- Peter Henshaw

Britain isn't big on rivers. We don't have a Mississippi, Danube or Volga, a consequence of being a small, narrow island where nowhere is far from the sea. But short though they are, some of the waterways we do have are very picturesque. Take the Wye, rising in the dramatic mountains of mid-Wales and carving its way through beautiful valleys to join the Severn at Chepstow, 134 miles later. Best of all, much of it can be followed by bike along some fantastic roads.

Roger (ageing BMW R80), Hume (Honda Transalp), John (1954-ish Ariel bitsa) and self (Honda NC750) meet at Chepstow's Firstclass café for breakfast. The full English is fine, but Roger's R80 has developed a leak from the final drive and John needs Ibuprofen for his broken wrist – not a motorcycling injury, this one, he got it descending his fireman's pole too fast...

Eventually, we get going, up the lovely A466 past Tintern to Monmouth, a good introduction to following the Wye as the river is visible for most of it. After a quick bit of A40/A449, we turn left to Brampton Abbots to be reunited with the river, which is wide, smooth and placid in this broad valley. But we're not with it for long, because our single-track road is closed after a few miles, forcing us up to the B4224, which isn't a hardship, as this too is very scenic and, this being May, spring has truly sprung.

At Hereford, John points out the Water Works Museum, which sounds like a cue for a music hall joke, but apparently really is an interesting place to stop. Not that we have time today, heading out of town on a minor road through Lower and Upper Breinton to join the A438, a sweeping A-road with some nice straights, the river meandering away to our left.