The other afternoon we visited one of our favourite viewpoints, to enjoy a quiet period of contemplation at the harbour at Lydney. It’s a glorious place to visit after all the recent work to establish it as a tourist centre. In its earlier days we would catch the Waverley or Balmoral cruisers for a trip down the estuary to Weston or Ilfracombe, but now the visits of these great cruising ships appear to be over. The area retains its attraction as a place of quiet contemplation, with great views of a mighty, ever-changing river, sometimes full and sometimes nearly empty, so you might almost think that you could gracefully walk across to the other side (Warning – do not attempt!!). Human intervention to this panorama, the huge storage silos across the river, and the Severn Bridges downstream do not seem to have spoiled the view.

It's low tide, so the waters from the River Lyd, which seems to have merged with a 19th century canal as a navigable highway for commercial business, tumble down the open lock gate to join the River Severn below.

There is a complicated legacy of watery constructs such as the network of sluices, ponds, weirs and canals which connect to River Lyd as it joins the canal which discharges into the Severn at the harbour. It was a busy river in its heavily industrialised days with business and industrial railway traffic. The Lyd became canalised along the stretch from Lydney town to the Severn river with commercial traffic for the export of minerals, especially coal. There is a big photograph on display at the site taken just before the First World War, showing a vibrant social, business and industrial centre.

It was a cold bright afternoon, and we were expecting to take a gentle walk along a deserted tourist venue. We expected the area to be deserted in this bleak midwinter. There were lots of boats in the inner harbour, looking a bit neglected. Surely Hips the café at the site would be closed as the tourist season was months away and tourists would be safely in somewhere warm, and we would have the place to ourselves. But were astonished to find that Hips was not only open but doing a great trade, baristas working busily to serve the many visitors. We sat on the benches overlooking the river, enjoying the coffee and views in the wonderfully restored venue.

We sometimes wander downstream along a path by the river that opens up into the wide meadow land between Alvington and Aylburton and the river. On my first visit to the Forest in the early 1970s, I picked up a painting by the great forest artist Doug Eaton of this part of the river estuary. The tide was out, and two fishermen were plodding back through the shallow waters by the river edge at the end of their days work. In the distance is the newly constructed Severn Bridge, with the open sea beyond. The second Severn Bridge was yet to come. The painting is all in atmospheric subdued browns and greys, and it has a wonderful serenity which I still note as I see it after half a century.