Galentine's Hiking Retreat in the Wye Valley

At the weekend, I hosted a ‘Galentine’s Retreat’ in the beautiful Wye Valley. There were fifteen of us altogether staying in a luxury bunkhouse in Glasbury, right next to the river Wye.

The retreat began on Friday night, with everyone arriving after their long journeys in the rain. Some women reunited from previous events; others were completely new and slightly nervous. Some I’d met before and some I hadn’t. I’m always blown away by everyone’s courage to show up, despite it being completely new and unknown.

Conversations were flowing in no time, everyone getting to know each other, catching up and filling each other in on life’s recent events. We had some soup made by our brilliant chef, Ella, before heading to our beds, ready for the early-morning start the next day.

After filling up on pancakes, fruit, and coffee the next morning, we got our bags ready, wrapped up warm, and put on our hiking boots for the day ahead. Our walk began in Hay-on-Wye, so we car-shared to our start point and gathered around for the briefing. I always start our hikes with a little spiel about pacing: we walk as a group, which means no one gets left behind; we walk slowly, taking the opportunity to enjoy the conversations with others and connect with the nature around us, rather than rushing to the finish line.

Our walk starts along the Offa’s Dyke path, a 177-mile long-distance trail along the border of England and Wales. We follow the trail through a few fields where we are all commenting on how glorious this sunshine is—it’s the first time we’ve seen the sun in a few weeks, and we feel renewed by the vitamin D. I point out a song thrush singing loudly in a tree above us, explaining to the group how to recognise its unique, repetitive song.

We walk to Cusop to visit St Mary’s Church, which dates back to the Normans and has three majestic ancient Yew Trees in the churchyard, thought to be over two thousand years old. I suggest we take some time to explore the church and wander among the trees, savouring their powerful presence.

We rejoin the Offa’s Dyke path, continue walking uphill and follow the banks of a babbling brook covered in Harts Tongue Ferns, soft mosses and old oak trees. At the foothills of the Black Mountains, we edge around the side of the hills, with constant views to our right and ancient forest to our left. We eventually make it to a 5000-year-old Neolithic Burial Chamber—a pile of stones in the ground, if you didn’t know what you were looking at. I encourage the group to think of those who walked this path thousands of years ago, burying their loved ones on this hill, with views and sky in abundance.

Shortly after, we stop for lunch at a perfect spot with views of the green rolling hills in the foreground and snowy mountains of the Brecon Beacons in the distance. After a while, we are in collective silence, enjoying the peace of being outdoors.

We continue back down the hill and walk along a stream, which has hollowed out its clay banks over time to reveal the roots of trees towering above us. We make it down to the edge of the town and meet the river Wye at the well-known spot, The Warren. We spend some time enjoying the river before walking back into town to get a well-deserved hot chocolate and browse the many bookshops.

Once we were all back at the bunkhouse, loaded with books, we were greeted with warm homemade scones with clotted cream and jam—there’s no better sight after a day outdoors. After stuffing our faces and taking a warm shower, we had a gentle, somatic yoga class led by our yoga teacher, Megan. Then it was dinner, games and another early night.

We all woke the next day after a solid night’s sleep—there’s nothing that helps you sleep better than a day in fresh air. The forecast was back to its usual February drizzly greyness, but there was hope of the sun appearing later in the day, so we had a slow breakfast and set off slightly later.

My original plan was to take the group up to Hay Bluff, but with snow still up on the hills, I had to make a last-minute Plan B. I decided to take the group up to the Begwns—a lesser-known upland area with panoramic views across the valley to the mountains. Weaving in and out of the many footpaths that crossed the hills, we walked past several ponds, a Bronze Age round barrow, and eventually headed up to ‘The Roundabout’—a group of trees surrounded by a drystone wall at the high point of the hill, right next to the trig point.

We arrived back to another batch of warm scones. I lit the fire, and we collectively enjoyed that post-hike-in-the-rain cosy feeling.

In the afternoon, I hosted a self-love-themed collage club. Our task was to make ourselves a Valentine’s Day card for next year. The front: a vision board for how we would show ourselves some love over the next twelve months, the inside: a love letter to our future selves. We sat silently, flicking through magazines, finding words and images that called to us, and writing ourselves promises for the year ahead.

For our final evening, we ate home-made pizzas, put on our PJs and watched one of the greatest RomComs of all time—10 Things I Hate About You. It really felt like an old school 90’s sleepover.

We finished the retreat the next morning with a takeaway breakfast and a sunrise walk along the river, taking some time to reflect on the weekend, before heading back to reality.

Everyone hugged and said their goodbyes like old friends, forgetting they had only met a few days before.

I love hosting these weekends; everyone is so interesting, and I always come away feeling inspired by all the conversations I’ve had over the few days. There’s something magical that happens when a group of women come together, and it’s hard to describe to anyone who hasn’t experienced it. It’s like we collectively release our shoulders and finally relax into who we really are, without judgment.

If you’re interested in joining one of our events, you can find out more here.