A limestone bluff high above a great horseshoe loop of the Wye, with peregrines nesting in the cliffs below most springs
From the top of Symonds Yat Rock the River Wye is laid out below in a huge horseshoe bend, curling round wooded hills on the Gloucestershire and Herefordshire border. The rock rises about 120 metres above the water, and the view down the gorge, with buzzards wheeling overhead, is one of the best-known in the Wye Valley. Since 1982 peregrine falcons have nested on the cliffs across the river most springs, and in the breeding season the RSPB usually sets up telescopes at the viewpoint so you can watch them without disturbing the birds. Just behind the car park, earthworks mark the Symonds Yat promontory fort, an Iron Age hillfort — a defended settlement — protected on three sides by the loop of the river. Paths drop steeply to the riverside, where a hand-pulled ferry crosses to the far bank and the Wye Valley Walk passes close by. Goodrich Castle is a few miles north if you want to make more of the day.
