A glorious stroll along the Wye’s remote pools and rapids

Walking with an expert guide, who reveals a stretch of river where salmon leap in late autumn, as well as a concerted conservation effort

I was looking down at the River Wye from Boughrood bridge on a sunny autumn morning with Simon Evans, who runs the Wye and Usk Foundation. Simon, it is fair to say, is a fish enthusiast. “I’ll come here at times and see the river almost boiling with fish activity,” he said. “As many as 500 shad can be churning the water for a group spawning. There are barbel as well. It looks like pigs rippling through the undergrowth of a forest!”