SIR,

I have followed with interest the correspondence about the fencing off of the riverside path on Vauxhall Field.

It is a regrettable development but I suppose nothing can be done if the landowner chooses not to co-operate.

I would like to ask why the path in the other direction is so difficult to access?  That is a public footpath and yet the stile is completely inaccessible except to the very able-bodied.

I was having a cup of tea in a local cafe last weekend and got into conversation with a group of ladies from Leicester who were on a day trip to Monmouth.

They were all members of the Ramblers but did not do so much walking nowadays, but they had wanted to walk along the Monnow and had gone down the steps behind Iceland and had crossed the bridge only to find that they could not get over the stile.

Is 'Fortress Monmouth' the kind of impression we want to give to our visitors?

Daphne Smith

(Monmouth)