The rights of the wanderer

The River Wye rises in the Cambrian Mountains of mid-Wales and winds two hundred and fifty kilometres south to the Severn Estuary. Writers, painters and poets have been inspired by its beauty for centuries. This storied waterway is held in the hearts of the communities that live along its banks.Recently, it found another way to make its way into our history books. The Wye has become the first cross-border river in the UK to be granted its own charter of rights, which outline the river's right to flow, to maintain biodiversity, to be free from pollution, to be supported by a healthy catchment and to have a formal seat in decision-making processes.