Bristr one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Bristr here.

I walked this Bridgwater to Street. There are definitely nicer ways to get in/out of both towns but much of this Slow Way is a very enjoyable rural walk, initially on the levels and then up onto the gently undulating lower slopes of the Polden Hills with lovely views across the moors, and then towards Glastonbury Tor as you head into Street. There is quite a lot of road walking but it is quiet, often with plenty to see around, and regularly interspersed with stretches of off-road bridlepath and footpaths. During the week this Slow Way is surprisingly well connected by a little bus that plies its way between Bridgwater and Street a few times a day, stopping at most of the villages along the route, making it practicable to to explore it in two halves. Sadly not at weekends.

The route heads out of Bridgwater along the main Langport Road for about a mile. Not bad and easy to navigate, but not nice either. It then uses a more minor road on the edge of town which is getting increasingly busy and blighted by construction traffic. There is plenty of room and a verge but it isn't the quietest way to get out of town. (Note that Briwed two uses an alternative, quieter, and same-length, though more convoluted route out to exactly the same point of departure from town as this Slow Way and continues to share the same route as this on as far as Chedzoy)

A short hop leads away from town across a pasture to the little footbridge over the M5 and an escape into Levels farmland, with only a few pylons, big tractors and maize crops to remind you of modernity from there on. Planning signs on the inward gate indicate that the little strip of fields between town and motorway is likely to be built on soonish, and his may well cause disruption to this route when it happens.

Once over the M5, the path heads around the edges of some arable fields and along a track past Fishers Farm, where it meets a minor road and continues along that for a couple of miles through Chedzoy and on to Sutton Mallet. The road is quiet, particularly beyond Chedzoy, and there are lovely views across the fields and reedy ditches towards the Polden Hills. A path across a couple of arable fields cuts off a corner of road at one point. This was OK today in mid Spring but not sure how much more efficient it would be with fully-grown standing crops. It’s easy to see ahead and check though.

From Sutton Mallet, the route picks up a green lane leading gently uphill and onwards to Moorlinch. This was a bit wet and had some challenging puddles after recent unusually heavy rain but I just about managed to keep my feet dry. I have walked it once before in summer and it was fine then. There are some beautiful views southwards from here and today much birdsong, and cowslips flowering on the edges. It is one of the loveliest bits of the walk.

From Moorlinch there is a section of road which has vehicles passing fairly frequently but is also wide, safe and still with some views. Just before Greinton, the Slow Way heads off it up the driveway of Greenway Farm (the footpath sign was leaning drunkenly and hard to spot but is there), and turns in just before the silvery gates over a footbridge and takes to the fields for the next mile and a half to Pedwell. The farmer hadn't left the most generous pathway along the edge of the first big arable field but this soon improved and the path looked to be well-walked generally.

After Pedwell, there is another short section of road to Ashcroft. This is fine but take care crossing the A39 into the village. Sight lines aren't the best and the road is very busy.

From here on to Street the route is a bit mixed and, in my opinion, could do with some tweaks. In Ashcroft, the Slow Way dips half back out of the village again to cross a couple of poached and fields which are part of a dairy farm and likely to be full of cows. It would be better and probably quicker to take the road through the village. I recommend doing that instead.

There then follows another mile of quiet lane down to Whitley. From here on to Street, the route is through fields in a shallow moors-y valley and then on uphill and via some playing fields around the back of Walton. This route is perfectly OK and has some nice views, but at the edge of Street it dumps you unceremoniously at an out of town shopping centre, using some sad footpath remnants between the access roads and the car parks, and takes you for a boring mile of unprepossessing trafficky road into the centre of town.

This is a dull end and I may well research and post an alternative to improve it, but overall this is a good and perfectly usable route. This is a quietly beautiful area, the path infrastructure is all Ok and the signage mostly adequate. I didn’t see a shop but there are several pubs on the way - one just off the route near the church in Chedzoy, another at Moorlinch, another in Ashcroft village.

Both Bridgwater and Street have decent public transport. Lots of buses or mainline trains from the former and there are frequent buses into well-connected Wells bus station all week from the latter.

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