Collyd one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Collyd here.

Unfortunately this route fails because it crosses private land where there is no right of way. There are two Public Footpaths (West Dean Footpath 16 and Lydney Footpath 2 according to Glos. County Council) which are physically very close, barely the distance between the green dashes on an OS map and this route jumps from one to the other. To follow on the ground though you'd have to climb fences, cross a fair sized stream and walk along a private driveway/track. The farmer has had some bad experiences and is very much not in favour of this! OS mapping is often ambiguous so I can see why the route was chosen but in this case there is no way through.

I started the walk from Lydney. There's a footpath that runs parallel but separate from Bream Road beside the fields uphill from the road. There had been heavy rain earlier that day, often throughout the previous week and a very wet winter. And this path was both muddy and wet. At the northern end there could a problem between the path and Bream Road. There was a stile but then no clear way across the small bank and ditch through a line of young trees. In February it was hardly a problem, but as the trees leaf up and undergrowth refills the gaps it may be trickier, particularly coming the other way. The farmers field gate a few dozen metres to the south is kept very clear.

Keeping north for a short distance along the road there was a decent verge until the path turns off to the right. There was a stile next to a farm gate and a small fingerpost, this was Lydney Footpath 2. There wasn't a clear way through, I hoped it would follow one path but this veered too far to the left, another ended in impenetrable vegetation, the farm track seemed promising but then turned across a fence line. I did have a GPS app on my phone which is usually reliable but it didn't really help. Perhaps there was a clear path but if so I didn't see it. I did try to keep close to the fence line and eventually met a public footpath going crosswise, this is Lydney Footpath 1 and was much clearer. This also meant I knew I was definitely on Lydney 2 again although deciding how to go forward was still a problem. There was an arrow marker but it pointed into an area of thick area of bracken, maybe possible to wade or climb through in late winter but I can't believe it would be penetrable in summertime. Looking back up the hill I couldn't a clear way which fitted Lydney 2 there either. After meeting a small herd of fallow deer I came out by some fish ponds which was reassuring, they are on the OS maps so I was definitely on Lydney 2 and so this route again. But just beyond I met the farmer, who explained that Lydney 2 and West Dean 16 don't actually meet. And so, as I couldn't continue my test of this particular Slow Ways route I headed back towards the (unnamed) road with some advice from the farmer about another possible path to use.

I did make it to Bream and had walked from Bream to Coleford earlier in the week using a combination of ChepsCol 3 and ColCin 2 so I'm going to upload a new, mostly tested ColLyd route. Sadly the weather was so wet that week that my plans had to adapt a lot, I didn't have time to find out if there was actually a clear way along Lydney 2 which I had inadvertently missed. Or to test the remainder of ColCin 2, let alone ChepsCol 3.

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