Colros two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Colros here.

This is a great walking route - definitely 5 stars between Ross-on-Wye and English Bicknor, which is most of its length. The section between Coleford and English Bicknor lets down the overall impression of the walk, due to a wide variety of walker-unfriendly land management on which I'll elaborate in that section of the Review. The route is reviewed here from Ross-on-Wye to Coleford, i.e. walking southwards.

The walk is long and way marking is patchy, so walkers will need to constantly update their location on a paper or digital map; if using the latter, it's worth noting that my smartphone's battery ran flat long before reaching the finish, and I was glad that I had taken a paper map as back up. I have since bought a cheap, light power pack from which to recharge the 'phone if necessary in future.

The route starts at Ross-on-Wye Market House (Photo one) and quickly exits the town via residential alleys and quiet streets. Just beyond the HQ of PGL the route begins the first of many ascents, climbing the northern flank of Chase Hill, itself an outlier of the Forest of Dean plateau (UK's Roraima-style "Lost World"?). Near the top of the ascending forestry track is an overgrown cleft guarded by a large lump of quartz conglomerate (Photo two); it has been suggested that this may once have been an entrance through the ramparts of the large hill fort that occupies the summit of Chase Hill.

The route descends from Chase Hill to cross Coughton valley, aka "The Valley the Wye Forgot"; this name refers to the widely accepted explanation that the River Wye used to flow through this valley and thereby cut off Chase Hill and Penyard Park from the rest of the plateau.

After crossing the misfit stream in the valley bottom at Coughton Mill, the route does not ascend the full climb to the plateau but climbs about halfway up the "wall" and then turns right to contour round, through beautiful ancient semi natural woodland. After crossing the surfaced road up Howle Hill, the route continues to follow the Wye Valley Walk across a small valley in which a vineyard has been planted (Photo three). The next crossing is the road up Bull's Hill, beyond which the route passes a characteristic Wye Valley feature: a quartz conglomerate boulder beside a path through dense, steep ancient woodland (Photo four).

The original plotting of Colros takes a short cut across access land between the Wye Valley Walk and Kerne Bridge. Photo five confirms that there is no exit from the access land because the associated drive is private. Colros two takes a small deviation to the south, rejoining the Wye Valley Walk along the drive to "Ravenhurst" (Photo six) to connect to the B4234 near Kerne Bridge. From the public car park on the opposite side of this busy local road it is possible to follow on - or next to - the course of the old railway line to emerge beside the southwest entrance to Kerne Bridge itself (safer than walking along the road); the Inn on the Wye lies clearly in view from this point, and may prompt a refreshment stop.

Once over Kerne Bridge the route immediately descends to the riverbank and sets off downstream along it; looking back provides great views of Flanesford Priory, Goodrich Castle and Kerne Bridge (Photo seven). In the curtilage of a timber-framed cottage, the route veers off from the Wye Valley Walk, uphill and past a stag sculpture in wood (Photo eight, looking down to the Wye). A little further uphill the original Colros route reaches Woodbine Cottage where it has its other problem: the footpath marked on the map has been totally obliterated and Colros two will take you on a short deviation along Woodbine Cottage's drive up to the surfaced lane before turning left along it towards Welsh Bicknor Youth Hostel (which is in Herefordshire, England). At the Youth Hostel signage, fork right off the surfaced road and down a steep, narrow path (Photo nine).

Arriving at the Youth Hostel, the route turns almost back on itself to continue the descent to the river bank and across the garden of a remote house to reach Stowfield Viaduct, aka Black Bridge (Photo ten). After years of temporary closures, campaigning and negotiations, Black Bridge appears to be open and well-maintained (Photo eleven), with a regular inspection regime. The route descends from Black Bridge to its left on the Gloucestershire side; it then soon passes the northern corner of the former cable works, upon which flood levels of the Wye have been recorded (Photo twelve).

From the flood markers a track leads to the main road at Stowfield, alongside which it turns right for a short distance before branching right down a drive, across a stream and then starting to ascend a track to climb out of the Wye gorge another time. On the way up the climb, the track cuts through a steep bank, named as Offa's Dyke on the OS map (Photo thirteen).

A little further up the climb, a great view of the Wye gorge upstream opens up to the southwest (Photo fourteen); the prominent hill on the left is Rosemary Topping and to its right - in the distance - lie Coldwell Rocks, huge limestone cliffs on which Peregrine Falcons nest. After meeting the field boundary by a road, the route sets off across the fields, arrives by English Bicknor church and crosses the grounds of the delightfully located primary school. Soon after this is a car park with an interesting interpretation board for this village (Photo fifteen).

The final section of the southwards passage of Colros contains more than its fair share of walker-unfriendly land management. The steep lane down towards Eastbach is fine, and the footpath off to the right is easy to find. Like many walkers, I find that cattle can be intimidating, especially in large numbers in confined spaces; I was glad to reach the Wysis Way at the southern end of this pretty valley section, through which I was closely followed - indeed surrounded by - a large herd of lively cattle.

After a short climb on the Wysis Way, the route continues to climb towards Coleford Meend and the plateau level. On the way, at least one arable field has been ploughed tight to the field boundary. On entering the forested area that is marked as access land the route turns south to Ninewells Bottom and is a neglected track which is uneven, muddy and heavily overgrown.

Once correctly identified, the access land path looping round the outside edge of private properties to Ninewells is relatively straightforward, as is the passage across the main road (Beech Avenue) and along the forestry tracks through Coverham Inclosure. Across the B4432 at Five Acres, the way marks are fair to get onto the Golf Course but at that entry point I recommend taking a compass bearing to cross the fairways on the line of the public footpath and stay on that network across a few fields beyond the Golf Course and into the suburban streets of Coleford to the west of Portway Farm.

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