Rosled three

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Rosled here.

Oh no!!!! So close.

I walked this route from Ross to Ledbury. It very nearly worked a treat, but just east of Preston Court the farmer has crown a massive and impenetrable crop of corn.

I'm going to review this route as a "maybe" as, if the corn was not there, it would have worked.

There was an issue with some stiles too (to the north of Lodge Cottage) which look like they've been removed to deter walkers... they should sort that out. I got over the remaining wood fine, but less than ideal.

So, in response, I'm sharing Rosled Four which deals with both of those issues. It's otherwise 100% true to this route.

A slightly grey day at the end of September seemed like the perfect time to set out to review ROSLED3, going in reverse, having caught the fabulous Daffodil line bus from Newent to Ledbury. The plan was to catch the bus back from Ross later in the day - more of that later!
The paths sets out from Ledbury along a nice traffic free old railway line, before heading out through the outskirts and into the countryside proper. After crossing the A449 there is a fair stretch of quiet country lane, through the fruit growing district. It was on reaching the footpath striking away from this road at Orlham Farm that I encountered my first issue - the stile took you behind a barbed wire fence. As the path appeared to follow the edge of the field to begin with, I assumed this was the path, and proceeded along it, although it was fairly overgrown, and got worse as can be seen in photo 2. This cordoned off edge seemed to start to diverge from the footpath, but with no easy way to get back into the field without risking the narbed wire, so I persevered, even though the edge turned into a ditch. I eventually reached a corner where the bracing of the fence allowed me to climb over the fence, but not ideal. I don't know if I missed a second stile, or the landowners were just being unhelpful - there were no signs of other walking heading across the recently ploughed field.
After this things improved for a while, with a nice mix of footpaths, drives and short road ssections leading to the edge of Preston Court, and the lovely church at the edge of the property. This was where my next deviation was required - the route and public footpath appears to go round the side of the house and down the tree-lined drive, but there was a very clear hand-painted "No Entry" sign on what I believed was the path. As I knew there was a driveway for the antiques business to the side of the property, I decided to follow this out of Preston Court, and walked along the road to rejoin the route. There were signs of a recent fire at the property, so it could be the "No Entry" was a temporary measure while work was completed.

After crossing the B4215, the path becomes a little unclear, especially when passing through a large field of beet, but the farmer appears to have driven along the appropriate line, so felt fairly confident I was heading in the correct direction. You pass through a few more farm fields, before hitting the edge of Much Marcle, and a welcome stop at the Walwyn Arms, to recharge myself and my phone! A visit to Hellens house and garden would be worthwhile if you are there on a suitable day - free entry to gardens and agreat tea-room.

Heading off from Much Marcle, the path passes St Bartholemews church (photo 3) and heads up the slope of Bodenham Bank, with some great views behind back to the Malverns. I chose to climb to the road, rather than take the footpath to the right through Bodenham Farm for simplicity's sake. You then follow this quite lane for a fair while, until you reach All Saints church at Yatton. Here the route goes down the hill, to join a footpath along the valley bottom to Lodge Farm. The stile to enter the footpath was broken (not a good sign), and then in the second field was what I would describe as a "spirited" horse, and his ram companion. The ram seemed to be guarding the stile out of the field, so I took that as a sign I wasn't welcome, and retreated over the broken stile, back to the church, and continued to follow the road until it joined back up with the route.
As you leave the road to join the Herefordshire Way, you are treated to great views from Perrystone Hill across to May Hill, the Chase, and off into Wales - picture 4 gives an idea, but it was a slightly hazy day.

Dropping down from Perrystone hill, you pass through the middle of Coldborough Park Farm, then head off further downhill to cross the A449. The next field was very difficult going - heavily churned up under long grass, with every step threatening to twist your ankle!

Things improve after this, climbing up again to Crossington Farm, along a well signposted path (around the outside of the Farmstead rather than through, presumably a recent diversion of the footpath). You then eventually pop out at Crow Hill, with the Moody Cow pub on hand to offer refreshment if needed.

From here you head off down the side of a fairly busy road for a km or so, before heading on to the final stretch of the route into Ross. This runs parallel to the M50 for a while, before heading underneath and into Upper Foxhall, where you will find yourself on the inside of an electric fence, which seems a bit recalcitrant when you press the "open" button, but does eventually let you out of the property. You follow the route alone the drive, and then drop down into Rudhall, before striking out across meadows and into Ross. Having done this ssection before as part of ROSNEW1, I made light work of it, especially as the rain started to come down. Unfortunately, I arrived 10 minutes too late for the return on the Daffodil Line, but luckily the better half was happy to drive out and pick me up.

Overall I found the path a bit of a challenge in places due to poor maintenance/waymarking, and you have to be confident of your map-reading skills in parts, but it was still an acheivement. I feel there must be more attractive routes possible between the two towns, but this one is serviceable.

Nic Howes trialled this route successfully on 10.11.22

On that day, Nic got through but nearly a year later Dan Raven-Ellison walked the route and encountered some problems that he negotiated and accordingly tweaked the .gps track slightly and uploaded it as Rosled four. At Dan's request, Nic copied and pasted this review of Rosled three over to Rosled four.

Rosled three has many great sections but Ross to Crow Hill is spoiled by proximity to the M50 followed by a long section beside a busy minor road, waymarking is patchy throughout the route, route finding is difficult due to poor maintenance and the section from Much Marcle to Ledbury has many large arable fields that lack interest.

From Ross-on-Wye Market House, follow the High Street as far as Cantilupe Road and then follow this down past the bus stops to the roundabout outside Morrisons. Pass the far eastern corner of the supermarket to reach the fingerpost by RB cars (Photo one); proceed down the industrial estate road, as the people in the photograph are doing. This road leads to the entrance to Broadmeadow Touring site: https://avon-estates.co.uk/broadmeadow/ and the footpath passes through a quiet, attractive space between the site and a lake before reaching and crossing the Ross-on-Wye eastern by-pass.

Immediately beyond the by-pass lies a low embankment that is one of the components of the Ross-on-Wye flood alleviation scheme; the bank is embedded with an impervious concrete insert, the top edge of which can be seen as a line along the bank crest (Photo two). The bank extends as an arc across the former valley of the River Wye ("the valley the Wye forgot" - see Slow Way Colros) and is designed to hold back a flood peak on the Rudhall Brook and release it slowly. The long, flat-topped hill in the background of the view in Photo two is Penyard Park, geomorphologically part of the Forest of Dean plateau.

For the first mile beyond the Ross-on-Wye bypass the sound of traffic on the M50 is subdued by a slight ridge to the left. Secluded Rudhall House was once the home of Sir John Harvey-Jones of TV's "Troubleshooter" fame. Beyond Rudhall the rural atmosphere is broken by the passage under the M50 (Photo three); the route then follows a drive parallel to the motorway, a few metres away. Past Upper Foxhall, the security gates on the drive to Upper Foxhall Court allow access to walkers on the Public Right of Way (Photo four).

The route dives under the M50 again, in a cattle creep with corrugated sides; after this it follows the floodplain of the Rudhall Brook to meet a busy minor road at Sandford Bridge. Turning left, there's a long roadside pull under the M50 and on up to Crow Hill. By the bus stops the route turns off the road and drops down the far side of the ridge, leaving the M50 behind for good. The Herefordshire Trail is joined at a field corner and is then followed past Crossington Farm (outside the curtilage rather than within in as shown on the OS 1:25000 map). A quiet section follows to the A449, with good views north towards hills (Photo five) at the southern tip of the Woolhope Dome (see Herled).

Climbing the side of the ridge beyond the A449, good views open up of the Malvern Hills (Photo six). The Herefordshire Trail continues across an arable field to Coldborough Park Farm and then ascends across another one to reach the significant local peak of Perrystone Hill. A quiet lane departs from the Herefordshire Trail and descends northwards from the summit before descending a path to Lodge Farm; on the way the view opens up into the heart of the Woolhope Dome (Photo seven, and see Herled for more information).

The route skirts the curtilage of Lodge Farm and rejoins the Herefordshire Trail just west of All Saints church, Yatton (Photo eight). The route continues on the lane towards Much Marcle, ignoring the Herefordshire Trail branching off north at Lower House. Further on, the small crescent of four former Council houses has a great view east towards May Hill and the Forest of Dean plateau to the latter's right. Resisting the temptation to short cut down the drive to Bodenham House, turn right off the lane at Orchard Cottage, a little further on.

After crossing three fields the route joins the Three Choirs Way, crosses the A449 again and passes Much Marcle church, well worth a look inside and out, including the magnificent yew tree (Photo nine) and the carved hedgehog on the Kyrle tomb. The route leaves the Three Choirs Way and continues through the village, passing 100 metres from The Walwyn Arms, should refreshments be needed.

Skirting north of Hellens, the route is sketchy but passable across a large tract of open fields with no alternative public footpaths. After crossing the busy B4215, a highlight is the approach to Preston Court (late 16th/early 17th century), along Poets' Path No.2 up a tree-lined drive (Photo ten). The route passes the left-hand side of the old building to access a yard with St John the Baptist's church on the right. A path and restricted byway lead across fields to cross a lane, then a drive and more footpaths lead to a surfaced lane that is followed all the way to its junction with the A449.

Across the A449 a well-used path leads to woodland at which point it turns right without entering the trees and leads through Ledbury's "edgelands" to a roundabout from which it threads through suburban Ledbury to the Market House, using the old railway line to avoid vehicle traffic for a few hundred metres.

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