Stoglo two

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Walked from Gloucester to Stonehouse on a hot early summer day, on very dry ground. This would be a four star route if the footpaths were better maintained - as it is there were plenty of stiles where movement was constrained by overgrown hedges, and there was one narrow bridge that was tricky to get onto without being cut by overhanging thorns. The scenery is pretty, and the road sections all have pavements other than the quiet country lanes.

The centre of Gloucester has some interesting buildings, and Gloucester Park is quite pretty, but apart from that the walk out to Robinswood is a little dull, if direct and safe - the A38 crossing has a central refuge but no traffic lights, so needs care when busy. The Robinswood country park is very pleasant. We cross a grass slope uphill on an unsurfaced but obvious path, then pick up a roughly surfaced lane which undulates through trees. We briefly come down to houses, but remain in the park. Watch out for the little path down the hill - it has a stile but is otherwise unsignposted and its first few steps are a little steep. We then cross fields, a few more stiles and follow an obvious path back to Stroud Road. There is a garden centre with a cafe here.

We follow Stroud Road, which has a good pavement on the west side, over the M4, then take the signposted path right through the churchyard. This path starts well, but we are soon in a large cow pasture criss-crossed by low single wire fences that looked electric. Since I was wearing long trousers, I was able to step over these and find the exit in the far left corner.

More stiles lead us to a grassy field alongside a stream. There are supposed to be three paths that exit from here - the right hand one should be the most direct, but having found its bridge and fought my way through nettles and other undergrowth I emerged in a field with two horses. There is no way through the hedge where the path should be, and the gate exit to the road is high and padlocked, and I thought better of trying to climb it and retreated to find the second path. This required crossing a wildflower meadow with long grass and no path, but I had no problem finding the stile to reach Naas Lane. In theory there should be a path straight across here but though I could see the first stile, there was no indication of where to go after that so I followed the lane back down to the path I was originally trying to reach.

Once again there is little waymarking, but a series of stiles takes you across horse paddocks onto more open fields, where the path onwards to Colethrop Lane has no difficulties other than more slightly constricted stiles. Beyond the lane the path is OK across the first field, but there was little trace of a trodden line across the second, but the crops were low so I was able to cross easily enough, and the end of a line of trees makes an easy intermediate target, and I was soon in Haresfield. This part of Colethrop Lane was surprisingly busy, but once past the half left turn the road is quieter and has a pavement.

Just before we cross the railway on a level crossing we pass a pub. A little path takes us over the railway to Haresfield Lane, which we follow south to find a lane crossing the railway on a bridge. We follow the lane right past a farmhouse to more fields, with more overgrown stiles, then take the lane right past Arlebrook to emerge at a T junction. There should be a path straight on here - the right of way goes past the farm building (a rather forbidding gate stopped me investigating). OpenStreetMap and the OS snap to footpath tool suggest a way into the field a little further west, but the gate has a private sign which I wasn't inclined to ignore.

So I stayed in the quiet lane and followed it round, turning sharp left along the lane, where a sign proclaims no through route to the old hospital. Once past the farm this road seems almost unused, passing through a dark wood. The path right starts well, with obvious unimpeded stiles. I suspect that this path once passed straight through the farmyards ahead, and its line is now a little strange - having crossed a bridge into a large pasture, we cross right to the far side of a hedge and follow another field to the edge of the farm, where a little bridge should take us back into the field we just left. Getting onto this bridge was a little challenging thanks to head high brambles and a missing plank (see picture 14), but I got through with a few minor scratches.

From here the route down into Stonehouse has no further difficulties though the route through a series of residential streets requires a little faith - I hope my GPX file makes this section fairly easy to navigate. There are no facilities around Stonehouse station, so anyone desperate for refreshment will have to continue down the hill - there is a convenience store on the far side of the High Street a little to the right, and there are pubs and fast food outlets here too.

Overall I enjoyed most of this route, and better footpath maintenance could make it a much better one.

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