Thober two

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I walked this Slow Way in the Berkeley to Thornbury direction. It is a really nice walk from Berkeley as far as the Rockhampton area and still a pleasant one from there on into town.

Much of the northern part of the route goes through the old-world domain of the Berkeley Castle estate, passing close to the castle grounds in Berkeley itself; then its hunt kennels; its walled deer park; its shooting woods and its castellated horsey farmstead, complete with flag atop the house and jumps for the hunt followers to leap over scattered around the route. By contrast are a few distant views of the far more modern fortifications of two recently decommissioned nuclear power stations by the river Severn. There can’t be many SlowWays that boast such a combination.

The first mile is a pleasant enough on-road walk downhill out of town into the low-lying Berkeley Vale to the village of Ham. From there it climbs up to route through the deer park along a low ridge, with long views across the Severn to the west and over to the Cotswold ridge in the east. After that it follows hard tracks as far as Newpark Farm. The route deviates very slightly from the OS mapped footpath here. It is a sensible permissive path adjustment but has an baffling map. Ignore it. You simply turn right when you have come through the gate into the farmstead area and head over the stile to the right of the metal gate into the field ahead (it is pictured). The Slow Way plot follows this route.

In Roundhouse Wood there isn't any signage. Follow the grassy ride and turn left away from the fence where it forks. You soon arrive at a wooden hunting gate out into the field. It is more obvious coming the other way.

Once out in the fields again, the short slope downhill has long grass and there isn’t the most distinct path. It looks as though walkers make their way down any old way. Head in the general direction of the right hand oak tree at the bottom of the slope. In the next field the Slow Way is mapped along the official right of way but you can turn left and cut down through the field earlier, cutting off a corner.

The way then follows a hard track for half a mile before turning south through some pastures with an old ridge-and-furrow pattern to reach Rockhampton. These fields might have some lying water in places at the very wettest times of year, but weren’t bad underfoot after much recent rain at the end of October.

Between Rockhampton common and the edge of Thornbury the route gets more more fiddly with some eccentric, tatty infrastructure and the odd bramble tendril. You will climb a range of stiles/obstacles (example pictured) but it looks as if efforts are being made to repair and improve things and the route is almost always well-signed. It looks to be reasonably regularly walked and is still very enjoyable, contouring the foot of a woody hill. Most of the fields are permanent pastures. Only the last big one before Thornbury looked as if it might sometimes hold arable crops, but it has been grassy all the times I gave walked that way in the last few years.

At Upper Morton the slow way crosses the B4061, arriving at the road via five metres of scrappy, nettly path, unpleasant in summer. Take good care on the diagonal crossing. The traffic isn't heavy, but it is quick. Signage is absent on the short stretch from here on to the edge of town. Go through the right hand metal gate at the turn of the lane and head a little right to reach the double stiles into the new housing estate (pictured).

Routes from the north aren't the best way to come into Thornbury. The old town is fine and has well-connected bus routes when you get there, but the housing sprawls out in this direction. This slow way takes a slightly fiddly route to take advantage of some quieter walking and off-road foot/cycle paths west of the main road (and there is another option available on Thodur 2 from the same entry point) but if you want to save time and walk in along the main road for the whole mile, it is not at all bad, with wide walkways.

The terrain is mostly flat or gently sloping. There are deer in the park (dogs on leads only) and very likely horses and cattle along the way as well. The northern end is mostly very easy to navigate but a little more attention is needed from Rockhampton onwards. There is a pub at Ham, just outside Berkelely, but otherwise nothing for food/drink unless you get lucky with Rockhampton cricket club on a match day.

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