Thodur two

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Thodur here.

This is a decent route I’d walk again.

It takes a mile and a half just to get out of Thornbury. The route is partly on the main road and partly weaves through green spaces and along stream-side paths, finally heading out of town through a neat new villagey estate. Take care crossing the B4061 as it can be busy/fast. The path on the other side to reach the stile into the first field is messy and nettly in summer, but mercifully short.

The Slow Way then makes its way uphill onto the plateau around Round House Farm where the fields are mostly full of monocultural arable crops and mowing grass. There was also a horse pasture bounded by an electric fence which didn't leave the kindest route around the edge for walkers. However, the path infrastructure through here is good and it is easy to navigate through and before heading down the other side of the hill, the route passes a huge wind turbine.

On the way down to to Falfield there are good views ahead towards the Cotswold edge. The grass was very thick when I walked through this year, but I’ve walked there before and it isn't always like that. At the bottom the path fiddles around field edges by a wooded stream and through a scrubby paddock behind the youth detention centre, shortly arriving at the A38. The crossing is straightforward. On the other side follow the plot of the Slow Way which is accurate. The footpath suggested on the OS map doesn't exist any more. Also be careful as you come out onto the B-road. It is the access road to a motorway junction and has only narrow, unprotected verges. It can be hairy with traffic in the rush hour but not so bad at other times.

The walk on past Heneage Court and its lake is nice, even with M5 roaring by, and a little further along the Slow Way crosses under the motorway via a concrete tunnel and heads uphill towards Tortworth.

From here, the Slow Way takes the most direct route to the Little Avon river via an enclosed woodside bridleway, the corner of a road and hard tracks to Avening Green, but if you are not in much of a hurry, there is a nicer and slightly longer alternative route to the south via the Old Court at Tortworth. This is fine to walk and worth the detour in my opinion, especially as it allows a visit the magnificently ancient Tortworth Chestnut (at w3w shelters.sung.delighted, and also marked on the OS map).

When it reaches the river, the route contours along its tranquil course to the old Mill at Huntingford where it takes to the lanes for a couple of miles to circumnavigate the difficult area of arable fields around Kitesnest Farm and Katherine’s Farm where the (apparently many) rights of way are rerouted, lack signs and infrastructure, or are obliterated by thick crops in the summer. The road walking is actually pleasant enough (and much better in comparison. I’ve tried both) with some views around. It is mostly also pretty quiet but take care on the short corner of the faster, wider road just before the turn into Daisy Farm. There’s not a lot of refuge to be had on the verge here.

Most of the rest of the walk is a steady climb up the Cotswold Edge, with some good views back. In North Nibley, the Slow Way takes the longer way round via Nibley House Farm (signage and gates are a little wayward here) as the more direct path, which goes through someone’s garden, can be brambly and impassable. After this, it is more-or-less plain sailing as it follows the well-used Cotswold Way into Dursley, with a steep climb up through woodland, a flat hop across a golf course and a steep descent through more woodland into Dursley on the other side.

Expect all sorts of stiles, including some tall ones; muddy patches of ground, exuberant vegetation around some of the access points in summer, and some livestock. Thornbury is well served by buses and there is a bus that runs to Dursley from there Monday to Saturday.

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