Wescle four

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

We started at Poets walk and ended at Clevedon pier. Wonderful sea views at the highest point, but steps and slopes. The bay was particularly windy but to be expected. Mid/late afternoon walk provides lovely photo opportunities of Clevedon Pier.

I started from Worle Bus Terminus next to Sainsbury's and walked along the pleasant path alongside Queensway to Ebdon Road. The Pier to Pier Way joins at Lyefield Road and there's a parallel footpath on the east side until Bluebell Road. On joining Wick Road there's a footpath to the right which cuts off a corner and ends at a plank bridge near Wick Village Hall. The rest of the route through Wick is on-road although it was quiet. There was no cake in the tin in St. Lawrence Church although it was worth a visit and I sat in the churchyard to eat my lunch. The off-road Tutshill Greenway starts in another 1.2 km along the road. It was interesting to read about the former railway. After crossing the sluice I stopped at The Owl in the Oak for a cup of tea. They are open every day at 10 am except Mondays and Tuesdays and close at 3 pm (4 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays). There's a toilet! Most of the rest of the route is on winding lanes which are mainly quiet with little traffic.
When you reach the right-angled bend in Lower Strode Road (51.42, -2.87) the Pier to Pier Way turns left to head for the coast path which has good sea views en-route to the pier. I'd done this section before and was aiming for the town centre, so stayed on Lower Strode Road/Strode Road passing the ASDA supermarket and used Coleridge Vale Road North to get to the centre. First Bus X5 (hourly) joins the start and finish of my walk.
Only 3 stars because of the road walking and the fast bikes although the countryside is fine.

I walked this today from Weston to Clevedon, and agree pretty much with everything MockyMock says in their review (and indeed with the rating - though I’ve erred on the side of giving it 4 stars so between us 3.5 seems about right to me!)

Some additional observations.

It was windy and high tides when I started in Weston. While it might be exciting to walk along the paths right by the sea in these conditions, you will get very wet - much better to walk along the road instead.

The walk through Weston Wood was great, and it was a shame when that ended and it became a busy but manageable road walk through Kewstoke. I thought it was safe enough to not cause any issues.

The section along Ebdon Road needed caution and patience after the housing estate - a busy road round a sharp turn - but it didn’t last long.

After that, the roads become much quieter and mostly all you have to worry about are cyclists!

I popped into the church in Wick St Lawrence for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. I love it when churches do this - such a peaceful rest spot. As a result, I didn’t need the services of the cafe.

Overall, a good slow way. It may be that it is still useful even when the coast path route opens - there may be times when the conditions would favour a more road based route. So a worthy addition to the network.

At last, the opening of the multi-user path over the Tutshill Sluice gives which finally allows a viable Slow Way between Weston and Clevedon. Yay!

My three star rating feels a bit mean because some of it is really great but it is not the most direct route and too much is on roads for my liking (about 5 and half miles of it). However, while a sizeable proportion of the very best off-road route between these two towns still lies along an unopened section of the England Coast Path (which has cleared planning now so is coming), this is a good route which I would use in the meantime.

I did the route from Clevedon to Weston. The sections at either end are mostly on footpaths and lovely to walk. The route over Wain's Hill and along the coast from Clevedon is beautiful with wide views across the Bristol Channel and lots of birds to see on the mudflats in winter. The approach to Weston is along a long wooded path, with the sound of the nearby sea in your ears, and arriving into old town around the headland via the dilapidated Birnbeck pier is a fine, if slightly circuitous way in.

Also off-road and very enjoyable is the new multiuser cycle route between the turn to Yeo Bank Farm and Icelton. After many delays, it opened this summer and is already popular, and someone has had the wit to open a little cafe (middle of the day opening hours) at the northern end of it by Mendip View Farm to boot, which is great in the middle of this long route.The photo is of the view by Tutshill Sluice.

Most of the rest of the route is on-road. While a lot of it uses safe, quiet lanes (though watch out for the cyclists on a fine day), the hedges around it mean there is sometimes not a lot to see, though it is pleasant walking through the quiet village of Wick St Lawrence. [[if you wanted to use the fields between Icelton and Ebdon here instead, it is perfectly possible to use the footpaths across. I have done this a couple of times but there will likely be cattle and also possibly crops in summer or soggy ground in winter. I also encountered an unhelpful, hard-to-open gate into Ebdon Farm the last time I passed through]].

The dullest section of the route is some of the way between Ebdon and Kewstoke. It is mitigated by off-road footways around the edge of the new housing estates south of Ebdon, and sometimes there are pavements, or you can duck into driveways, but the Kewstoke Road has no footway, it can be busier and it is sometimes dark under the trees. This mile and a half or so is not such a great walk - better as a cycle route (on which this route is based). Safe enough though with care.

I will work out and post an alternative route which is more off-road as soon as the new England Cost Path option becomes accessible.

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