A lovely walk! More coming shortly...

Hannah

it needs a re-route across the fields from Newent towards Kilcot Woods....

Rhys Jones

Made use of bits of the Daffodil Way, Poets' Way, Geopark Way, along a disused canal, angling lakes, and not much in the way of road walking. In August there were a lot of ploughed or harvested fields to bash across, which at different stages of the growing cycle might be harder to traverse and mean along lumpy field-edge walk....

Hannah

A great route that could do with a few little tweaks, as mentioned by the first reviewer. More detailed review with pics coming soon...

Hannah

If you a getting tired of walking through crop fields, at Dymock you can stay on the road past the pub (Ledbury side), East you can walk along the pavement and road past the cricket club. Six of one half dozen of the other there....

Rhys Jones

When popping out of Kilcot lane at the top of the hill, you are looking for the furthest left of three footpath markers - you can see two from the end of the lane, but there is one further down the hill on the left - this is the path to follow (runs parallel with the road downhill for a while). The footpath that runs from Linton to Fording Farm is not obvious - there is a footpath sign, but it just seems to go into someone's garden - I took a detour on the road round rather than find myself trespassing....

DBSevern

Nic Howes walked much of this route (as Mitnew two) on Sunday 25.9.22 and then went back to explore the Breakheart Hill area of Mitnew one on Thursday 29.9.22, which turned out to be quite an adventure. I strongly favour alternative Mitnew two over Mitnew one because the latter misses the opportunity to visit the tremendous viewpoint of May Hill, has more road walking and includes the steep ascent and descent of the aptly named Breakheart Hill, near Mitcheldean, where there are also serious access concerns which lead me to not recommend route Mitnew one. Photo six shows the trashed stile at the summit of Breakheart Hill; this is another of the characteristics that I assign to walker-unfriendly land management. In the background is the more welcoming land of May Hill, lying on Mitnew two - and with wider views than Breakheart Hill. The deviation leads to Mitnew one's original planned ascent of Breakheart Hill, up the footpath on which Photo three was taken....

nichowes

At the southern corner of Newent Community School playing fields there is a tricky bit of route finding where the passable PROW deviates from that marked on the OS map; it descend towards the Brook but turns right just before the bridge across it, and follows the path SW with the stream close on the left. The route joins a lane at The Green and follows this south to Woodgate, after which it turns left on the Three Choirs Way for less than 100 metres, past the barns where I saw these magnificent traditional barrels (Photo four) and then branches right along a footpath leading to a fine piece of mixed coppice (Photo five). The access lane meets Barrel Lane, along which the route turns left, descending to pass under the former Ross to Gloucester railway line (Photo eleven). A pavement beside the A40 links Barrel Lane with The Farmers Boy, and halfway along it the route follows the Wysis Way, heading off steeply uphill in a SW direction, towards Bilbut Farm; on this section the route passes some lovely old oak trees (Photo thirteen)....

nichowes

Photo 1 shows a clear fingerpost aiming at a side gate to Wisteria Villa marked "Beware of the Dog"; the Geopark Way PROW definitely goes through the otherwise unmarked side gate and then leaves the curtilage of Wisteria Villa via a properly waymarked exit....

nichowes

Visiting the latter adds on distance and a long section of road walking, including alongside the fast, dangerous B4215, locals' preferred direct vehicle route from Hereford to Gloucester. Beyond Elm Bridge there is a choice of Poets’ Paths to follow into Dymock; Lednew one follows Poets’ Path No 1 along the edge of the floodplain of the River Leadon to turn left along the B4216. It’s worth turning off the road to the right to arrive in Dymock via the churchyard; the church contains interpretation that explains the association with the Dymock Poets, including Edward Thomas, who wrote “Adlestrop” after stopping at that station on his rail journey from London to Dymock, via Gloucester, in June 1914. The Daffodil Way leads south from Dymock to the old bridge that carries the drive to Boyce Court over the line of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire canal: https://www.h-g-canal.org.uk Turning off the Daffodil Way at this point Lednew one begins to follow the towpath near a point where a concrete dam holds back water in a section the canal (Photo 13). This would involve walking more than half a mile alongside a busy road before turning right along the lane towards Oxenhall. This road walking can be avoided with a short cut that is described in my review of Lednew two. The route now follows the Geopark Way down the lane to another canal bridge, where the towpath is accessed through a gate on the right, before walking under the bridge (Photo 14, looking back) The towpath is well maintained by local volunteers and leads to a road crossing and then along a canalside drive to the delightfully restored Oxenhall Lock (Photo 15) From Oxenhall Lock Lednew one leads along the canal route towards the restored brick and stone parapet of an aqueduct before meeting Horsefair Lane, along which the route turns left into Newent....

nichowes