But avoiding the crop field....

Tim Ryan

Just use the path around the green with the playgrounds instead of going via Mendip Road. There are ominous planning notices on the gateway and it looks as though this whole narrow strip of fields between the edge of town and the motorway are going to be built on over the next few years, so there may be disruption to this exit from town in the future. Beyond the motorway, the path skirts some arable fields and onto a track past the barns of Fishers Farm - a path that looks to be reasonably well walked - to meet the minor road to Chedzoy. Once in the village, a path through the churchyard leads out to edge round another big arable field and a field of mowing grass before crossing into a slightly rougher sheep pasture. Nice views around from this area and it looked as if at a least a few people walk the path across these fields. From here follows miles of flat walking, mostly along the classically lumpy Somerset Levels roads with lovely views of the moors around and very little traffic, interrupted by one off-road section along a drove and through some fields just after the crossing the Huntspill River at Gold Corner....

Mockymock

I was blocked by a solid field of corn between Wedmore and Sand, so I've flagged this route as a maybe and created Briwed Three, which is identical to this route other than skipping that field by following a lane....

danravenellison

This is a good Slow Way route! (More of a review and some photos to follow)...

danravenellison

I agree with everything the previous reviewers said - this is an absolutely fabulous walk, across beautiful and varied countryside and gives a really great feel for the Levels....

panifex

Just use the path around the green with the playgrounds instead of going via Mendip Road. Once over the motorway, the path skirts some arable fields and onto a track past the barns of Fishers Farm (this path looks to be reasonably well walked) where it meets the minor road to Chedzoy. Once in the village, a path through the churchyard leads out to go around the edge of a another big arable field and a field of mowing grass, before crossing into a slightly rougher sheep pasture. Nice views around from this area and it looked as if at a least a few people walk the path across the fields. From here follows some miles of flat walking, mostly along classically lumpy Somerset Levels roads with lovely views of the moors around and very little traffic, interrupted by one section along a drove and through some fields just after the crossing of the massively canalised Huntspill River at Gold Corner. The last bit from Sand to the end of the walk is a mixture of hops across grassy and arable fields, bits of road, alleyways and tracks, some rather muddy today....

Mockymock

Then, after the first farm beyond the village of Mere, the route follows a path alongside a main drainage ditch for several miles with a B-road on the far side if it. The remainder of the route into town follows a cycle path with a safe crossing over the busy A39....

Mockymock

Nice route overall but the plot is rough and innacurate and the footpath access between Westhay Moor and Meare is not now as indicated on the OS map anyway. I will share another version...

Mockymock

The walk across the Levels between Blackford, Mark and Watchfield via pastures, green droves and quiet lanes is really nice and the final stretch west of Highbridge to the mouth of the River Brue and on up the coast to Burnham sea front is lovely. The poorest section of the route is between Watchfield and Highbridge. One place I found awkward is in a corner of the field west of the motorway underpass beside the River Brue (w3w breached.products.clothed) where the path goes down a slightly nettle-y, brambly slope to another sheep hurdle which is replacing a stile (it was marked with a footpath sign though, at least in the west-going direction)....

Mockymock

Slightly more road walking than Briwed(1) but without the access issues....

Tim Ryan

An excellent, easy to follow route. Mainly on paths and byways. Superb views the gpx track could be tidied up a bit, but was obvious....

Tim Ryan

I had to climb over one locked gate to access the road near Upper Combe plantation only to be faced with another locked gate into a field of pig sties, on the other side of the road which I didn't bother with and followed the road around. Another section near Heath House also was blocked and I had to climb a gate to get access to the road....

Tim Ryan

This first half of the walk is very tranquil and the surrounding views are lovely, as this part of the Levels is contained between the Mendip Scarp to the north and a low ridge to the south, with occasional interestingly-shaped hillocks, outliers of the Mendips themselves, rising out of the flat landscape, including that of Glastonbury Tor ahead to the east. After another mile across fields and up a quiet lane into to the next village, Easton, the Slow Way crosses the main road and leaves the levels behind altogether, heading uphill to Wookey Hole (of caves fame). This part of the walk is all on a narrow road with high hedges, but it is a quiet lane with little traffic and there are views back over the levels through the gateways (or ahead of you if you are walking the route the other way)....

Mockymock

Between Mudgley House Farm and the levels proper, there is a short stretch across the fields where the footpath is badly signed and the access across the hedgeline at adapt.poetry.stems is a scramble over a pair of gates pushed together which are partially covered in brambles. Once across the little fields south of Mere there is a kilometre of walking south along one of the typically lumpy levels roads before the Slow Way turns into another nature reserve at Ham Wall (popularly famous for its starling murmurations in winter and much loved by birders at all times) and follows a gravel cycle path through it. At the end of the reserve, the route heads south again for a bit along a very quiet minor road set about by an area of active peat cutting, which still provides a living for some, despite years of campaigning to stop it. It then takes a path around some flooded recent peat cuttings and follows the path through fields alongside one of the area’s many big drainage ditches until it meets the A39 and heads into Street using a cycle path....

Mockymock

The mechanical extraction of peat over many decades from the Somerset levels is an ecological crime which is perhaps being slowly paid for in the shape of the the national nature reserves that have been established there. This slow way takes you from Wedmore, a town well endowed with top notch snacks, descending off a ridge deep into the stunning wetland of Westhay moor, where we saw Marsh harriers hunting, great crested grebe chicks and heard the first cuckoo....

Steve_Roser

It is all easily walkable and looks to be regularly walked but has the usual rural mixture of slightly patchy signage, variable stiles (one or two in poor condition), some easy step-over footpath gates, others tied with string and one fully padlocked, including the footpath inset gate, which had to be climbed....

Mockymock

This is a lovely walk, which we made circular-ish, by cycling from Wedmore to Axbridge, along quiet country lanes mostly, locking the bikes up, walking the slow way back and picking up the car....

Steve_Roser