As expected, it was largely an easy walk using well established and gravelled lanes, and quiet minor roads. This is to prevent traffic problems while the A432 is closed - there is no actual obstruction on the road, and it is in fact quite pleasant to walk down it knowing there will be no traffic at all!...

panifex

This entire Slow Way was lost for quite a while owing to a glitch in the Slow Ways website which has now been sorted, so I actually researched this route on the ground quite a few months ago and this is a review from April 2023. It walked fine but I can’t now remember it in detail. It uses fields and lanes to get out of Frampton Cotterell and pick up the Frome Valley walkway, which it uses to get most of the way into Yate....

Mockymock

This looks quite a good route on the map, but is let down by the neglect of two sections of field path. There were also similar but lesser issues with the path SW of Wickwar, and I must admit that having battled through those, I would have appreciated a more direct route into Yate too. The path across the fields to Nind Farm is well labelled and obviously trodden. So the road is reached with a strong sense of relief, and from here the route into Wickwar is good, becoming more trodden beyond the first large field. We follow a path around houses then across fields on a well trodden and cut path, but where the path divides our route takes us into a pasture bisected by an electric fence (no obvious crossing point), and once out of that field the next one is protected by a barbed wire fence....

Hugh Hudson

We start through the shopping centre and continue on a cycle track that reminded me of Milton Keynes, then follow a railway and cross a bridge into Wapley Common - here I stayed on the wide tarmac path rather than trying to follow the right of way around the west edge. Here we take the road opposite that climbs steeply up Ivory Hill, then take a path that leads into a small area of access land, which is mostly filled with holly bushes - there is a visible path which is easy enough to follow but quite difficult to use without being scratched by the rampant holly. At Down Road we cross the river and follow The Dingle, a riverside residential street, then take the track left that leads to a bridge, which we cross and continue on a good track (less of a hill than the OS 1:25000 suggests), then turn right when we reach the road, then take three left turns to reach and cross the river again....

Hugh Hudson

Ran/walked this route 31/7/2023. On the whole it's a good route. I downloaded the GPX and tried to follow it but it wasn't always that easy, especially across the fields. It's not always clear where the path is and which way to go! In parts it's a little overgrown so long trousers are probably a good idea and given all the rain we've had, waterproof footwear would be advantageous as well. There was one field that was quite tricky to walk on as it was quite uneven underfoot and the long grass meant you couldn't see what you were putting your foot on. In places it was quite muddy and there was a steep, slippery section towards the end. In drier weather this would probably be ok. Some parts are really pretty, some parts are really quite remote - not sure I'd want to do it alone. There were no access issues though. There were cows out in some places and also sheep - neither bothered us today though. There was a village about half way with a small shop for refreshments. There is a very short section that crosses a fast, busy road. There is no footpath but there is a space/grass verge to walk off the road. Some of the route is on quiet country lanes, again with no footpath but there is hardly any traffic. It doesn't feel unsafe at all. I would recommend it and will probably do it again - now I know where to go it should be easier :)...

Sam

Entrance into Yate via quiet multiuser paths through Wapley Bushes nature reserve, then a green corridor by the railway, and on through the housing estates....

Mockymock

A really nice walk but there are a couple of minor blocked access issues on the existing plot at Park Lane (w3w budget.tucked.daydream) and at Boxhedge Farm (vent.utter.octagonal), plus altered footpath routing through the golf course at Kendleshire. I will share another, very similar route with a more accurate plot....

Mockymock

A generally very enjoyable route, mainly through rolling farmland pastures and arable fields, with an urban fringe nature reserve, some woodland edge and a corner of one of those big South Gloucestershire commons thrown in along the way. The Slow Way leaves Yate on quiet roads and paths via green spaces among housing and a path through a woodland nature reserve, leaving the town via the village of Yate Rocks, where it heads first into the valley, briefly on the Jubilee Way, but soon climbs away to track along a low ridge with extensive views west, and eventually reaches the village of Wickwar, where there is a tea room and a pub at the northern end of the high street. From Wickwar the route heads east down into a stream valley via an equine facility with grazing horses and up again to meet a lane along the western arm of Inglestone Common running along the northern edge of Lower Woods nature reserve. The route initially crosses a brook and heads through a little planted-up paddock where the path is not so obvious....

Mockymock

A short, pleasant stroll along paved and gravelled footpaths through woods along the course of the River Frome, taking you from Yate’s vast, brash modern shopping centre (and very well-connected bus hub) to the very different environment of Chipping Sodbury’s magnificent old stone high street. Chalk and cheese, these close neighbouring towns! No barriers along the route....

Mockymock

This short route is safe and OK to walk but takes a little bit of a long route round by road when there is a more direct and greener route, plus the plot is a little wayward at the Yate end where it flies across the shopping centre carpark rather than routing along any of the pedestrian walkways. I will share a quicker, neater version....

Mockymock

Decent route overall but marred by an area of confusion around some new housing at the northern edge of Yate, where it is not possible to walk the route as currently plotted. I will share an accessible version....

Mockymock

Good route all the way from Thornbury to the edge of Yate where new and recent housing development has obliterated or rearranged the course of footpaths. It is easy enough to muddle around it all but I will share an alternative version which is easily navigable...

Mockymock

It’s not the most exciting walk as it traverses an intensively farmed area with a lot of electricity pylons running through it but is pleasant overall and does exactly what it says on the tin....

Mockymock

Initially it uses tracks and paths through a wooded nature reserve and a quiet lane to pass around quarries north of Wick, before picking up the Monarch’s Way for a few miles through fields along the course of the River Boyd. Here the route takes a good cycle path through Wapley Bushes nature reserve (more like a park really) which leads on over the mainline railway and follows a green corridor beside it into the edge of Yate....

Mockymock

The remainder of the walk is on flat ground through fields, then around the outer edge of Chipping Sodbury’s housing estate sprawl and into town, all in the company of the little River Frome, which leads through various villagey, hidden back lanes and footpaths before popping out rather startlingly opposite Yate’s huge modern shopping centre and a very useful bus hub. Not so much to see on the lower ground and it is a bit of a suburban walk around the edge of Chipping Sodbury, but the urban walk along the Frome river is fun....

Mockymock