Category Archives: UK Trails

Once more, the forecast on my phone said that it was almost certain to rain every hour. Yes, but not every minute of every hour. The sun shone, and I often turned round to see if there was a rainbow. The route followed the Thames-Severn canal, running alongside the river Frome, past demolished locks. AtContinue reading “WATER EVERYWHERE … BUT?”

I had two options: start walking from Gloucester and ring for a taxi when exhausted, or go to Painswick by bus and walk from there. I chose the latter. It was a good walk, quite challenging enough. After breakfast it was too late for Morning Prayer at the Cathedral. I went there anyway, but itContinue reading “PAINSWICK TO FRAMPTON MANSELL”

Was it Tuesday night or Wednesday morning that I realised that I had made a mistake, and left myself with too long a walk for Thursday?  More about that in my next post, but Wednesday was a day of wrong turnings: missing signs,  failures to follow the guide book, and struggling with Google Maps inContinue reading “WHAT I GOT WRONG”

Started the day by crossing the road and having to go back for my trekking pole.  I had put it down in order to take off my muddy boots and forgotten to pick it up.  Reunited with the stick, I entered the Forest, and detoured to visit the Sculpture Trail. Heading north, I found myContinue reading “THROUGH THE FOREST AND OUT THE OTHER SIDE”

I slept badly last night, worried about the first stage of the Wysis Way.  When I thought I could travel from London in the morning and walk all the way to the Speech House before dark, I hadn’t realised how far it was, nor allowed for the scarcity of waymarks in the Forest of Dean.Continue reading “LEAVING MONMOUTH”

Setting off tomorrow to walk the WYSIS (Wye to Isis) way from Monmouth to Kemble, linking Offa’s Dyke Path to the Thames Path, both of which I completed last year. Here are the highlights to which I am looking forward: Monday: The Speech House Hotel in the Forest of Dean, where I stayed for theContinue reading “WYSIS”

Thursday 24 August Rather than retracing my steps through the nettles, I headed along a road towards another of those hill forts. No vehicles passed me in either direction. Once on the Ridgeway, continued along the broad chalk track, stopping after two hours for water at Scutchamer Knob. This was the only sunny day, andContinue reading “Ridgeway Day 3”

I expected a 30 km day, though I shortened it by taking a path along an old railway line instead of going back to where I left the Ridgeway last night, and possibly by leaving it before the end of the stage to head for my accommodation. It almost rained on Liddington Hill. After thatContinue reading “Day 2: Ogbourne St George to Letcombe Regis”