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 it had not yet opened for the day, so I took some photos and headed for the bus stop.

Just caught the 9:35 bus to the housing estate where I had to change buses. The connection was 15 minutes late, by which time I was wondering if there was a Plan B. The other passengers were two hikers, probably older than me, who wanted to climb Painswick Beacon but had to stay on the bus to the next stop and walk back.

Painswick Church, unlike Gloucester Cathedral, was open, and has an unusual lych gate.

It was immediately obvious that this walk was no soft option: a steep descent to the valley, a ditto ascent the other side to Bulls Cross where I rejoined Wysis Way, and immediately another down and up, this time on mud.

After a lane to a couple of houses and an old packhorse trail across a stream came a dilemma (or multi-lemma): which path to follow? The answer was the one that looked least like a path; the clue was “up the steepening contours”.

The path through the woodland at the top clung to the edge of a precipice. Well, I exaggerate, but it was a bit scary in places.

However, when I did reach a road, Bisley was in sight. It has two pubs. The first didn’t open till 5, so I sat on a bench outside and ate my satsuma. The Bull was open for liquid input and output, and cooked food had I needed it. Obviously popular with locals.

The rest of the route was straightforward, linking small villages. Many of the stiles incorporated large stone slabs.

At 4 it started to rain – a heavy shower. I sat in a bus shelter, and decided to follow the road. A signpost said it was only 1 mile. As soon as I started off, the rain stopped. But the path down to the Frome valley was probably quite slippery.

I reached the Crown Inn in time to have a bath (rare treat!) before dinner – vegetarian meatballs and lemon cheesecake with rhubarb crumble ice cream. Met a visitor from New Zealand who thought I was an inspiration.

Turned on the TV and caught part of Jesus Christ Superstar.

And so to bed.

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 in pouring rain at the end of the day.

The morning climb to the top of May Hill was spectacular, but hidden in the mist. I needed compass bearings to find the way down to the road.  Later, with a village in sight and a perfectly good waymark, I walked on the wrong side of a stream to a dead end.

The rain had stopped by the time I reached Bibberton Church.  It was closed for maintenance work, but there were benches in the churchyard where I ate my remaining sandwich.

I thought that following an old “railway and canal bed” would be easy, and so it was until I met the horses. I managed to escape their curiosity and avoid slipping on the muddy slope.

After some pleasant paths through meadows and woodlands, I came to the instruction “the bridleway turns directly across the field for about 100 yards, where the old hedge boundary has been removed, and then walk left to a gate leading through the farmyard.” Though there was a Wysis Way sign at that point, there was no arrow, and no indication of a path across the field. So I went round the edge and followed tractor marks into the farmyard, where the farmer’s wife accused me of trespassing. This was by all that remains of Lassington church.

Gloucester Cathedral was soon in sight. I reached the bridges over the Eastern branch of the Severn at 5:15, so I wasn’t going to make it to the Cathedral by Evensong at 5:30. I thought it would be easy if I stuck to the road and used Google maps. Unfortunately I found the directions hard to follow. It started pouring with rain.

After about four attempts, I used the B&B details on booking.com.

Enormous salad at Bill’s, based on water melon and feta cheese.

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 my way to the site of the Old Speculation Mine where the stage began. A helpful local warned me of a path mentioned in the guidebook which none of them had been able to find. So, having found the track along the ridge, I kept following it – good views and easy walking.

At the end of the track, Wysis Way markers led to a series of paths with occasional road crossings and a stretch along a lane leading to The Wilderness Centre. Finally, a descent to Mitcheldean, and a much-needed sit down for lunch in the Wishing Well cafe in the Enterprise Park, formerly a Xerox factory.

Not much further to go, but it involved several awkward gates and stiles, to one of which I was pursued by cattle. At last I could see The Farmer’s Boy, my stop for the night, and it was only half past three. Plenty of time to wash self and clothes and recharge batteries before the dinner I had booked for 6 pm.

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.

The bus from Newport was crowded with a lively group from a University rowing club and their giant suitcases.  A beautiful journey through Caerleon and Usk.  No time to stop for food in Monmouth, but I did stop to take a few photos of its priory and two rivers before crossing the Wye.

The first climb, to the Naval Mausoleum at Kymin, was one I had done last October as part of Offa’s Dyke.  Here I met a local walker, who advised me about the route and suggested that if running late I could take a taxi from Coleford.  She also photographed me and the landscape.  Were the clouds really so mobile?

Then the Wysis Way parted company from Offa’s Dyke.  The first bit was easy – to find and to walk.  Then by a huge stone called Suck Stone, a path went straight up a steep slope.  I met a couple coming down.

Navigation was a problem, going back and forth between the route description and sketch maps in the guide book, a bigger and better rain-resistant map of the Forest of Dean, a compass, and the Ordnance Survey app on my phone.  Eventually I missed the important instruction “Take neither of the tracks, but a path off to the left” and found myself on the edge of a big caravan site, where a couple of holidaymakers were able to direct me to the village of Christchurch.

I could have returned to the trail from there, but it was already after 5 pm, there were quite a few km to go, and the possibility of getting lost again.  So I took the advice of the woman on Kymin, went into the Angel Inn in Coleford, and asked for a number to ring for a taxi.  He couldn’t come till 7, so I ate a vegetarian chili while I waited. 

So I failed to complete the first stage.  I walked about 9 miles rather than the 12 I planned.  What with the mud and navigation, my average speed was under 2 mph, and I didn’t stop for lunch.

I could, I suppose, get a taxi back to Christchurch in the morning, as I have plenty of walking time tomorrow.  But I did walk from Coleford to Speech House, along the busy road, last October, so I shall count that in my Wye to Thames itinerary. Sufficient unto the day …

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: