Ubley and Blagdon Lake
This walk started from the village of Ubley and immediately there was a steep climb through a field of wet grass but it was worth it for the views of Blagdon and Chew Valley Lakes glistening in the late September sunshine. The walk combined open fields and woodland paths taking in part of the Limestone Link footpath. Some very strange stiles to negotiate and the discovery of what is called a Bristol Gate – a farm gate with a pedestrian gate built into it.
Click here to see the details of the walk > Garmin Connect.
Another rather cloudy summers day but at least the rain held off until the afternoon. The walk started from Avoncliff and went along the canal before going through the village of Murhill. Then it was back to the canal and along the towpath and returning through Conkwell wood which was quite a hard climb but nice and shady. The wood was full of Hart’s Tongue fern which looked gloriously bright and shiny in the darkness of the wood. The return to Avoncliff was through Avonpark and the the village of Winsley. The distant views of the White Horse were a treat and it was good to see many wild flowers – pyramidal orchids, scabious, hypericum to name but a few.
Hart’s Tongue Fern in the woods and the Westbury White Horse in the distance.
Animal highlights of today’s walk – horses:
The area has many stables which house some very fancy looking horses.
Rain on the way but the skies cleared and the circular walk from Dyrham via Doynton took us through open fields giving spectacular views across Bristol and it was just possible to see Wales in the distance. Varied landscapes of open fields and shaded paths with plants and trees starting to wake up. Very muddy in places but a most enjoyable early spring ramble.
The theme of today’s walk was MUD!
Today’s animal highlight was Llamas (Alpacas?)
The Garmin watch is not playing at the moment but luckily I had this back-up http://walkmeter.com/8545f681394d9fe0/Walk-20150208-1030
Today’s walk started in Box at the Box Rock Circus – a funny little mini stonehenge.
It was a really gorgeous day for walking, even though it’s still cold enough to have to scrape ice off the car in the morning there are signs of spring all over the place, snowdrops, wild primroses even a very optimistic daffodil:
The walk is nice and varied – some bits through fields, some through woods. There are some lovely views at the high points:
Widcombe area of Bath
This is a short easy walk to do if you want to explore nearer to town. There are some lovely views at certain spots and various buildings of historical interest. The whole route is on either roads or pavements so no danger of mud etc. If you fancy a stroll and don’t want to travel too far this is perfect. If you like a good garden centre then at the bottom of Forefield Rise turn right and you will find Prior Park Garden Centre – a fantastic place with an amazing deli shop.
This is the route of the Saturday morning Bath Skyline parkrun but it’s also really popular with walkers. Like most of the Skyline routes it has some great views of the city below. It meanders through ‘Fairy Wood’ and ‘Long Wood’ and can get pretty muddy during wet weather. There is one set of steep stone steps but other than that it’s fairly flat and easy. The route is a pretty accurate 5k having been measured for parkrun.
This is a really varied route – through woods, bridle paths, country lanes. It’s quite hilly so there would usually be good views but today the weather was dank and foggy so we couldn’t see very far. For the first half mile we were joined by a sweet little black kitten who seemed to think we were headed somewhere interesting. There wasn’t much else in the way of ‘wild’ life – probably all sheltering from the cold.
After we finished walking we popped in to the lovely farm shop where everything looked delicious on account of being hungry after the walk – came away with some blackcurrant shortbread which lasted about 5 minutes after getting home.
Newton St Loe – the first ramble of 2015.
Stourhead is, of course, well known for its landscaped gardens but this walk took us away from the crowds and into some beautiful countryside. It was a glorious day for walking despite the wind on the top of the hills. Lunch was eaten in the shelter of castle hill overlooking the small town of Mere which was looking lovely in the sunshine. The walk over we collapsed with a lovely cuppa in the NT cafe at Stourhead.
This is a charity walk organised by Julian House. The complete route is a whole day affair but you can choose to do just one or more smaller sections of it. There are some amazing views, especially from the top of Little Solsbury Hill and as the walk usually happens in September it as an excellent opportunity to do some foraging – blackberries and sloes are abundant along the way.
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