Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Cotswold Way - Walk 13

Walk 13: Tormarton Interchange - Lansdown



21st May 2013: I was joined for this section by Helen and Minnie the dog.

We left the car park by the Tormarton Interchange at 10:13am. The route goes through fields by Beacon Lane Plantation. The motorway is hidden from view but the traffic noise makes its presence obvious. The path turns south and the traffic noise begins to die away. The path passes under a set of power lines that in 2004 were the scene of an art installation called "Field" consisting of dozens of fluorescent tubes planted in the ground. As dusk fell you could see them glowing.

Crossing a minor road the route continues down Field Lane and then skirts around the edge of the Dyrham Park Estate before descending into the village of Dyrham. Walking through Dyrham you pass the ornate gates of Dyrham Park with it's manicured lawn and grand house.

Leaving the village the path hops through a gap in the hedge to a tree with an impressive seat built all the way round it, and then continues through fields past Sands Farm nestled in a secluded green valley, past some small ponds and a larger pond that doesn't appear on the map, before climbing on a well constructed path through the Dyrham Wood blanketed in wild garlic. There is a seat here and a message box containing a book for passing walkers to leave notes.

The route crosses Gorse Lane, and a path has been made on the other side of the hedge so you don't have to walk along the road, and then after crossing a field emerges at the tiny village on Pennsylvania. Here we make the first crossing of the A46 for the day. Another couple of fields are crossed and we emerge on the A420 at the tiny collection of houses that makes up The Folly.

Crossing the A420 we follow a track to the church at Cold Ashton. This marks the 100th mile of our walk. We stopped for a sandwich on a bench outside the Old Rectory at Cold Ashton with pleasant views over the green valley to the south.

Continuing through Cold Ashton we re-cross the A46 for the last time and follow Greenway Lane downhill, past a nursery selling "special plants". The road becomes a path through fields, passes a fishing lake before climbing through fields to emerge on a track that brings you out at the site of the 1643 Battle of Lansdown, there are information panels an a monument to Sir Bevil Grenville who was mortally wounded in the battle.

We reached the layby by the battlefield, and the end of the walk at 1:53pm.

Walk Distance: 7.7 miles (12.4 km), 3h40m.
Cumulative Distance: 103.1 miles (165.9 km), 39h39m.

The final walk will take place on Wednesday 22nd May.

No comments: