The Ninth Mete is Huntingford. 5.6::38.5 miles
If you are starting from the bus stop in Berkeley, head back along the bus route, past the One Stop Shop and turn right down High Street. Go past Jumpers Lane, which joins from the right and look for a gate on your left.
If you are coming from the Severn Estuary, turn right at the end of Jumpers Lane. and look for a gate on your left.
If you are coming from Ham, you turn right into the field as in the Deer Park Circular Route.
Berkeley Castle The main attraction in Berkeley is Berkeley Castle. It is currently open during the summer season from Sunday to Wednesday. The rest of the week is dedicated to a wedding business. The castle was given to saxon lord, Robert Fitzharding as a reward for supporting the winning side in “The Anarchy” caused by the dispute between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda. The castle was also where Edward II was imprisoned after he was deposed. He died in suspicious circumstances, which allegedly involved a cow horn and a red hot poker.Just off the High Street is the Jenner Museum, dedicated to the man who popularised vaccination in England. Dr Jenner was involved in the Berkeley Poaching Affray as an expert witness, and he also took the confession of Greenway who turned king’s evidence. Jenner left the area soon afterwards as he found that the town had become a melancholy place. Other attractions are a butterfly house and a church tower detached from its church. |
Over the gate, the path goes diagonally right across the field in front of the castle towards the Little Avon.
Follow the bank of the Little Avon until you come to the second bridge over the river. The path comes away from the river and follows a ditch round to a gate on the right.
Go through the gate to regain the river. The definitive path goes diagonally across a narrow field following some electric horse fencing.
Continue along the bank alongside the Berkeley Hunt Point-to-Point course. When the river veers to the right, the path goes straight ahead across the field where the races start on one day a year towards the end of April.
Do not be misled by the gate with a trough next to it, nor the gap to the right of it. The gate you need is a pedestrian gate further to the right.
Through the gate, follow a track up the hill with a hedge on your right. The track becomes Matford Lane after going through a gate and past a couple of houses to emerge on the A38.
Cross the A38 (carefully) to Woodford.
Turn right down the section of road that was cut off by the upgrading of the A38 and has left a secluded backwater.
Turn left through the imposing gateway to the Old Mill House. (The pillars have pineapples on top!) It looks like a private driveway, but it is also a public right of way.
The path at the end under a willow tree leads to a footbridge into a field. (It was obscured by a caravan last time I was there.)
Follow the left hand hedge to the end of the field and make your way up the drive to Damery Lane.
Thornbury Wayfinders 