Thornbury Wayfinders

3 Underwood 5.8 miles

Descend through woods to Almondsbury and the newly planted Acorn Co-Forest. Return to Thornbury via Tockington, under Sheepscombe Brake, up Greenhill Lane to Alveston, ending with a stunning view over the town.

To get to the start, take the T1 bus from Rock Street in Thornbury to the Swan bus stop in Almondsbury

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1979894749 This does not show exactly the same route as I have described as Komoot does not show all the rights of way and wont let me go across a public open space.

From the Swan bus stop, carefully cross the A38. Bear left across the grass and turn right on Over Lane. Turn immediately right on a metalled path.

 Follow the path down through the trees until you come out on a road. Then cross the road on your right to access a path between two stone pillars. Follow the path around the west end of St Mary’s Church until you come out on Church Road. Go straight ahead past the Old School Hall then cross the road to the Community Shop. 

Follow the path on the left hand side of the road until the road turns sharply to the right. Go straight ahead into Marshwall Lane past some terraced houses on the left.

Go over the stile next to the field gate and continue to the left hand bend at the bottom of the hill. 

Turn right over a stile into a field.

You will see a fenced area on the left full of plastic tubes. This is Co-Forest Acorn, which is a newly planted forest of 10,000 native trees planted by volunteers over 3000 hours in 11 acres.

Follow the right hand hedge to a stile next to a field gate.

Most of Co-Forest Acorn is on your left.

Go through a Bristol gate into the next field, which often has sheep in it. Curiously it looks as if a sheep could get past the gate by swimming!

Go through a gap into the fourth field. Cut the corner to find a stile onto the footbridge over Sandy Rhine, which looks more like a ditch than a rhine at this point. Go straight across the next field to find a stile to the right of a prominent tree.

Turn right in Moor Lane and follow it past Chihuahua World and under the motorway. Go past one kissing gate on the left and look for a footpath on the left next to some stables.

The path is enclosed and can get overgrown (secateurs advised!) At the end is a plank footbridge leading to a stone stile.

In the next field, turn right and follow the right hand hedge through a gap. Continue to follow the right hand hedge until you go over a stone stile onto a road. 

Cross the road and turn right and then left to pass some houses into a paddock. Bear right to a footbridge into a large field. Turn left and follow the left hand hedge to a gap in the hedge..

Go through the gap and follow the fence on the left around the bend and up the hill. Go through a kissing gate and continue along the side of Tockington Manor playing fields.

Look for a kissing gate onto the road and turn right. Follow the road past the school and some gateways in the boundary wall on your left.

At the end of the wall, turn left up the drive to Sheepcombe Farm. Follow the path around the left hand side of the buildings to pick up the track on the far side.

Follow the track below Sheepscombe Brake until you emerge on a road.

Turn right and follow the road until it bends to the right. 

Go straight ahead up Greenhill Lane. Continue until you emerge in the Green Hill area of Alveston. On the road, turn right and then left through a kissing gate onto the playing field.

Head left handed around the cricket pitch if there is a game on to find another kissing gate in the diagonally opposite corner (between the row of detached houses opposite and the skate park)

Turn left alongside the A38 and follow the footway until you can see a stile on the far side of the road.  (It is after a driveway and before the large signpost to Thornbury.)

Cross the road carefully and go over the stile into the field.

In the field bear left up the field to a pedestrian gate in the diagonally opposite corner of the field. Go up the driveway to a kissing gate onto The Street.

Go across The Street to a concealed kissing gate on the footpath opposite. Go straight ahead to another kissing gate and stile among brambles in the hedge opposite. (If the white electric paddock fencing is in place, use the insulated handle to disconnect it and put it back afterwards.) Continue straight ahead to a gap into the next field and turn left. Head for a stile in the corner of the field. 

Cross the A38 carefully and look for an enclosed path beside the grounds of the Premier Inn. At the end cross the Old Gloucester Road into another enclosed path and follow it until you come out over a stile into a field.

Head straight across the field on a path that leads to a kissing gate.

Admire the view. 

Head down the field to a gap next to a stile. Bear right across the next field to a gap in the corner. 

Through the gap, turn left alongside the Leisure Centre Car Park.

Go past the skate park and continue straight ahead between Vilner Wood and the industrial estate. Continue past the Tesco Car park and go under an old railway tunnel into Streamleaze.

Turn left and then right to emerge in Rock Street. Turn right to return to the bus stop where you started.