The Circumnavigation of the M4 Junction 18

Whilst this may sound somewhat uninspiring as a route, it was in fact very scenic, with potential and actual spectacular views. It came to us courtesy of the Ordnance Survey, and a link to the walk is here. We didn’t completely follow this route, and for anyone wishing to repeat it, here are the differences:

• We started and finished in Tormarton, as parking was easier there than in Hinton.
• We went round clockwise, as it was better on the up/down of the few hills that there were.
• We didn’t go through the private gardens of Doddington Park, as they are not open to the public.

Whilst we had rain, it didn’t rain the whole time. Neither, when it was raining, was it like stair rods all the time. Disappointingly, none of the forecast thunderstorms came anywhere near. Fortunately, I had brought my handy gas umbrella with me, and others had more waterproof attire. It certainly was a test of the level of water resistance of one’s clothing, and mine fell into the category of not in the slightest. Some of us also found ourselves wringing out our socks after squelching our way round. The wet long grass had a role to play in this.

Despite the rain, visibility was quite good most of the time, and we enjoyed working out where various places were, including Dyhram Park, Lansdown, Saltford and Keynsham.

We followed the Cotswold Way for nearly half of the way: the section from Tormarton to just outside Hinton, then later from Doddington Park back to Tormarton. Part of the route south of the motorway had a recommended diversion due to reported incidents of indecent exposure, but we decided to risk it and not take the diversion. In the end, we encountered nothing to write home about, possibly because of the weather. When we pre-walked it, we did encounter a dodgy-looking bloke, but he went the other way when he saw us, maybe because we had pointed sticks.

Unlike on the pre-walk, we had no close encounters of a bovine kind, though a herd did begin dashing towards us, but they broke off pursuit when we disappeared round a corner.

I would recommend this walk to anyone thinking of doing it, and I think it deserves more than the 3 starts awarded to it by the Ordnance Survey reviewers.