Jane’s Walk 2024 – Day 8

Moses and I started on our own as Tom had to go into Gloucester to shop for something. All started well, and I even listened to Beethoven on my AirPods as we made good progress along a well-maintained path.

I then came to a field of cattle, all standing around the exit gate at the far end. As I was on my own with a dog, I thought I would not take any chances, so I exited through gates over a brook into the field above. Sure enough, they were young, and they all charged over to me just after I secured the gate and crossed a bridge over a brook. I now had a dilemma as I needed to get back to the path but had to get back over the brook. There were more young cattle in the next field as well, who were equally interested in Moses and me. All the adjoining metal field gates were locked, and I had to persuade Moses that he could crawl under them, much to his reluctance.

Eventually, I had to abandon returning to the path and managed to get onto a road and walk back to the Severn Way. Tom had joined me by then, but the footpath was totally inaccessible here, and we had to remain on the road as we approached Gloucester.

There is something rather depressing about our walk into the city. It has a rather run-down feel about it. We pass the remains of the Llanthony Secunda Priory on the edge of a busy main road. In the 16th Century, it was one of the largest and richest priories in the country, owning 97 churches and 57 well-appointed Manor houses between Bedford and the west coast . We walk through the docks, which have recently been redeveloped with a number of shops and hotels on the waterfront, but according to our host last night, it hasn’t really attracted the people as yet.

With difficulty, we find the Severn Way footpath out of the city, which is picked up at the back of a small industrial Estate on the outskirts of the city. This proves to be a very unused path of long, tusky grass, which makes walking difficult.

For the next 1.5 hours, our track takes us along a very unremarkable, featureless route, with the river hidden to the right by willows and a bank on our left. The only remarkable thing about this area is that all along this bank are metal bins, some dustbin-sized, others bigger with what looked like electric switchboards beside them. At one point, two white vans appeared over the bank with National Grid on their sides. Neither Tom nor I had a clue what they were doing, and they were too far away to ask.

After a long and tiring trudge, Richard was able to meet us with a late picnic, which we ate in the car before finishing the further 1.5 miles along a rather more open track to the end at Stone Bench.

This has proved to be our least enjoyable day so far.