[1] From the pub, go left along the road, climbing the steep hill. Keep well to the right and take care, there are blind bends. Take the first road on the right and look after 400 yards for a footbridge on the left. Cross to a field and head down towards the bottom far corner where you pass through a gate to a further field. Proceed to another gate then veer left to locate a kissing gate in the trees. Beyond is a lane.
[2] You are now in the village of Dyrham. Follow the lane left, passing fine houses, with St Peters Church up to the left.
As the lane bends right, look left to the finest house of them all, Dyrham House, a National Trust property.
On reaching a road junction by a small green, turn left and walk for a short distance. Beyond the cottages, take a footpath on the right, (the Cotswold Way) passing a shady resting place and through a gate. Follow the path ahead through a second gate, then immediately beyond the third go right to a gate.
[3] Now cross the centre of the field ahead and at the far side, go over a footbridge with two gates, then walk diagonally left towards the farm. Aim to the right of the buildings and when you reach the field corner cross the drive to a stile.
[4] Follow the edge of a car park for a few yards, go right over another stile then go left, across another drive. Now follow the waymarks between two ponds to a gate on your right.
Walk ahead, crossing the field (which may be cropped) and when a kissing gate comes into view in the far hedge, make for it. Cross a stream and pass through the kissing gate, then follow the discernable path ahead to the far side of the field where you come to a stile. Climb over and, now walk ahead to the obvious gap in the hedge opposite, continuing on in the next field to reach a stile and track beyond.
[5] Go right along a track to a lane. Follow this to a T-junction where you turn left, to enter the village of Doynton. Pass the Holy Trinity Church, then pass a turning to the right (High Street) by the Cross House Inn. A short distance further, you reach a footpath sign on the right, enter the field here. There are clear paths ahead and left, but you need to cross the field to the lower left corner, so walk diagonally left, eventually picking up the hedge and fence of the left boundary and climb a pair of stiles sporting the ‘Monarch’s Way’ symbol. Keep left of the thicket then walk up the centre of the field aiming for the left end of the hedge on the far side. In the next field, follow the right boundary to reach a stile.
[6] Climb over and go ahead without deviation, passing waymark signs at the field corner, crossing another field to a kissing gate, then continuing onward to reach the quarry boundary fence. Follow it left to a gate by the telecom mast, go through to the road where you turn right. Walk down the road (with care) to the quarry entrance on the right and climb the stile into the quarry premises. Care is needed here, you have right of way but you can be delayed if blasting is in progress.
If blasting is in progress, you may wish to avoid the area altogether, in which case continue down the road to reach the A420, turn right and follow the road to reach Boyd Bridge. Go right before the bridge and walk along the narrow road to pick up the route again as it joins from the right, partway through [7].
If you decide to walk through the quarry, follow the clear footpath signs ahead to the wooden screening on the left of the quarry office. Pass through the screen and continue on, keeping to the right of the cream building. At the end of the walkway climb the drive ahead passing black oil tanks on your left and using the marked footpath between a wooden fence and an Armco barrier. At the top of the rise go straight ahead to cross a stile beside a warning sign and follow the narrow footpath between two wooden fences to a stile giving access to a meadow.
[7] Beyond the quarry, walk down the meadow keeping left to climb a further stile then follow the path to stile and lane. Walk right here for a short distance, then go through a kissing gate on the left. Walk with the hedge initially on your left for a short distance, then continue in the same direction across the field, climbing a stile and continuing to reach a kissing gate in the bottom left corner. Go through gate and cross a footbridge, then go right along a lane to a road (this is where the alternative route meets the main one).
Turn right and follow the road into the Golden Valley Nature Reserve, following the path ahead with the River Boyd on your left, eventually crossing it via a bridge. On the far side, ignore the turning immediately right, but follow the path ahead that climbs gently up to the right, signed ‘The Ravens Rock Trail’
(A) This site has a long history of heavy industrial workings. There was a iron-founding industry at Wick from the mid-eighteenth century based on the water power provided by the River Boyd. In 1761 it was reported that there was an iron works and paper mill within the valley. The 1882 Ordnance Survey map shows a rolling mill and dam across the river and soon after records show that the internationally renowned ochre processing works were in operation in 1895. The works remained on the site up until 1968 when it was closed down. Two years later the buildings were demolished and the site was cleared and left for nature to reclaim.
Continue on this broad path to reach a path up to the left. Take this, (if you miss it, you will reach a clearing with disused quarry workings) and in a short distance go through the kissing gate on the right.
[8] Climb to the top of the meadow, keeping right, then go ahead to go through further gates in the far right corner of the field.
On the right is a view point overlooking the quarry.
Follow the path through a stone arched kissing gate to a lane with cottages, where you bear left and through another kissing gate to reach Rock Road. Turn right, following the road to a T-junction where you go right, signposted Doynton. In a few yards, the road descends left, but you go ahead along a bridleway, losing height and crossing the river at the pretty Cleeve Bridge.
[9] Now take a path left to a kissing gate, then go half-right, climbing to the far left corner of the pasture to the stile crossed on your outward route at [6].
Cross the stile and go ahead keeping to the left boundary to reach the next field. Walk down the centre of this field, veering left to pass the thicket near the bottom left corner. Cross a pair of stiles ahead (ignoring one on the left), then go ahead towards the backs of the cottages where, by a stone wall, you go through a gate and walk between the cottages to a gate by the road. The Cross House Inn is to the right, but the walk continues left. Walk left for a short distance, then climb steps to a stile on the right, and go half-left downhill towards houses, crossing a stream with wooden footbridge to your right.
[10] Now go ahead through the kissing gate by the right-hand side of a pair of metal field gates and onward with the hedge left. You will be following the River Boyd for some distance now. Here it is on your left so continue over several meadows, eventually climbing a field gate, (if there, was missing in March 2013) beyond which a discernable path leads you to a stile in the hedge on the right and a road. Follow the road left (with care) for 250 yards, ignoring a stile on the left. A little further, take the bridleway left, crossing a wooden sleeper bridge. Now go right, through a succession of meadows and gates with the River Boyd to your right, for nearly a mile. Eventually, after passing through two closely spaced gates you will reach a footbridge on your right.
[11] After crossing the bridge you leave the river, walking parallel with the trees to your right to the far side of the field where you climb a stile by a gate. Proceed over the second field and stile, to a third and continue on to a field gate with farm buildings beyond.
[12] In this fourth field, go diagonally left, aiming for the far top corner where a house can be seen. Hidden in the hedge is a kissing gate giving access to a road. Cross to a converted chapel on the left and walk along Chapel Lane passing Chapel Cottage on the left and through a kissing gate in to a paddock. Follow the right boundary and climb a stile in the fence, then continue ahead on to another stile by the remains of a field gate. Climb the stile and now veer right to meet a field corner, then follow the left boundary to a stile at the field bottom which leads to a road.
This was the old coach road from Bristol to Oxford.
Follow the road right, to reach the Bull Inn and the end of your walk.