Tintsfield & surroundinG area
It was a cloudy start to the day with a good possibility of light showers. Walking today was myself, Mark and Rammy. Nigel was lapping it up in the sun on his hols. We postponed the original walk as it had some interesting landmarks that Nigel wanted to see so I quickly put this one together.
We started from the car park of Tyntesfield House, a National Trust owned property on the B3128 or if you know the area just off 'The manic mile' road. Mark noticed on the sign that the place did not open for another 2 hrs. I carried on anyway and if anybody said anything then we would pay the car parking. Luckily staff were pulling up and nothing was said. We changed into our boots and started on our way.
The route itself was created by another walker on the ViewRanger site. I purchased it from him so that we could use it but his waypoints (on the map) were not accurate at all so we had to work it out for ourselves. I have since re written the route, the button at the top of this page will take you to the accurate version.
We headed to the top of the car park and turned right along a narrow road towards some woods. The trail eventually forked, it seemed to lead into the back garden of somebodies house. Looking at the map more closely there is a path that leads down the side of the property but it was difficult to see with the waypoints drawn on it. We took the left fork and followed it until we reached the busy Bristol road.
The road is quite treacherous as cars speed along it and there is only narrow pavements. We came across our sign marking the footpath and clambered over a stye. The clouds above were getting greyer however it was still quite muggy. The path stretched out before us as we were overlooked by the quaint hamlet of Wraxall on our right and the church that was tucked up in the hillside.
We reached 'Land Yeo' which was a stream of sorts that we crossed into a large open field. We went a bit wrong here as the old version of the map instructed us to cross the next stream in the corner of the field (to our right) which was impossible without wading through up to our knees or in Rammys case his ankles. So we had to walk back along the waters edge until we found a suitable bridge. We crossed in to a field full of very frisky homosexual bulls, we tried not to make eye contact and made it safely to the road - B3130. It was here that Mark told us that he started his first driving lesson from that very lay-by. This was his old stamping ground after all. We crossed the road and continued to follow Land Yeo.
If you look closely in the centre of the pic below you may see a Heron. He did not hang around for long and took flight as soon as he noticed movement. We followed the banks until we reached a bridge that we crossed to the other side. A few ponies looked up at us then continued to eat the ground. I think it was here when it first began to rain. It did not look good as it was quite black above.
We followed the track a few hundred metres and then crossed back over the stream into a field full of cows. We disturbed the heron again that took flight again back to his original spot.
Once we had reached the Clevedon Road we crossed Land Yeo again and went through a Trout farm which is not indicated on the map - click on the Google satellite view to see the small lakes. Mark knew this area well and took us on a path that he used regularly to get to work. It was a steep trek through the trees. Which if I remember rightly brought us out on Stonehenge Lane. We needed to head down Tickenham Hill so we took on some refreshment and ventured down towards our next footpath.
The small tractor road came into view and just beyond the gate there was a lovely scene of some sheep nestled in under a tree with the rolling meadow beyond them. The greens against the dark sky was quite vibrant but as always they got up and began to scarper by the time I got my camera out.
A huge valley presented itself to us that ran off into a forest up ahead. Apart from the noisy sheep and lambs it was quite peaceful. Once we reached the two pylons they buzzed and cackled as raw voltage ran through them. We found it quite amusing because as the sheep fled from us they ran in singlefile up the same path.
The weather looked like it may change at any moment, we had our fingers crossed in the hope of it remaining relatively dry. The large body of trees ahead was our destination. There was no name for the wood on the map but after doing a bit of research on the web I later found that it was called Beach Lime Wood. This body of trees was split by the M5 but originally it was one large wood or possibly forest. Approximately two miles east from our position was a cave - The Swiss Valley Cave. It is part of the Clevedon Court estate and was used to extract lead for the roof among other things.
Once we reached the top of the hill and was under the canopy of the trees it was time to have a drink and take in the view. In Rammy's case it was time for a Ginsters snack.
We took the trail through the woods up to Cadbury Camp Lane which had some very large houses dotted in amongst the trees and again if you look on the Google satellite view you will notice quite a huge house in the middle - I wonder who lives there?
We crossed the road and entered into open land once more. We followed the path until we reached a small farm. I mis judged our turning here, we should have gone right at the farm but instead we went straight on but I am glad we did because we came across two interesting sites at the top. One was the view and the other a bomb. Not sure what the story was behind the bomb but it sure did look rather unsettling.
We turned back and went the right way along Gordano Round past Naish Cottage that was a large estate that had ponds and its own chapel. We crossed Whitehouse Lane and into a cornfield still following Gordano Round.
This was the boundary fence for the Noah's Arch adventure park and zoo. We kept hearing strange noises, broken voices. We half expected an embarrassed couple to stick their heads up from the corn. It was along this path I believe my wallet fell out of my pocket. I only realised afterwards when we were in the pub car pack that it had gone. Luckily I got a call later that evening from Noah's Arch saying that it had been found.
Still on the Gordano Round path we entered a wood that looked like a tsunami had passed through. Trees had been chopped down and new ones had been planted but it seemed like a huge corridor of destruction. Our path lead down through the middle to the bottom of the cut which is what it was, it went down one side and straight up the other with a small river running through the middle like a gouge. We crossed the almost dry stream and went up the other side which was not as clear cut as the other side. Rammy had knee length shorts on and his legs got cut up due to the low brambles and nettles.
We finally made it through to the other side and left the Gordano Round and headed towards the Downs School on Charlton Drive. This was the home straight to the manic mile.
From the Clevedon Road we took a path down through the middle of another cultivated field towards a body of trees. We turned left and followed the boundary until we reached a farm gate. We crossed into the wide open space that is a weird shape if you look from an ariel perspective. I knew we needed to keep heading forward so when I saw the exit to the field on my left I ignored it hoping that we could get out through the wall of trees in the corner of the field. I was in fact wrong it was barbed all the way round so we had to back track.
We followed the edge of the trees to a familiar road that lead back into the car park of the estate. It looked a lot different from when we left as it was now full of cars, absolutely rammed. There was no ticket on my car so we got away ok. It was now to the Priory for a well earned drink or not because little did I know my wallet was on the ground 3 miles back and Rammys card was declined for some reason - Cheers mark for helping us out!