Cotswold Way: Dursley to Wotton-under-Edge

Step by step

1. 1
   

   Step 1: Dursley up to Stinchcombe Hill

   From the Market House walk along Parsonage Street, cross Castle Street with care, and follow May Lane past the bus station, the May Lane car park and the Old Spot to Hill Road. Climb Hill Road for about 200m to The Broadway, cross it, and go through the kissing gate. The footpath climbs steeply through Cockshoot Wood, over two stiles, about 100m up in 600m, to the top.

   • Steep section
   • Stiles
2. 2
   

   Step 2: Round the rim of Stinchcombe Hill

   Follow the bridleways west along the northern edge of the hill through Westfield Wood and Sheep Path Woods. Cross the lane and the golf club's drive at about 2.6km and keep to the waymarked path round the rim of the golf course, past a viewpoint, the topograph and Drakestone Point at about 3.9km, then on round the southern edge and down through the woods. Watch for golf balls and keep off the fairways.

   The National Trail's shortcut leaves the rim near the golf clubhouse and crosses the neck of the hill, making the section 4.8 miles in all. It is waymarked on the ground but is not on our map.

3. 3
   

   Step 3: Down to North Nibley

   Leave the hill on the bridleway and the footpath south across the fields, through three kissing gates, to Park Lane. Cross it, and follow the footpaths through three more kissing gates to a lane. Walk down the lane over the Doverle Brook and cross the B4060 with care at about 6.8km. Follow Lower House Lane, a restricted byway, past the Jubilee Field into North Nibley, then The Street past the village hall to the B4060 by the Black Horse bus stop.

   • Muddy in winter
4. 4
   

   Step 4: Wood Lane to the Tyndale Monument

   Cross the B4060 to Wood Lane, up a few steps, and climb the bridleway. It is a steep climb, about 70m up in 600m. Near the top bear right on the footpath by Nibley Quarry, go through the gate, and cross the grass of Nibley Knoll to the Tyndale Monument. Follow the National Trail's signs here: landslips in 2013 made the old path up the slope north of the monument unsafe, and the trail lists a permanent diversion at North Nibley, so the signs may differ from older maps.

   • Steep section
5. 5
   

   Step 5: Westridge Wood and Brackenbury Ditches

   From the monument follow the bridleway south-east through a gate into Westridge Wood, then the broad track past the information board at Brackenbury Ditches at about 9.6km. Keep on south along the bridleway, a wide track through the trees, for about 1km to the open ground by Old London Road.

6. 6
   

   Step 6: Wotton Hill and down into the town

   Take the footpath south over the grass of Wotton Hill, through a kissing gate, to Jubilee Clump, the walled ring of trees. Go through the kissing gate beyond and down the path and a gate to Bradley Road. Cross Bradley Road and Gloucester Street with care, and walk down Bradley Street for about 400m into the town centre, where the section ends at High Street, by the Jubilee Clock on Long Street.