4th August
We’re on holiday in the Forest of Dean, determined to do some walking for the next week. The Forest is one of those corners of England no one can really locate…somewhere near Bristol and Wales…oh, and you’ll probably meet Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall rustling up some concoction he’s collected from a local hedge!
Our first walk is in the heart of the Forest. We park up in the Go Ape car park at Beechenhurst Lodge. Had we been a bit more ‘local savvy’ we’d have known that the parking on Speech House Road is free…it cost me £5 for the afternoon…and that hurts!
The first part of this walk follows the Sculpture Trail. Some of them need an explanation, others are more obviously worth looking at. There are plenty of cycle paths and we bump into cycling families at every turn. However we leave the families behind by the time we reach Great Kensley Inclosure and cross Speech House Road into Little Kensley and Russell’s Inclosure. For a while the walk is more like I imagined the Forest would be, peaceful and undisturbed…until we reach Cannop Ponds…and once again we’re dodging bell-ringing bikes all the way back to the car. A 10.4 mile walk in the mid-summer heat but the woods have made it much more bearable. An easy afternoon stroll…but find a free car park!
Beechenhurst picture gallery (more pictures on Flickr):
Distance: 10.4 miles ; Difficulty: Moderate
Postcode for Satnav: GL16 7EG
Beechenhurst walk profile
Where Angells Tread! 
