The Gordano Round

With the sudden return to summer this week, we decided a foreign adventure was in order, and set off over the Severn Bridge on Wednesday morning to Portishead. Since last September, we'd completed a number of walks on English soil, including the River Avon Trail and two long circular walks in Bristol. Our intention this time was to walk part of the Gordano Round, a 26-mile double loop around the Gordano Valley of north Somerset. We planned to walk the longer of the two loops, giving us a total walk distance of just under 15 miles.

Neither of us had ever been to Portishead before and we drove around the town several times searching for the free car park recommended by the guide book. Once there, I was unable to locate the camera in my bag and assumed I'd left it at home (later that evening, I discovered that it had been buried at the bottom of the bag all along), so you'll have to search online for photos of our route.

Never mind! With temperatures soaring, we set off down the coast path to Clevedon, a delightful walk along the low cliffs forming the southern edge of the estuary. It was quite strange looking back across the Severn to the familiar landmarks of Newport.

With Clevedon Pier ahead, we turned inland, passing over the top of Dial Hill and then along a wooded ridge to the Iron Age fortification of Cadbury Camp - a delightful viewpoint on a fine day. From the fort we descended into Clapton in Gordano, where The Black Horse Inn (known locally as 'The Kicker') provided some welcome liquid relief from the oppressive afternoon heat. (The Walker's Wife had pledged to give up cider until Christmas, but was persuaded that this should only apply in Wales.) The pub marks the starting point for the second loop of the walk, out towards Abbots Leigh, but we opted for the easy three-mile link back across the Gordano Valley to our starting point in Portishead. The flat valley floor, with its drainage ditches known as 'rhynes', added a different landscape again to what was an incredibly varied walk and a fantastic day out.

Will we return to complete the second loop? Yes, I think so, though on the map this does not look quite as interesting and varied as the first. But even if the remainder of the walk is a disappointment in comparison, there's still 'The Kicker' to look forward to afterwards . . .

Hello!

I've always loved walking. On a sunny day, there's nothing else I'd rather do than pull on a pair of Salomons and head off into the hills. Unfortunately, the need to earn a living often prevents this, and my ambition to thru-hike a really big walk remains, as yet, unfulfilled.

Recently, I've started to combine business with pleasure by launching a career as a writer of walking guides. I've already completed one book (a series of circular walks on the Gower Peninsula) and I'm close to finishing a second on the Cambrian Way, a long-distance trail between Cardiff and Conwy. Both these guides will hopefully be published by Northern Eye Books next year.

I'm still going to be tied to the day job for some time to come, though, and for the forseeable future most of my walking will continue to take place close to home in Newport, South Wales. This is not all bad. People who know Newport may be surprised at the amount and variety of beautiful countryside that surrounds the city.

In this blog, I hope to share some of my favourite local walks as and when I do them, as well as update interested readers on progress on other projects. My other half already has her own blog, The Walker's Wife, in which she takes a lighthearted look at our walking adventures. While my own blog may not be quite so entertaining, I hope walkers out there will still find it useful.