Checking out the route
Whether you are intending to do the complete Community Forest Path yourself or just doing a leg in a relay, it is useful to have checked it out before you run it in earnest. The route descriptions posted on the Closer to the Countryside website have proved effective, but you are bound to go faster if you don’t have to stop and think which way to go.
The problem with reconnoitring a section of a circular route is you need to get back to where you began. This is a particular problem if you drive to the beginning and the vagueries of public transport do not make that an attractive alternative; so you either need a supportive partner of some kind to ferry you to and from the start and finish or you have to run back to your car. You could just run back the way you came, which gives you a double look at the route, but it is usually more amusing to do a circular route. Several routes exploring the Community Forest Path can be found on the CTTC website, http://www.closertothecountryside.co.uk/
Southwest Section
The Green Man Route, one of the longest of the ‘shorter’ CTTC free routes on the Closer to the Countryside website could be adapted to cover the section between Ladies Mile on the Downs and Norton Malreward, which passes the start of the published challenge route in Ashton Court, but as it is already more than 21 miles long, I hesitate to extend it.
The New Cut Route offers a more manageable 20K. This route, which has yet to be written up, starts in Southville (or possibly Hotwells) and uses the Chocolate path alongside the New Cut and the railway bridge near the Create Centre to access the path up Burghwalls Wood to the Suspension Bridge. It then turns left into the Ashton Court Estate and then follows the Green Man Challenge instructions to Dundry. It then follows the Malago streams downhill to Victoria Park, leaving a short stretch past the Bedminster City Farm and the Asda car park back to the New Cut.
Out from the Centre: Four routes from the first Crossing Boundaries book also cover parts of this section, namely the Merchants/Dragon route (6M), Two Brooks (7 or 8M), Dundry Slopes (8M) and Mannings Wood (7.5M).
Beyond the Urban Fringe (in preparation) supplies another three possibilities: Bird in the Hand (6.4M), The Angel (7.5M) and Chew Magna (12.6M), which is probably the best way of checking out the section between Dundry and Pensford.
Southeast Section
The Two Queens Route (15M) from Out from the Centre covers the whole of this section and has shortcuts. There are also four routes in the new book, which explore this section, namely: Coal Stones (5.75M), Lords and Commons (8M), Stantonbury Hill Fort(7.5M) and Riverside Station (6.5M).
East Section
The Two Rivers Route (20M) from Out from the Centre covers nearly all of the eastern section. This route is conveniently split into two sections (14M and !3M) by the Bristol and Bath Cycle Path, but that leaves out an important bit in the middle. In the same book, the Emerson’s Green route (7M) covers most of the northern segment, ‘Made Forever’ (7M) covers the middle part and Cockridge (9M) covers the southern section.
The new book, Beyond the Urban Fringe, will include five routes, which touch on this section of the Forest Path, but to the geometry of the situation, they include more of the attractive countryside between Bristol and Bath than sections of the Forest Path.
North Section
Nearly the whole of this section is covered by The Janus Beast a 15 mile route from Filton Recreation Centre in ‘Out from the Centre’. Shorter sections can also be found there: Shopping or the Hen-pecked Husband (7M) from the Mall, explores the rural section through Easter Compton and Patchway and Bradley Stoke (6M) covers most of the urban section. The Duchess (6M) provides a link with the East Section, but it is probably misleading as most people will shortcut this section, using an alternative path.
West Section
This is covered by the first two chapters of Out from the Centre (7.5 and 8 M) and by the first and last in the new book (both 15M).
