Leg 12 - Rodmarton to Tetbury - Mud!

 Nine of us assembled for this walk, starting at Rodmarton and finishing at Tetbury. The obligatory group photo was taken just outside Rodmarton. The regulars, Rod and Di, Alison and Deborah, and Lily the dog,  were joined on this walk by Carl and son Hudson, Katherine, Ceris and Steven.

There had been a lot of rain in the previous few days, so we expected the way to be muddy in parts. Little did we know!

Leaving Rodmarton we passed through a couple of ploughed, and muddy, fields. Hudson used his compass to navigate us safely on a course of 200 degrees to eventually reach a busy road which we crossed with care. We walked for about a mile along a lane until we reached the village of Ashley, population 50 (according to the Church website), where we stopped at the beautiful church of St James for our picnic. 

The Church dates back to the 12th century and was a beautiful and peaceful place to stop. We had expected the weather to be sunny by this time but we were out of luck, and as we began to get chilly, we soon pressed on.


We ploughed through more muddy fields, skirting flooded sections, making the going slippery and at times difficult. By this time Lily the dog had submerged herself in several muddy pools, and was not looking her best. 

We arrived on the edge of a wood, and on our right was a large field surrounded with with what looked like high security fencing. We couldn’t work out what crop could possibly be so important, but then one of the party spotted hundreds of saplings. We supposed the fencing was to keep out deer and other wildlife that would strip the bark off the young trees.

In the corner of the next field we came across a WW2 pill box, hardly in a commanding position, being in a somewhat isolated position. After a cursory investigation, we carried on through the mud.

At this stage we could see the spire of Tetbury church and knew we were not far from our destination. Passing through some abandoned farm buildings we eventually reached the road into Tetbury where we stopped at the Snooty Fox for refreshments.

A very muddy walk, but still enjoyable to be out in the country with friends.



Blog written by Ali. 

We are raising money for Grassroots Suicide Prevention, which is a cause very dear to our hearts. Contributions can be made here:

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