6th October 2011 Ford, Glos

This was a Thursday morning walk done with Mike starting at the Plough Inn at Ford and includes a section though the gallops of the jumps training yard of Jonjo O'Neil at Jackdaws Castle.

The walk is a five miler and took us just under two hours with a pause for coffee on the way.

View from Dirty Bridge

Jonjo's Gallops

We parked at the Plough car park and crossed into the gallops where we followed the clear track of the Diamond Way uphill parallel with the training track until we crossed over as requested on a signpost to the opposite side of the gallops where we admired the horses and left Jackdaws Castle via the high security gateway. We then turned left along the road (not too busy), leaving the Diamond Way for just under a mile before turning left along a track by Heaver Wood. We stopped for a coffee break near the pleasantly named Dirty Bridge, admiring the Cotswold scenery around us before moving on to the junction ahead where we turned to the left towards the cluster of houses known as Taddington. This was a familiar place as I'd passed through it many time before on the way to Snowshill, always meaning to stop at Pauline's Veg stall.

Pauline's Veg!

We stopped at the stall and Mike availed himself of some fresh veg, remembering to cough up in the honesty box provided. We left the road just after the village and crossed fields, following a stream in open farmland. We went through Manor Farm and the village of Cutsdean, following the track back towards Ford. We went through a gate but were quickly advised by a gardener that we were in fact in Jonjo's garden, so we quickly went to the other side of the fence of the well tended garden and continued to the car park for the return to Cheltenham.

An OS view walk is below, courtesy of QUO digital mapping/OS