Orcop - a Longer Walk (Walk 38 option)
Distance (kms) 11.3km
Minimum Time: 3hrs 30mins
'Ascent: 950ft
Difficulty Level: 2 - Medium
Paths:
Landscape:
'Dog Friendliness:
Parking:
Public Toilets:
Description:
Directions:
From Point 4 on Walk 38 keep on the road for nearly 0.5 mile (800m). Beside Butts Bungalow, take a delightful track to Mynde Wood. Fork right to ascend gently. After 300yds (274m) in the woods find a waymarked double stile, Point A.
The next stile to negotiate is 400yds (366m) away, well left of the line of the steepest slope. Turn left on to a green motorway. At the T-junction turn left on tarmac. Over the crest, drop steeply but only half-way: a stile just after a grassy cattle grid enables you to skirt Bettws Court Farm. Re-ascend. About 60yds (55m) beyond a protruding corner take a stile into Mynde Wood once more, Point B.
Descend steadily, crossing several tracks. Leave the wood for a paddock. Go right of the brickfloored stables to a track, then turn left, beside a house. Through the gate ahead, turn right. Temporary fencing for horses makes the way unclear. You can use the next gate ahead, then go right, into and out of the rusty-red corrugated shed (which garages an old fire engine), take a gate on the left and turn right. Standing on a tarmac road, with The Mynde to your right and two ponds to your left, you are at Point C. From the outside The Mynde is imposing yet bland, its rendered finish detracting from any embellishments. Inside, it apparently has a very large hall, but none of the privately owned building, in part 16th century, is open to the public.
Just past the ponds, fork left, following a dirt track for over 0.5 mile (800m). Just before the minor road it bends right - go straight on, hugging the left field edge, to pass a modern house to your right. Cross this road and the next field. At a woody corner go down, left, to cross a stream. Now go two-thirds right and only a little up to a narrow metal gate. Strike across this large field, neither gaining nor losing height for the first 200yds (183m) then, veering left a fraction, descend steadily to cross a stream. Go up again, to reach a minor road beside the cottage, Nash Hill. Cross this and into another field. Go diagonally for 60yds (55m) then straight down the slope for two fields. At a ditch, go left, to cross two more fields and emerge in the village of Kilpeck beside the Red Lion public house.
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