Another Golden Valley

It was Queen Victoria who bestowed the name Golden Valley upon the valley of the River Frome, near Sapperton.  Her reasons are lost in the mists of time, but having explored one Golden Valley on May 18th it seemed a good idea to seek out the other one a week later.

Our ramble began near Sapperton Church which, like the church we visited last week, was firmly locked. I shan't repeat my thoughts about that!  Unlike last week's, though, there weren't even any plants for sale in the porch.

The Macmillan Way is a 90 mile long-distance footpath that links Bath to Banbury, passing through Sapperton on the way.  We planned to follow it for just over a mile. However, shortly after leaving Sapperton our plans were nearly thwarted when we spotted a large amount of Police 'Do Not Cross' tape beside the path and then, about 100 yards further on, this...

Well, if we were not supposed to have walked the path between the two lots of police tape, it was too late now, so we ducked under it and pressed on.  Later that day I searched the Internet for news of some dreadful incident that might have necessitated closure of the footpath, but could find nothing.  Very odd.

A little further along the path we came upon The Beech Cafe, where some enterprising souls had clearly been raising funds for the NHS. Sadly, they'd either sold out or just given up – hopefully the former, or would no-one cross the police line?  

Thoughts soon turned to lunch. In these days of lock-down, with all the pubs and cafes closed, it's either a picnic or starve.  Here I am, swigging peach juice and eating more cheese, crisps and biscuits than might be expected of a Slimming World adherent.

I'm in Pinbury Park – one of the Bathurst family's possessions.  Between 1902 and 1928 they used it as a summer residence and were once visited by Queen Mary. Is it possible, I wonder, whether, a few decades before this, Queen Victoria may have visited and first glimpsed her Golden Valley?

Beyond Pinbury Park the public footpath crosses the River Frome, then emerges onto open farmland. A more interesting route, though, lay through private woodland of the Bathurst Estate, which the nice Earl kindly invited us to use.

Wild garlic in abundance

We emerged from our woodland walk at this old bridge, which spans the remains of the Thames & Severn Canal. I've marked the spot with a blue circle on the map below. Our path was the one that comes down from the top right.

From here, our walk book suggested turning right and following the Thames & Severn Way back to Sapperton, but I fancied making the walk a little longer. If we went down to the next canal bridge (far left of the map) there should be footpath (green dotted line) to take us back to the blue circle.  We searched in vain for it, so instead crossed the railway line, with the intention of recrossing it at a level crossing, about 250 yards along the road.

O dear – here's the crossing! A nearby notice explained that it had been closed in March because of "unsafe and unlawful use, resulting in immediate danger to public safety," which presumably means that there had been a near-miss or two between vehicles and trains. Why it should also have been closed to pedestrians, though, was a mystery, as it looked a lot safer than the crossing we had just used.  

Rather than retrace our steps, we pressed on and crossed the railway line ½ mile further east, close to Sapperton Railway Tunnel. I waited beside the track for a while, hoping to see a train, but nothing came and S- wanted to get on with the walk.

Back on the Thames & Severn Way, we spotted several old canal locks.  These were the Daneway flight of locks, that used to lift the canal up to the 2-mile long Sapperton Tunnel.

The last time I came here was in June 2015, with my lovely friend Lucy. So to round of this post, here are a couple of photos from that visit, and one of the two of us at the other end of the tunnel, where there happens to be an excellent pub.  One day, hopefully, we shall eat there again.