4th November 2017 - Forest of Dean - Nags Head Nature Reserve

A nice short nature walk for you today through the Forest of Dean. It’s that time of year when all the leaves are turning golden and any walk is a bit special. We did admittedly get a bit wet at times but that doesn’t diminish from the beautiful forest. We parked in a small spot opposite the Mary Rose Young pottery shop a few miles west of Parkend. There isn’t much space here so arrive early. We headed north but you can set off in any direction from here.

Big sticks abound in the Forest of Dean.

The path took us up a drive and across a cycle path. Be aware the actual path is somewhat obscured by a large overhanging tree. This meant we had to trek across some undergrowth and jump a stream to get back on the path once I had realised the error. There is another small car park here for the RSPB Nagshead Nature Reserve. I forgot to check if it was free or not. Sorry.

Despite sounding like one, Nagshead is not a pub.

The nature reserve has a lopped trail of about a mile. Around the trail are posts with nature questions on them. They are aimed squarely at children however, so don’t expect anything too taxing nature lovers. We didn’t finish the whole loop but kept walking towards the quarry opposite Cannop Ponds. We had a brief torrential downpour which hadn’t been forecast. Thankfully we were prepared. Always carry a waterproof no matter what the weather man says.

Rain makes for pulling faces. Gore Tex saves the day however.

The path climbs quite steeply up above the quarry and as such affords some wonderful views over the forest to the north. Up at the top the golden leaves give way to deep evergreen conifers. The track runs along Broadwell and Coalway villages. This is quite a busy spot for dog walkers from the local area. Some are great and let their dogs play, others do that odd thing where they go off the path and completely shield their dogs because ‘they might bark’ or ‘they play too rough’ or may favourite as their dog sits their excited with tail wagging in a play pose ‘he’s scared of German Shepherds’. Thankfully some people were happy for their dogs to play with Chuck and yes, he did bark.

Chuck admiring the view across the forest.

The path back took us past the nature reserve again. We got on the correct path that we should have taken previously and this is how I discovered it was obscured by a tree. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. The Forest of Dean is great for a walk that doesn’t require much planning. As there are so many tracks you can expand or shrink your walk on the fly according to the weather or tiredness. There isn’t an ugly bit and there are loads of activities for what I assume is a reasonable fee. There’s even a steam train. It really is a great place to go all year round. 

29th October 2017 - Forest of Dean - Bream

Today we fancied a shorter walk as we have been overdoing of late. It was Chuck’s Birthday soon so we thought we better take him somewhere he really enjoys. He mostly enjoys water but it was a bit cold for that so I thought we’d go to the Forest of Dean as he loves chasing sticks and there are oh so many sticks there. As we have covered most of the Forest of Dean I looked for a bit we hadn’t been in. I noticed in the south west near Bream was the bit of the Gloucestershire Walk we had missed when doing our long distance walk. So we parked up in Bream next to the War memorial, which was decked out nicely for Remembrance and set off into the woods.

The war memorial a few weeks before remembrance day.

The initial part of the walk was on the very outskirts of the Forest. This is the pretty world where village meets trees and the path winds past cottages. After a while we were into the woods proper. The wonderful thing about the Forest of Dean is that it is so varied. You can walk down a path with one type of woodland on one side and a completely different woodland scene on the other. There is plenty to do in the forest but today we managed to avoid all the activity. We did however meet quite a large pack of Collies. Chuck isn’t a fan of meeting large packs of dogs and shot through quickly with his ears down and his tail firmly tucked away.

Although it was cold, the sun was still beaming through the trees.

There were large number of mountain bikers in the forest. They seem to appear from nowhere at high speed across the footpaths. I’ve not really noticed that many before so I’m not sure if it is this part of the woods or it’s their favourite time of year. Either way they were a slight menace. We hit a small amount of civilisation in Ellwood, another tiny village. On the side of the road was a pig pen with a giant mother and her piglets. Watching the mother root around in the ground shows the power of these animals. The boar in the forest are a similar size and cause massive amounts of destruction on the ground. We encountered a few boar on our Gloucestershire Way trip mentioned earlier.

Cute little snorkers in Ellwood.

A short walk from there brought us to Drybrook. An even smaller village which is just a single loop road of houses. There is a small nursery here for the horticulturally minded but not much else. We walked round the loop anyway just to have a look. Back to Bream we headed, dodging yet more bikers. So a short one today, just over two hours but as mentioned we’ve been pushing it for a while now and rest is as important for fitness as exercise. Chuck got plenty of chasing in, we had a relaxing Sunday. The weather was glorious. It’s a great little part of the world if you think you’ve seen the whole of the Forest of Dean.

Chuck really enjoyed his birthday walkies.