Congresbury Yeo valley, livestock, birdlife, woods, great views of the Mendips, and a bunch of nifty pubs in which to spend what you've saved on the airport shuttle.

1. Detrain at Yatton on the Bristol to Weston-super-Mare line.
2. Turn left out of the station and then immediately through the little nick with staircase in the hedge to the right of the road.
3. Walk left to the end of this private road, which runs parallel with the station concourse.
4. Turn right along the High Street and keep walking until you pass the infant and junior schools on your left and arrive at the right turn into Church Road.
5. Thirsty already? Keep walking a bit along the High Street for the Butcher's Arms (sociable heavy drinking with good beers, ciders and Sky) and then the Prince of Orange (local boozer).
6. Nope? Turn into Church Road and then into the spectacular 15th century Church of St Mary the Virgin, aka The Cathedral of the Moors.
7. Walk round the church and through the graveyard and exit on the far left.
8. At the end of the cul-de-sac, turn left onto Rectory Drive, and then left onto Rectory Way.
9. Follow this round the bend, turn right onto the recreation ground and cross it, aiming for the far left corner - the junction of Rock Road and Mendip Road.
10. Cross Mendip Road and walk down the footpath opposite. 
11. Walk straight through the first field and then cross the second at roughly 45º left to exit through the stainless steel gate in the hedge to the left of Land Farm.
12. Walk left down the lane away from the farm and then turn right down the main road, passing the Cadbury Garden Centre on your left. 
13. Turn right at the junction with an even more unpleasant road and walk up to the bridge over the Yeo.
14. Cross the road and walk east through the meadows on the north bank of the river, passing Urchinwood Manor on the left, until you hit a small road.
15. Cross the roadbridge and continue along the south bank until at the other end of the field, at a weir, you can recross.
16. Follow the path and the beautiful church tower across the meadows to Wrington.
17. The church of All Saints is more or less contemporaneous with St Mary in Yatton. Leave the churchyard at the east end, next to the war memorial, and turn left up Station Road to the high street.
18. There's a good general store here, but the Golden Lion has good beer and cider and no dining.
19. Turn left and then right at the end of the high street to get (past The Plough - food) onto School Road.
20. Walk up it until you get to tree-shaded grass triangle with a bench. Turn neither right nor left, but continue up the old hill road straight ahead. Turning into a bridleway, it takes you up through a wood and then into open land with a house to your left and then a gate in front of you leading to another farm.
21. Follow the broad bridleway up to the left. Just after the track swaps from the left to the right of the ample space allocated to it, an unmarked path sprouts off to the right between two field hedges. Now it's moral dilemma time.
22. If you're bad and brave, stay on the bridleway, keeping with it as it enters some manorial forest. Eventually in the woods to your right you'll see a gate leading to the field containing the airport landing lights and some sheep. Cross the field, taking care with the barbed wire, and walk along the airport perimeter road to the left. You'll pass a golf course on the left and then, after about 1km, get to a narrow, busy road, where you may choose to pity the residents of Downside and Lulsgate Bottom, whose local authority has made a mint from the airport without investing any of it in pavements. Turn right, following the airport perimeter fence, etc etc
23. If you're good and carrying three suitcases, take the abovementioned unmarked path. On the edge of a wood the path splits. Take the lefter of the two through the wood, and in the wood when you arrive at a 4-point path junction do the same again. Cross the field with Broadfield Farm to your left and then turn right down the road. When it veers to the right follow the old track straight on, which about 400m later will deliver you onto the A38. You can either walk left down it to the airport or cross it, walk down the road opposite towards Butcombe Court, first left past Hunter's Hall to Felton common, whence paths to the left will deposit you at the airport. (Felton has a couple of not brilliant pubs if you're desperate.)

1. Town and country walking and study tours in Barcelona and the Western Med says:

   May 21 2011 at 17:29

   [...] Here. I’ll be posting more of these, my basic criteria being that they must [...]