Bristol - Hill Farm, Dundry Hill

Walk Details:
Date: 26/11/2005
Total ascent: 63m/ 207ft
Total distance walked: 1.37 miles
Walk difficulty: 3/10
Enjoyment rating: 1.5/10
Best bits: Good views across Bristol to the Severn Bridge
Worst bits: Difficult access, miserable top for our 100th county top
Walkers: Anth, Jim
Car Parking: There’s several gaps in the verge of East Dundry Lane just above the county top which you could park in if you didn’t mind the risk of scratched paintwork and losing a wing mirror. We opted for the easier parking opportunities slightly further away in the lower, residential part of East Dundry Lane at ST 601 672

Top details:
Name: Hill Farm, Dundry Down
County top number: 100 of 205 (total number to do has increased by one since the last report due to the inclusion of a third possible top for Nottinghamshire at Herrod’s Hill)
Grid reference: ST 59356 66846 View Map
Height above sea level: 160m/ 554ft
How nice was the top? 1.5/10
Views: 4/10
Description/Notes: The highest point in the unitary is an indeterminate point along the northern edge of a hedged field boundary.

The Walk:

It had been over two months since our previous hill-bagging trip to Dorset, which had taken our total county tops completed to 99, and our total marilyns to 23. We’d started to plan a trip which would take us to our county top century and marilyn quarter-century in some style – a weekend in South Wales, capturing the Black Mountains and Pen y Fan. Unfortunately events conspired to stop us. Firstly my wife fell seriously ill, and I didn’t want to leave her (don’t worry, as I write this a couple of weeks later she’s staged a full recovery). I’d been nursing her all week, but she got her sister up to look after her for the weekend and told me I should still go – I eventually agreed but said I’d only leave her for the day rather than the weekend. Secondly Wales and the southwest were hit by heavy snow. Whilst Jim and I relished the idea of bagging snow-bound peaks, the news was warning that the A-roads through the Brecon Beacons were impassable – this meant that we had no chance of getting up the remote mountain passes that we needed to.

We reluctantly abandoned the Welsh trip, but we still wanted to do some bagging at the weekend. We were off to Lincolnshire the following weekend and if we didn’t bag some tops this weekend our landmark century and quarter-century tops would be some miserable low summits around the Humber. We scoured the map for county tops and Marilyns that we could do in a day and decided that the tops of the former county of Avon were the only ones that fitted the bill.

So, it was to the Bristol county top we headed first. The border of Bristol Unitary Authority meanders across the lower slopes of the marilyn of Dundry Down, and the county top lies on this boundary. We’d have liked to create a walk to link the county top to the highest point of the marilyn, but the proximity of the urban fringe of Bristol made it difficult to create a nice circular walk between the two. Plus the distance involved would have taken a bigger chunk out of the day than we really had to spare. So instead it was to be a quick bag of the county top from the closest point, and then a drive to the Marilyn top.

The closest point would have been on the higher part of East Dundry Lane. There were a few possible parking spots along the lane, but all were disgustingly choked with fly-tipping and also left you worryingly tight to the narrow road. In addition the farmer was working nearby, and given that the county top lies slightly away from the footpath we didn’t want to give him any grounds for suspicion. It was a long drive along the lane to find a turning spot, and then we headed all the way back down to the bottom of the lane to park just inside the residential edge of Bristol, from where we hoped to be able to walk up to the county top.

On the OS map, the footpath past the top seemed to stop at the farm track leading to Hill Farm. Unfortunately, the farm track was blocked by a huge security gate – unsurprising given its proximity to Bristol. Seeing no other way to reach our footpath, we clambered through a gap in the hedge higher up the hill and walked back down the edge of the field to join the farm track. We felt very conspicuous walking along the farm track and were glad when we reached the point where the footpath was marked on the map (there were no signs for it though).

We walked up the edge of the field, following the unmarked and untrodden path. At least the lack of signposting meant that if we got caught at the county top we could quite legitimately claim to be lost. Although, as Jim pointed out, the big red cross on our map at the county top might be a bit of a giveaway that we were up to no good. Still, after the big security gates and the lack of footpath signs, combined with the natural nervousness of the first top of the day, we proceeded with extreme caution.

Wer turned right, and off the “path” at the top of the first field, and followed a broken hedge around the top of another field. We were now very nervous, as we were in full view of Hill Farm below. We nipped into the next field along, and after a couple of hundred yards of twisting hedge came to what was probably the county top. The field edge undulated slightly, and it wasn’t clear exactly where the highest point was. We took a quick GPS reading and a photo of the expansive, if slightly misty, view across the city, and scarpered.

Back at the farm track we wondered if the footpath was supposed to carry on into the houses ahead. There was no stile or signpost into the field below, but there was a lowered bit of fence and sort of water trough to help you step over it. This plan worked, and we returned to the car through residential roads.

I think we both hated this top. Not only was it a bit nerve-wracking, but it suffered from the same problem of all county tops that lie halfway up a hill – you somehow got no sense of actually having bagged anything at all. But the worst bit was that it was a horribly anti-climactic way to get our 100th county top, and neither of us felt any urge to celebrate as a result. We were just wishing we were actually in South Wales.