Journey's end - The walk into Bath - Cotswold Way Circular Walk

1 Walk to the end of the Park & Ride (away from Bath) to gates into football fields. Cross the playing field heading diagonally left to a kissing gate. Go through the gate and take great care crossing the road to another kissing gate.

Go through this gate and proceed straight ahead for approx 100 metres where a slope takes you up to the white safety rails of the race course. Turn left and follow the rails northwards until the wall/hedge on your left leaves the safety rail. Head diagonally across the field until you see a small section of the white rails in the corner of the field. Situated in the corner is a topograph adjacent to Prospect stile.

2 Turn left and follow the trail until you reach the viewpoint. Pass through the kissing gate and turn left to follow the track downhill. Continue on towards the treetopped dome of Kelston Round Hill as wonderful views over Bath begin to open up to your left – a sight that has given comfort to the road weary for thousands of years.

Stay on the Cotswold Way through three kissing gates as it heads around Shiner’s Wood and onto the track passing the hill up on the right. When you meet the farm road, head straight on over the stile and around the top edge of the field, passing through the metal gate at the far side. Follow the path round past a view point on your right and through another metal gate to head down towards the recreation ground.

3 Head straight across the playing fields as the Cotswold Way crosses the boundary between countryside and city. At the far corner, pass through a gate and head left to pick up the Cotswold Way signs as they change from weathered oak to green and white metal fingers.

Continue to follow the signs over a zebra crossing, past a church and up some steep sections of path between houses. Pass through a kissing gate and turn right to follow the path along the bottom of a field, known as Primrose Hill, pausing at the end to glance all the way back up to where the walk began. Keep following the Trail down a shaded path, across the last of the rough grassland and up another steep section. Stick with the signs as they guide you right towards Sion Hill, and then down a path through the middle of the golf course. Cross the road at the bottom, past the last of the green and white signs, and follow the path around the edge of Victoria Park.

4 At the bottom of the park, turn left and pick up another style of Cotswold Way signing; from now until the end you will be looking out for black stickers with gold arrows attached to lampposts and bollards etc. Head past the war memorial and through the ornate park gates, then instead of making for the second set of gates, turn left and cross the road to follow the path below the Royal Crescent. Turn left at the end, then right down Brock Street towards the picturesque tree-filled Circus. Turn right and head down Gay Street, crossing over at the lights to carry on down the other side. At the bottom, turn left onto Wood Street and carry straight on until you meet the junction with Milsom Street.

(For the return journey, turn left up Milsom St; the Park and Ride bus stop is halfway up on the right).

Turn right and head down Old Bond Street to the right of the central line of shops, then left at the bottom and immediately right onto Union Street. Keep straight on across the next road, then left into the Colonnade as the wonderfully welcoming sight of Bath Abbey is revealed.

5 Walk towards the Abbey main door, passing the Pump Room and Roman Baths entrances which are on your right. The large circular Cotswold Way plaque is set in the ground just before you reach the Abbey main door. This is the start/finish of the Cotswold Way.

Print navigation content