(S/E) From the Old Manor House entrance, turn right and right again along the A38 in the Bristol direction, along the right-hand pavement. After a quarter of a mile, cross the entrance to Wavering Down Rise and continue to a bus stop.
(1) Cross the main road at the traffic island, turn briefly right on the other pavement, then turn left onto the Strawberry Line. Follow the former railway for half a mile, at which point the Trail passes through Shute Shelve tunnel (180 metres).
(2) Beyond the tunnel, continue for 250 yards then turn left off the Trail up some steps into Slader’s Leigh Local Nature Reserve. After a kissing gate, turn left along the path along the left-hand edge of the reserve. Beyond the old lime trees at the top, bear right through a gate to a sunken track.
(3) Turn left and walk up the track, crossing the road into King’s Wood car park Exit the car park by the gate into the woods, with the cottage on your right, and follow the West Mendip Way path straight ahead, parallel to a wall on your right and ignoring any paths off to the left. Pass a large house behind the wall on your right.
The slope eases as you leave the woods, continuing along the wall to pass Hill Farm.
(4) Climb quite steeply to the trig point on Wavering Down, the highest point of the walk at 211 meters. Return to the path along the wall, before descending past an inscribed stone bench and bearing right to a saddle where a path crosses.
Sticking to the main ridge, climb slightly (Compton Hill) and descend to a second saddle, before the final climb to Crook Peak.
(5) You can either scramble directly up the low rock face to the summit or walk below the lime-stone crag and then double back left to the top. Either way, after taking in the magnificent views from the summit, set off down the broad ridge known as the Razor, with the church and village of Compton Bishop below and to your left.
Pass through a gap in a fence then turn hard left into the trees on a descending path.
(6) When you reach the wall at the bottom of the wood, bear left and take the lower, right-hand path, hard against the wall. This leads to a gate and out to the end of a driveway by Glebe House. Walk out to the road and turn left past the Manor House.
(7) At the church, turn right along Church Lane, which curves to the left below the churchyard wall to a road junction. Turn right then immediately left into a driveway with a public footpath sign. Follow the driveway when it bends right and continues to the last house, beyond which a stile leads into fields.
(8) Follow the hedge on your right past a series of gates and stiles. Beyond a water trough, keep to the left of a gap, still with the hedge on your right-hand side as you approach a house. Bear left around the garden and then go over a stile and walk along a narrow field before descending to a stile into the lane below Bourton Farm.
(9) Pick up the continuing path opposite and proceed in a similar vein, with a field boundary on your right, until you cross a field to a gate into a disused quarry. Continue ahead, with the quarry faces away to your left; ignore a path heading off to the right, instead climb alongside the wall on the far side of the quarry.
(10) Follow the path round to the right, along a contour across alternating rocky, grassy and scrubby slopes. Eventually the path descends through trees and meets a path at a crossing point.
(11) Turn right and follow the path to a hand-gate in a corner. Beyond the gate, descend steeply to the road in Cross village. Turn left, passing the New Inn on your return to the Old Manor House. (S/E)
