(S/E) From the carpark with your back to the pub, follow the road ahead for 10m and then turn right and walk uphill towards the church. Go through the orange gate on your left into the church gardens. Follow the path around the right side of the church and then walk down a steep slope into some trees. Follow this path straight ahead, down some steps, and then continue straight ahead onto a tree-lined downhill path.
(1) After about 50m you reach a gate. Go through this gate and go straight ahead along this path for around 100m until you see a turning on your right. Take this turning and then follow this path again for around 300m. The path then turns to the left and then after 20m or so it turns to the right with a bridge and a wooden gate. Go through this gate and go straight ahead for 150m until you hit a T-Junction in the path at the bottom of the hill. Turn left here and then walk 20m, go through a wooden gate, and then onto a quiet lane with a wooden fence to your right. Follow this lane for 150m until it reaches a T-junction with a main road.
(2) Turn left onto this road and walk along the path for about 80m before crossing the road and then joining a thin tree-lined path you’ll see just before the petrol station. After 200m on this path, turn right onto a track and follow this as it goes downhill and bends to the left before turning into a footpath leading into more trees. Keep following this path, bending to the left as it goes, until it reaches a metal gate. Go through the gate and emerge onto a small bridge with lovely countryside and lakes in view. Walk ahead for 150m until you see a wooden bridge and gate on your left. Continue straight on at this point and walk ahead for another 200m, enjoying more pretty lakes either side of you, as the path turns into a gravel track and bends to the left around the back of the lake.
(3) Keep following this path all the way alongside the lake until it turns left again at the far end of the lake. At the end of the gravel path, it turns into a smaller footpath. Keep straight ahead on this footpath for 40m until you go through a wooden gate, then turn to the right immediately and carefully cross the main road. On the opposite side of the road, about 10m to the right, take another footpath and follow it as it tracks the main road for about 40m before turning off to the left and passing a large gas container.
(4) Follow this long path ahead tracking a river to your right. After about 2000m, the path gets to a point where it turns to the right.
(5) At this point, there is a gate to the left with a sign saying “Horseshoe Lake Parks and Countryside Service” which is a permissive path around Horseshoe Lake. Go through this gate and follow the path as it tracks around the Horseshoe Lake with the lake to your right. After about 700m, at the back corner of the lake, the path goes off to the right and there is a wooden gate on your left.
(6) Go through the wooden gate to the left and immediately go through another wooden gate a few metres ahead onto a quiet road. Carefully cross the road and walk straight ahead through a metal gate into a field. Walk through this field with trees and bushes on your left, go through 2 more metal kissing gates, and then keep going until eventually, in the top left corner of the field, you come to wooden gate leading onto a quiet road. Go through the wooden gate, turn left and carefully follow the road for around 50m until it bends to the left, at which point you will see a footpath on your right going into the woods.
(7) Follow that path through the woods as it bends to the right after about 200m with a fence to your left. Follow this path for another 300m until it bends to the left. After the bend keep following the path as it goes quite steeply uphill into some beautiful woodland.
(8) After another 400m you will then come to a T-Junction, at which point you turn right and follow the track downhill for about 300m until it reaches a busy road. Cross this road carefully and then follow the footpath straight ahead into Simon’s Wood which is a National Trust woodland. Follow the footpath through these majestic woodlands for about 300m before the path bends to the left. Follow it for another 100m or so after the bend, ignoring a couple of footpaths on your right until it reaches a main crossroads in the path.
(9) At the crossroads, turn right onto this track (Hollybush Ride) and follow this for about 500m, passing a pretty pond on your left, until it reaches another crossroads. Turn left onto the quiet lane at this crossroads and then walk along the pretty Heath Ride residential lane for around 1000m until you see a small lane on your left, just before a house, called Wick Hill Lane.
(10) Follow the very quiet Wick Hill Lane for about 100m and just before it bends off to the left, you’ll see a footpath sign on your right saying ‘Restricted Byway’. Follow that footpath until you reach a fork after another 200m and you need to take the left turning here. Then, follow the footpath for around 700m as it passes through a wooden gate and then takes you down a hill, until it reaches the road ahead.
(11) Turn left onto the road and follow the path alongside the road for about 50m before carefully crossing the road and following the path on the other side of the road for another 50m. Then, turn right onto Church Lane road that is heading back up towards the Queen’s Oak pub. Carefully follow this quiet road for about 400m until you see the Queen’s Oak pub on your right.(S/E)
