Walk 27 - Dundas Aqueduct to Warleigh Wood
Summary
This simple walk starts at the stunning Dundas Aqueduct, where the Kennet & Avon Canal crosses the River Avon. Enjoy the Angelfish Restaurant at Brassknocker Basin, with options to hire canoes, boats, and bicycles. Begin or end with a wild swim below the aqueduct on this delightful year-round walk.
Walk Start & Finish
What 3 Words location: ///model.reader.from
Walk Difficulty Rating: 1
Each walk includes three difficulty ratings, considering trail steepness and off-road terrain, to help you choose the route that best matches your ability and preference.
OS Maps online route: Dundas Aqueduct to Warleigh Wood, 5.1 km
By car: Park in the Brassknocker Basin Car Park and exit the car park along the footpath towards Brassknocker Wharf and Dundas Aqueduct, the Aqueduct will appear before you across to your right from the footpath.
Route
Approach the canal along the footpath from the car park. This was a popular stopping point, and still is for pleasure cruises (now often by kayak and paddleboard!). Turn left across the metal bridge, and bear right to first cross over the canal, and continue to cross the aqueduct now over the River Avon.
Follow the path across the aqueduct until you come to a small opening on your left amongst the trees, with 30 or so steps bringing you down to a stile into the fields beyond. For the wild swimmers wanting to start your walk with a swim, bear immediately left across the stile and through the cattle gate at the end by the river to the pontoon before you.
From the first stile continue directly across the fields with the River Avon to your left. The footpath will subsequently meander alongside the river for approx 2km. The path is very seasonal, a little muddy in winter, and some overgrown patches in the summer but a popular route!
Eventually the footpath bears sharply uphill for a few metres, through a gate to join Warleigh Lane at Sheephouse Farm.
Just after you pass through Sheephouse Farm, turn right on Warleigh Lane and follow the wooded lane climbing gradually uphill for almost 2 km.
The lane will bear right at the top, continuing to Old Bounds Cottage.
Take a right here to pass through the collection of houses at the picturesque hamlet of Conkwell. At the bottom of the hamlet, bear left (as if you are passing through someone's private driveway!) following public footpath signs to show your way into the edge of Conkwell Wood.
Continue along the footpath into the woods until you come to a footpath T-Junction, taking a right and continuing down to the bottom of the woods. Take care to avoid mountain bikers who occasionally tour the woods!
At the bottom of the woods you will rejoin the canal path, just ahead of the steps you took at the start of the walk. Either divert here for a post walk swim, or continue back across the canal to Brassknocker Basin, and back to the car park.
