Berkeley - Sharpness Docks - Berkeley

Sean Meek

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There is plenty to see on this walk, which starts by heading through the small town of Berkeley. You will pass Berkeley Castle, which is steeped in history and was the scene of the brutal murder of Edward II in 1327. The walk also passes close to the home, now a museum, of Edward Jenner, who introduced the smallpox vaccination.

Leaving Berkeley behind, the walk heads alongside the Little Avon River, which starts off as a small stream but becomes a tidal river further along, before flowing into the Severn Estuary. You will see Britain's first nuclear power station here, which has now been decommissioned; all that remains are the two reactors, encased in concrete.

The walk follows the Severn Way upstream from here to Sharpness Docks, which were thriving at one time with ships off-loading, but nowadays are fairly quiet, with just three or four cargo vessels visiting each week. The return to Berkeley is made via the villages of Newtown and Wanswell, where you will find the Salmon Inn, an oak-beamed village pub which welcomes children, with restaurant and bar meals.

England - South West England - Gloucestershire - Severn Estuary

Features

Birds, Castle, Church, Flowers, Food Shop, Industrial Archaeology, Mostly Flat, Museum, Play Area, Pub, Public Transport, River, Toilets

9/5/2020 - Carol Baker

We started this walk from Sharpness waymark 11 but still did the circular. A very good walk, a minor problem with a crop field waymark 18 but walked along the edge and then to the stile. Waymark 22, after climbing the steps this is now a housing estate, follow through and onto a tarmac path that leads into the following field. An added bonus for us were Llamas in the field between waymark 6 & 7.

7/27/2016 - Pete Goodwin

Re the 'locked' gate at Point 7. As on 22/7/16 there's a hook as well as a padlock, it does open! A photo taken last year confirms it was there then - though I'd missed it and climbed the gate!

7/10/2016 - Chris Summers

Did this walk on 9/7/16. Same issue as Andy,gate was padlocked at waymark 7,so we climbed it,looks like others had done the same.There is no stile. Waymark 18 is another issue.The field was cropped,in places 2 1/2 feet deep,which made the going hard.Instead we followed the field around to the right,over the steel bridge and up to the gate onto the road and then left back to Berkeley. Nice walk except for the cropped field!

11/17/2011 - Andy Packer

I did this walk on a Monday morning, mid November, on a foggy and grey day (although it hadn't and didn't rain) I did this walk with the family pooch. It is a very flat walk with pretty much no steep slopes in it at all. The views from the banks of the Severn over the Power Station, Docks and river itself are great, but again it was a grey day for me so I shall be going back on a better day, it is not far from where I live! The walk took me 2hrs 39mins including breaks. The only navigational comment I have is - Waypoint 7 - The gate was locked with a rusty padlock. This was a nightmare as I had to pretty much lift the gate from its hinges to get my dog through. I shall be writing to the council about this. A really good walk of decent distance. I also GPS tracked this walk, to see my route and some other interesting info visit my Trimble page, just click this link - http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/1405470 I also took some high res photos along the way of this walk, to see them visit my Photobucket page, just click this link - http://photobucket.com/sharpnessdocks