I did these two sections of the FOD Branch and the FOD Central Railway as a circular walk. Starting at Upper Soudley some houses had been built over the track. I soon picked it up again and entered the forest by the FOD Visitor Centre and found the west portal of ********* tunnel to be sadly bricked up. This was to be the theme of a disappointing day with regard to my findings as all portals today were closed. As we approached Lower Soudley we found the other end of the tunnel next to the road by Bradley Hill. Standing in one spot I could see the exit from one tunnel an the entrance to the next. There was a great deal of evidence of an industrial past here, but as we were forced at right angles away from the track we entered Glastonbury Wood and climbed Fernbrake Hill above the tunnel. The OS map is pretty unclear as to whether the track emerges briefly after 1/3 mile of not, so we had to go and find out. The plus side was that we found a nice viewpoint on the hill looking over the River Severn, but no portals. Oddly we did find a stretch which looked very much as if it may have carried a railway line and even the altitude was roughly correct. It definitely went nowhere though.

We were forced to detour massively or cross a field, so we took the latter option only to find a Trespassers will be Prosecuted sign as we exited the field. We soon reached the last portal of the day which was set it an impressive cutting into sandstone. We decided not to walk down the boggy cutting but picked up the track at Grove Farm. We followed the track until we got to Bullo Farm and then detoured along a path to Bullo. This is where the line would have joined The Great Western owned line to Gloucester and is the easterly point of my journey, so I picked up the Severn Way and walked an area I know quite well through Awre and down to Little Box to pick up the line again. We walked up to the partially missing bridge, but could see it was not feasible to follow the track so walked along the road with a close eye on the track. We were pleased to get back on the track after Poulton Farm as we had walked precious little track so far that day. Another bridge marked the start of the path, though we had noticed a more interesting structure slightly earlier. Maybe one day I'll revisit and get a closer look.

I think our attitude must have changed towards this project as we took a more interesting path rather than follow the track along the back of some houses at Blakeney. We crossed the A48 and again had to miss a big section as it was on private land. The bridge and viaduct at Clarks Lane must be one of the most interesting remnants of the railway. I'd love to get on top of it, but there was no way today. It wasn't until we got back into the forest that we managed to get back on the track properly and even then we couldn't follow it when we got to Copes Quarry. Just before that we found a beautiful kiln near Fowlswell Slade. We followed the railway quite easily all the way to Mallards Pike Lake spotting some lovely bridges and absailers along the way. A quick climb back over the hill to Upper Soudley and we were done. A great days walking, though our most poorly followed stretch of track so far by a long way.