Walks in Gloucestershire by train

Gentle Cotswold hills, open fields, ridge with fine views and honey-coloured villages.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Dramatic outlying northwestern limb of the Cotswolds. Walk crosses from Gloucestershire into Worcestershire at Carrant Brook.

Time: 5h30–10h30

Warnings: Dangerously busy lane with tight bends near Aston-on-Carrant.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Beautiful line through the northern Cotswolds. Trackbed of old railway line, fields, roads through villages and flat greenway. Route follows the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway from 1859, closed for passenger services in 1968-1969, finally closed in 1976. Now a greenway.

Time: 4h–7h30

Warnings: First section still in use for goods traffic; moderately busy road between Pebworth and Long Marston.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Medieval friaries, Gloucester Cathedral's fan-vaulted cloisters, the historic docks and the river-meadow Alney Island reserve on the Severn.

Gloucester Docks: Britain's most inland port, the 1827 terminus of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, ringed by Victorian warehouses.

Gloucester Cathedral: A great medieval cathedral with celebrated fan-vaulted cloisters, near the start of the walk.

Llanthony Secunda Priory: The surviving buildings of a 12th-century Augustinian priory beside the Gloucester docks.

Alney Island Nature Reserve: A river-meadow nature reserve on an island between two channels of the River Severn.

Over Bridge: A single-span masonry bridge over the Severn designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1829.

Time: 1h

Walk details: Bristol Rail Campaign (photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat and heavily industrial Avonmouth: distribution centres, wind turbines, an old level crossing and the greenery of Avonmouth Park.

Time: 1h30

Warnings: Heavily industrial; some footpaths overgrown or eroded by trail bikes.

Walk details: Bristol Rail Campaign (photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Wonderful views. Hill and moorland paths and with substantial climbs.

Time: 6h–11h30

Walk details: Railwalks.

Hill and moorland paths and with substantial climbs.

Hilly: half on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.

Time: 5h30–10h30

Walk details: Railwalks.

Panoramic views; long views. Hill and moorland paths with woodland and with substantial climbs. Part of the Cotswold Way.

Hilly: two fifths on high ground, rising above the surrounding land.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 4h30–9h

Walk details: Railwalks.

Picturesque; great views. Riverside path with fields.

Time: 4h–8h

Warnings: Short stretch on a fast-traffic road with limited verge.

Walk details: Railwalks.

Time: 3h–6h

Walk details: Railwalks.

Panoramic views; long views. Hill and moorland paths with fields and with substantial climbs.

Time: 7h30–15h30

Warnings: Sections can be overgrown.

Walk details: Railwalks.

Riverside path with fields and with moderate climbs. Good for bird-watching.

Time: 4h–8h

Warnings: Can be very muddy or boggy.

Walk details: Railwalks.