Price comparison - multiply by 1.81 for 2023 equivalent
I had reached the point in my long distance walking where I had done all of the walks in the UK that appealed to me, some of them twice and the Pennine Way three times. Each year it becomes more and more difficult to find another walk to do and last year I even devised a walk of my own around the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District. I have often toyed with the idea of walking the West Highland Way, but have been put off by the fact that it mainly follows the valleys rather than taking to the mountains. One option I considered was to add extra days to the walk to climb some of the mountains, and last year it was brought to my attention that a walk has already been published, the Highland High Way, doing just this. However, this walk has a seriously difficult schedule of daily ascents that would be too much for me to achieve without ending up in a state of total exhaustion. Typical days involve 5,000 ft to 6,000 ft of ascent and one day has 8,000 ft with no easy way of splitting the walks into more manageable parts without dropping right down from the mountains and having to climb back up again the next day. Reading some accounts of people who have attempted it, most of them fail to keep going and either drop out or revert back to following the West Highland Way. Apart from the strenuous schedule, there is the likelihood of bad weather making conditions on the mountains very unpleasant. So, although there are some aspects of this walk that appeal to me, I decided that it would be just a bit too much to take on.
There are a number of walks that I have brushed aside in the past, not because they lacked merit, but because they are only about a week in duration, whereas I like to take on a walk of about two weeks. One of these is the Cotswold Way, some of the northern parts of which I have walked on day walks and found quite enjoyable, even though they are not as rugged and mountainous as the walks I favour most. However, whilst looking at details of the Cotswold Way, I found that there were a couple of extra walks put together by the Macmillan foundation to make it into a circular walk. The Cross Cotswold Pathway runs from Banbury to Bath using parts of the Macmillan Way. This joins up with the southern end of the Cotswold Way and then the Cotswold Link joins the northern end of the Cotswold Way at Chipping Campden back to Banbury.
One advantage of this walk was that my elder daughter lives in Shutford, a village about six miles from Banbury with the Cross Cotswold Pathway running about a mile away on one side of the village and the Cotswold Link running about two miles away on the other side of the village. This would mean that I could leave my car there and also have accommodation there at the start and end of the walk. Further planning showed that I could start by picking up the Cross Cotswold Pathway about five miles from its start at the nearest point to my daughter's house. Then towards the end of the walk I could be picked up from Chipping Campden at the end of the Cotswold Way, about 15 miles from Shutford and dropped back there the next morning to walk part of the Cotswold Link back to Shutford again. This just left a day to rejoin the Cotswold Link to Banbury and return to Shutford via the first few miles of the Cross Cotswold Pathway to the point where I had started. This would help a great deal in reducing the overall cost of accommodation, as B&B prices in the more popular parts of the Cotswolds can be rather expensive.
On the downside, the Cross Cotswold Pathway and the Cotswold Link promised not to be as interesting as the Cotswold Way, as they traverse more gentle countryside. About half of the walk would, therefore, not appeal to my passion for more rugged terrain. On the plus side, about 90% of the route would be completely new to me, which would partly compensate for it not being quite as interesting.
Planning
The main essential in the planning phase is an accommodation guide for the route. The Cotswold Way has a number of guidebooks and I opted for the Trailblazer guide by Tricia & Bob Hayne (ISBN 978-1-905864-16-4) which is packed full of information including details of B&Bs along the way. The other two parts of the walk have been put together by the Macmillan Way Association, which publishes guidebooks and an accommodation guide.
The guidebooks were quite different in their approach to route finding. The Cotswold Way book shows a fair amount of detail and directions on the maps themselves with very little information in the text, whereas the Macmillan publications have extremely sketchy maps with very little detail but compensate by having very detailed route descriptions in the text. Neither could be said to be ideal, as there is nothing quite as good as sections of 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps that are used in National Trail Guides. I debated about whether to buy a set of OS maps to cover the walk, but decided that, as both walks were quite well waymarked, I could probably manage without. Over the past several years, I have become accustomed to using my GPS to locate my exact position whenever I have been uncertain about the route, but as none of my guidebooks showed any grid references, this would be of little use. The Cotswold Way guidebook does, however, have a list of waypoints for the various landmarks along the route, which could prove to be of some help for this part of the walk.
At various points along the way there is a distinct lack of accommodation, especially at a reasonable price, which makes the planning quite difficult in parts. This is quite a common problem with most long distance walks and it can mean that daily mileage can vary quite considerably to fit in with available accommodation. An additional problem is that, although there may be accommodation, there may be nowhere within a reasonable distance to get an evening meal. There are various ways that B&Bs cope with this if they do not offer evening meals themselves. Some places will offer a lift to and from a pub and one place even offered me the use of a car so that I could drive myself to a pub.
Pubs themselves often have accommodation which is generally of a reasonable price, and this was the case in some places around the Cotswolds, but in the more popular tourist places some pubs were asking as much as £70 or £80 for a single room, so I was quite concerned when I started to book that costs would start to soar above what I have usually had to pay. However, things were not as bad as I anticipated, and most of my accommodation was in the range of £25 to £35 for B&B, with only two at higher prices of £40 and £45, whilst one was only £23. The advantage of the Cotswold Way guidebook was that it had only been published this year so all the information, including prices, was up-to-date. On the other hand, the accommodation guide produced by the Macmillan Association gave no indication of price, not even rough price bands, so it was a matter of making telephone enquiries about price and availability before deciding whether to book or to try elsewhere.
There are one or two Youth Hostels on or near the way as well as a YMCA hostel in Bath, which I managed to book. However, I missed out on the YHA hostel at Stow-on-the-Wold, as the Macmillan guide didn't mention it. I also decided against the hostel in Cheltenham as it is quite a long way from the main Cotswold Way route. Eventually, I managed, with the help of my wife, to get the whole route booked with a schedule that, though not ideal, was manageable. The only part that I had real reservations about was the section from Crickley Hill to Wynchcombe, which, according to the distance chart I was using, came out at 21.5 miles. Unfortunately, the nearest B&B to the route had no vacancies, so I had to book accommodation at Little Witcombe, a mile and a half off-route. The prospect of a 23-mile day didn't thrill me, especially as I had fairly long days before and after, but it was too late to make any changes at this stage, so I would just have to press on to get there. Fortunately, Winchcombe has several places to eat, including the pub where I had booked B&B, so it wouldn't matter if I were rather late arriving.
Training
Normally, I like to get in a series of mountain walks on the lead up to a long distance walk as this gets me into good shape and avoids some of the problems that can occur in the early days of a walk. In this instance, I had so many other things to occupy me that all of this had to go by the board. Our hotel had suffered extensive flooding from a burst pipe at the beginning of the year and there was a lot of work to be done getting it back to normal. Also, my younger daughter had just bought a house in rather derelict state and my help was needed to try to get it into a habitable condition as quickly as possible. This meant that the only walks of any significance that I had done this year were three in January and one in the middle of March and I hadn't even put my boots on for nearly three months before the start of this walk. All the walking I had managed to do in this time was a walk of two to three miles per day on the flat walking the dog. There was no shortage of physical activity during this time, but, apart from helping to keep me generally fit, it was a poor substitute for some good hill walking.
This was not the best position to be in when embarking on a long distance walk, and goes against all of my recommendations, but it was just a case of having to set off and hope for the best. On the plus side, this walk was going to be less strenuous than many that I have undertaken with considerably less hill climbing, but on the other hand, some of the daily mileages were quite considerable and likely to cause a few problems without the right training.
Day 0 - Sunday 7th June 2009 - Home to Shutford
Accommodation: My Daughter's House
The time had finally arrived for me to break off from building renovations in one place and another and embark on this year's walk – The Cotswold Round. I packed all my things in the car, taking care not to let Oscar our dog see me doing so, as he would have been very upset at not being able to come with me. Normally, if he sees anything associated with walking – a rucksack, walking boots, map – he assumes that I am taking him for a long walk in the hills and mountains, so gets very excited, so when I set off on my annual long distance walk, I try to avoid him seeing any of these things to spare his disappointment.
On the way down from North Wales to Shutford, I went through some awful weather with heavy rain and temperatures dropping as low as six degrees Celsius. This was only a week after we had been basking in sunshine with temperatures of 25 degrees, which just goes to show the vagaries of the British climate. Fortunately, the huge band of rain was predicted to move away, which was the case later in the day, though the temperature still remained quite low.
Day 1 - Monday 8th June 2009 - Shutford to Maugersbury
Distance: GPS 21.3 miles
The GPS mileage figure is what I recorded from accommodation to accommodation, and includes any small detours, meandering around, and errors in route finding. In general this is about 5% to 10% greater than the mileage calculated from a map, depending upon the type of terrain.
Accommodation: B&B
I arose at 7.00, as the family still had to be off to work and school at about 8.00. Most of my things were still packed, so it was just a matter of making sure that I left nothing behind that would be needed on my walk. After saying my goodbyes to everyone, I headed out of the village to join up with the Cross Cotswold Pathway part of the route about five miles from its start in Banbury. I met it on the old Roman Road near Madmarston Hill, about a mile from Shutford – I would be walking the section from Banbury at the end of my walk in two weeks' time.
The weather was cool and overcast, with the grass still a little wet from yesterday's rain, as I headed up over Barton Hill, past the stud farm, and down to the Roman Road where I joined the way. My boots got a bit wet from the grass, but not much as it had already dried out considerably by now. As I had done a few walks around here previously, the route was familiar for the first couple of miles as the Roman Road climbed gently up and down the rolling Oxfordshire countryside. Although there were no steep climbs, there was still a bit of effort involved in carrying a full pack, especially as I hadn't done any hill walking for a few months.
Although much of the way was on wide tracks, there were a number of narrow paths going through long grass so I was glad that it wasn't very wet or I would have got my socks and boots soaking wet very quickly. The scenery around was not spectacular but the gently rolling hills and picturesque villages built from the local stone make it very pleasant.
Roman Road near Shutford This is where I joined the route of the Cross Cotswold Pathway
Epwell Church
Past the village of Epwell, the route joins the main Macmillan Way, a long distance walking route from Boston in Lincolnshire on the North Sea Coast to Abbotsbury on the Dorset Coast, a distance of 290 miles. The route is quite well waymarked, which was a great advantage, as it is always very reassuring to see waymarks, especially when the route maps are very sketchy and there are not many landmarks.
As I was crossing the road, a fox ambled out from a pathway and wandered off up the road in front of me before heading off across the fields, unperturbed by my presence. A little further on, after passing a singularly unattractive transmitter mast, the route joined Ditchfield Lane along the boundary between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, following a ridge, or wold, for a few miles. At first there was very little view because of the high hedgerows on both sides, but after a while the views opened up more, particularly to the west, making the walking more interesting.
I was looking for somewhere to stop for a rest, but there was nowhere convenient to sit down anywhere along the lane – no large stones, no tree trunks, no patches of dry grass, only the rather muddy lane, so I had to continue onwards until I dropped down to the road by Traitor's Ford where the low wall gave me somewhere to sit. I had a snack and a rest, having done nearly six miles in just over two hours. The walking had been quite quick and easy and the route finding was helped by the fact that I had done this part of the walk six months ago in the very cold weather at the beginning of January. When I passed here then, the little footbridge by the side of the ford was covered in ice. I slipped on my way down and fell backwards. Rather than going down with a hard bump, the fall was cushioned by my rucksack and I came off unscathed. Some while later I stopped for a snack and when I started to peel a banana, I was surprised to find it very soft inside until I realised that this was one of the things that had cushioned my fall.
The weather was still quite cool and this had started to get through to me whilst I was sitting down by the ford, so the long steady climb up the road that ensued was not altogether unwelcome, as it helped to warm me up again. There were occasional glimpses of sunshine, but generally only for a few seconds at a time and not enough to raise the temperature much at all, though once I was walking I generated enough heat to keep me comfortable without having to resort to any extra clothing on top of my shorts and polo shirt.
Over the hill, I dropped down into the village of Ascott, which was as far as I had come on my previous walk before doubling back to Shutford via Hook Norton. From here on I would be on unfamiliar territory for much of the way until I reached the northern part of the Cotswold Way, where I done some walking about ten or so years ago, whilst I was contracting in Solihull. The very detailed route description in the guidebook which, unlike many guidebooks, was always on the same open pages as the map section to which it referred, made it fairly easy to keep on the right track, especially with waymarks to confirm the route.
West from Ditchedge Lane beyond Epwell
Approaching the Village of Ascott
Looking back to Whichford Church
The unspoilt village of Whichford with its 18th century rectory and Norman church was the next place I came to. The hills around here were getting a little steeper and there was a steady climb up to Whichford Wood, which required a bit more effort due to the weight of my pack and the fact that I was out of practice. Again there was nowhere to stop for a rest, not even a log or a fallen tree, only some rather damp ground, so I continued on to Long Compton, where I found a spot of ground that wasn't too wet by the side of a pond on the way into the village. It was all very tranquil with only the occasional walker or worker here and there, and a little bit of birdsong to break the silence, though it would have been so much better with some sunshine. However, I was very thankful that the torrential rainfall of yesterday had passed by.
As its name suggests, Long Compton is very long, being well spread out along the Busy Stratford to Oxford road. On the way through, I passed the church with its thatched lych-gate and many attractive cottages of Cotswold stone. From the southern end of the village, another steady climb brought me up towards a radio mast with some wide, open views across the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, though in these overcast conditions, they lost much of their sparkle.
Lych Gate at Long Compton Church
Colourful Field towards Chastleton House
Dovecote at Chastleton House
Continuing onwards down the hill, following a minor road for about a mile, I reached the National Trust property of Chastleton House. When the house is open, there is a permissive path through the grounds past the dovecote and down to the house, but it was closed today, so I had to walk down the road instead. The dovecote could be seen up the hillside and the house was visible through the gates across the road.
Chastleton House - a National Trust Property
Adlestrop Village
About a mile further on lies the picturesque village of Adlestrop, made famous in a poem by Edward Thomas (1878 – 1917).
Yes, I remember Adlestrop – The name – because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop – only the name.
And willows. Willow-herb and grass, And meadowsweet and haycocks dry No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang Close by, and round him, mistier, Farther and farther. All the birds Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
The railway line still runs by, but the railway station was closed down many years ago. Its sign now adorns the bus shelter on the entrance to the village, together with a plaque showing the poem. By now, I was getting rather weary, having walked nearly 16 miles, so I took advantage of the bus shelter to have a rest. The shoulder straps and waistband of my rucksack were rubbing and my legs were feeling the strain of carrying the weight of my pack. This was not at all surprising for the first day of the walk, especially as I hadn't done any real walking for quite some time. No doubt in a few days I would get more used to the schedule and the load.
From Adlestrop, the waymarking of the route started to get more intermittent, so I had to spend some time checking the guidebook to make sure I was on the right route. I strayed off the route through Adlestrop Park having been a little mistaken about the way that one of the waymarks was pointing, so I came out on the main road too far to the east, but I was able to rejoin the route by walking along the road to the railway bridge. Through Lower Oddington, it started to rain, but not enough for me to put on my waterproofs and it wasn't long before it eased off again, though it still remained very dreary.
On the way to Upper Oddington, the path went through a field with a small group of cows, which was not unusual, but then I noticed that one of them was a bull. Generally, bulls are quite docile if they are in with cows, but he was standing right on the path and was not inclined to move, so I gave him a wide berth. As I was heading past, I heard the sound of hooves behind me and turned around to see a cow and some heifers running up towards me. This wouldn't have bothered me too much, except for the fact that I couldn't see whether the bull had decided to join in as well. However, he had stayed where he was, not showing any interest in what was going on. After a short while, the cow and heifers went off through a gap into the next field leaving me in peace.
By now, I was getting more weary and looking forward to the end of the day's walk. The last mile was uphill along the roadway, as Stow-on-the-Wold is on top of the hill, with Maugersbury, where I had booked a B&B, just below. The B&B was well signposted through the village, and I reached there at 18.00. The landlady was outside by the stables where she was showing a mare and two young foals to a couple of people, this being very much an area for horses.
I had a single room without en-suite, but was pleased to find that I had the use of a bath and not just a shower, so was able to relax my weary muscles with a nice hot soak. The B&B was at the top end of the village, so it was not too far up a lane into Stow when I went to look for something to eat. There were several pubs and restaurants, but the first pub I came to was The Bell Inn. I ordered a pint of Wye Valley bitter but then found that they had already stopped serving food at 19.15. Downing my pint fairly quickly, I headed further up the road where I came upon a fish and chip shop, so I decided to call in there. As I was finishing off my fish and chips near the car park, it started to rain fairly heavily. I hadn't brought my waterproofs with me so hurried quickly up the road to the next pub, the Eagle and Child, supposedly the oldest pub in England, though I am sure that many others also claim this title. The price of a pint of bitter at £3.15 took me aback somewhat, but this is an expensive part of the country, so it was only to be expected. After a while, the rain eased off and I made my way back for an early night.
According to my GPS, I had walked 21.3 miles, not including my walk into Stow and back, so it was not surprising that I was feeling rather tired, though most of the walking was quite easy with no hard climbing, only gentle inclines with a few steeper ascents. Though there had been a number of places with reasonable views of the Cotswolds along the way, and the route had passed through several attractive villages, there had not been anything particularly special about the day's walk. But then I had not expected this part of the walk to be particularly inspiring and had undertaken it mainly to extend the Cotswold Way into a longer, circular walk, taking a fortnight instead of a week.
Day 2 - Tuesday 9th June 2009 - Maugersbury to Rendcomb
Distance: GPS 20.1 miles
Accommodation: Landage House B&B
I awoke quite early thinking that the sun was shining but then realised that I had fallen asleep with the light on and it was still only 2am, so I went back to sleep again and got up in time for breakfast, which I had ordered for 8.00. Three Americans joined me at the table and some New Zealanders came in later. One of the Americans commented that the breakfast was a work of art as it had been laid out so nicely on the plate. I didn't go for everything on offer, missing out the black pudding, fried bread and hash browns, but there was more than enough with all the rest.
I needed a few things for lunch as I had forgotten to look for things last night in Stow, so I made a detour back through there on my way, leaving the B&B at 08.45 and leaving Stow at 09.15. The weather was still dull and overcast and the walk down beside the busy main road from Stow didn't inspire me, but it wasn't too long before I rejoined the route and turned off onto a minor road, which was more tranquil.
Because of my lack of training, I was expecting to have aching muscles in my legs this morning, but the only aches I had were beside my shinbones rather than in my thigh and calf muscles. I can only assume that this was because the walking had not involved a lot of steep climbing so there was not so much strain on these muscles. I was still a bit sore on my shoulders and round by my hipbones where the straps of my rucksack had been rubbing but otherwise I was OK. The things that I had worried about were my heels, as I had had problems with them on previous walks when wearing my new boots, but my feet were not suffering any problems at all.
After leaving the main road, the route followed a minor road to Hyde Mill with its pond and resident swans. Then ensued a very flat walk through numerous large fields where several ways all took the same path: the Macmillan Way that I was following, the Gloucestershire Way, the Monarch's Way and the Heart of England Way. As if these weren't enough, the Warden's Way joined a little further along. This wasn't because it was a particularly attractive route, as it wasn't, but presumably it was the best way to get from A to B in this area. However, although the area was rather flat and uninteresting, there were some buttercup meadows to brighten things up.
Hyde Mill near Stow-on-the-Wold
River Eye near Old Mill, Lower Sloughter
Water Wheel at Old Mill, Lower Sloughter
By now the sun had started to break through a little and it was surprising how much a few rays of sunshine could improve an otherwise rather uninteresting walk. The route was generally very well waymarked, but towards Lower Slaughter, I lost my way after continuing along a track that turned out to be a farm track leading nowhere. There were houses in the distance, so I headed in that general direction but couldn't find the route again so, after walking all the way round a field trying to find a way out, I finally managed to get onto the road into Lower Slaughter. This just tends to illustrate how vulnerable one can be without a detailed map in these circumstances. The trouble with this sort of terrain is that the only landmarks are field boundaries, gates, hedges, fences, walls and stiles, none of which are easily distinguishable from ones in any other field. Following the route description in the guidebook, it is difficult to work out just which field and gate were the last ones to be passed through – was that the fifth or the sixth field since the road? With no grid references and very little detail on the guidebook maps, once lost it is very difficult to get back onto the route without backtracking to the last waymarked point.
Lower Slaughter is one of those very picturesque Cotswold villages with a stream running alongside the road with little stone bridges crossing it at various points. It is very similar to, but smaller than Bourton-on-the-Water, which is not far away and very popular with tourists. To add to the scene, the sun was shining more now, making everything look at its best. After looking around the village and up by the water mill, I picked up the way again and headed out on a minor road up the hill. As I entered a field at the top of the hill, I stopped for a rest in the lovely warm sunshine – so much better than yesterday's chilly overcast conditions.
By the time I had caught up writing things in my diary, the time had crept on and it was nearly twelve o'clock. I didn't have quite as far to walk today, but I still had 13 miles to go, so needed to press on a bit. The landscape was now back to the typical Cotswold scenery with wide open views of gently rolling hills. A section of road walking brought me into Cold Aston and from there a bridleway called Bagup Lane led to Turkdean. Along there I found an embankment by the side of the track and decided it would be a good place to stop for lunch, though the weather had now clouded over and it was a little cool again. A few people passed by whilst I was there – a couple of chaps out walking and a girl riding her horse back and forth along the lane, but otherwise it was very peaceful.
I set off again at 13.45 with ten miles still to go. A little further along I met a horsewoman coming towards me trying to pacify her horse and keep it under control. As she reached me she said "He's only a baby and he's not seen anything like you before!" This made me wonder just what sort of sight I was. Although he was only a baby, he must have encountered a number of human beings in his short life. Was I so different from them? Was I like some sort of alien? I admit that my pasty legs, which were getting their first airing of the year, might be enough to put people off, but I didn't think they looked bad enough to freak out a horse.
Looking back down Bangup Lane near Turkdean
The landscape was now starting to change a little from gently rolling wolds to rather more steep sided ones. This made the scenery more interesting, but also meant that there were steeper ups and downs to negotiate at times, though much of the way was still rather flat and there were some long stretches of track or road that seemed to go on forever. I pressed on a bit before having another stop, as I wanted to leave just a few miles to do on the last leg of the day's walk, so I kept going as far as the Roman Villa at Chedworth. This is owned by the National Trust and, being a member meant that I could go in for free. Even though I only wanted to have a quick look around for ten minutes or so, it didn't matter whereas, if I had had to pay several pounds for admission, it wouldn't have been worth it. In the circumstances, it was worth a visit, as there were some well-preserved parts of the bathhouses and other buildings with mosaic floors and some with under-floor heating.
Dining Room of Chedworth Roman Villa with under-floor heating
Chedworth Roman Villa - a National Trust property
Chedworth Church looking across garden pond of nearby house
From the villa there was a steep climb up through the woods followed by a long stretch of straight, level walking before dropping down and then up again into Rendcomb, where I was staying for the night. One thing I found with the guidebook was that, although most of the route description is very good, there are times when it can be a little misleading. It said 'At Setts Farm House keep on track through double wooden gates, then through two single gates and stay on this with open views ahead.' What it didn't say was there was quite a long walk between the wooden gates and the single gates, whereas it sounded as if they should be quite close together. When I didn't see any gates I started to get worried that I had taken the wrong track, which wasn't helped by the fact that I couldn't see any sign of the restored World War I airfield that it said should be visible ahead. Most of the time the guidebook gives a good indication of the distance between the various landmarks, but there are a number of instances like this where it does not. I did eventually come to another waymark, which showed that I was on the right route, but this was quite a way further on, so I walked for quite a way wondering whether I was going further and further off track. I never did see the airfield even though I looked all over for it.
I was quite surprised to find that my B&B was a very grand looking country house owned by an elderly couple. It had a very imposing galleried hallway hung with family portraits, and my bedroom was quite palatial with a large en-suite bathroom with bath rather than just a shower so that, once again, I was able to relax my weary limbs with a hot soak.
My GPS showed that I had done just over 20 miles, whereas I had calculated it to be 16.7 miles, though I had taken a detour into Stow as well as making one or two errors of navigation, which added a bit extra. I had also wandered around the Roman Villa. Despite this, I didn't feel as tired as I did yesterday, which showed that my system was getting used to the walking.
There is nowhere to eat in Rendcomb, so I was given the use of a car - an old F registered Ford Fiesta - to go for an evening meal. The couple were keen for me to go to the Bathurst Arms at North Cerney, as they have a flat that they were renting to a chef who had just started working there and they wanted to know what the food was like. I went there and had a pint, sitting outside in a brief spell of warm sunshine following a rather overcast afternoon. When I went to look at the menu, however, I decided it was a bit expensive, so went on into Cirencester, where I found a pub serving very reasonably priced meals with Tuesday pie specials at only £4.25. It was not exactly a gastronomic delight, but it filled me up, which was the main thing after a long day's walking.
It worried me a little that I might not remember my way back, as I had no map and I had taken a few turnings on the way. Fortunately, though, I managed to recognise the way and got back without any problems, then watched TV for a while before going to bed.
Day 3 - Wednesday 10th June 2009 - Rendcomb to Rodmarton
Distance: GPS 14.2 miles
Accommodation: B&B Rodmarton
I had arranged for breakfast at 8.30, as I didn't have a very long day's walk today. I was quite surprised when Mrs Goddard said that the house was built only about twenty years ago, as it looked like it was much older than that. It had been built for them by a local stonemason using stone from a barn that was being demolished, and they were fortunate enough to get such a good building plot overlooking the valley with unspoilt views. My first impression on seeing the house was that I wouldn't like the heating bills in winter, but being of fairly modern construction, it would have had a much better level of insulation than I envisaged.
View from Landage House, Rendcomb
Landage House, Rendcomb
The weather looked quite reasonable as I started out at 9.40, but there were showers forecast for later. I set off along the valley to join the road a little way along, which then had a long, steady climb up to the village of Woodmancote. Coming out of the village, the guidebook said to take the sunken bridleway, but this was overgrown with nettles, some of them up to the height of my head. Wearing shorts, it was going to be a painful experience getting through, so I stopped to put on my overtrousers to give me some protection and made my way through. After about ten yards, I was through the worst of the tangle and then about fifty yards later the bridleway rejoined the road, so I could have avoided all the hassle of putting on and taking off my overtrousers had I realised. Fortunately, I was not in a hurry, so it didn't bother me much and I stopped for a short rest sitting on a wall by the roadside in quite a pleasant spot. The bright start had now given way to cloudier conditions with a few spots of rain, but it was still quite mild compared with the last couple of days. I was still suffering from aches beside my shinbones, particularly when going downhill, so I tended to reduce my walking pace, which made things easier. The aching tended to wear off after a few miles but kept coming and going throughout the day, depending on the terrain.
Coming out of Woodmancote, the spots of rain turned to a steady drizzle but not enough to need waterproofs, and it was not long before it turned brighter and the rain eased off. Crossing the A417 dual carriageway involved a few backward and forward manoeuvres by road and farm track before I was able to reach a path across fields leading to a sunken track into the hamlet of Duntisbourne Rouse with its ford across Dunt Stream. The guidebook recommended a visit to the little church up the hill just off the route, so I took a look. It was in a lovely setting on the hillside and the sun just started to shine, so I took advantage of an inviting looking seat at the top of the churchyard to stop for an early lunch break at 12.00, as I was unlikely to find a better spot.
Sunken Lane towards Duntisbourne Rouse
Entering Village of Duntisbourne Rouse
Duntisbourne Rouse Church
After a while, it started to cloud over again, but I had managed to catch some lovely weather for my little break in that beautiful, tranquil spot. I was just thinking of setting off again when the peace was disturbed by the sound of a strimmer and soon a chap came into the churchyard to clear the grass around the gravestones. I chatted to him for a while and he suggested that I go into the church, as it was not locked, and I could also go up into the bell tower. The church was quite tiny, with a very narrow spiral staircase leading up the small tower where the bells appeared to be in working order and the timbers in reasonable condition, apart from a bit of woodworm. It wouldn't have been easy to do any work up there, as there was so little space to move.
I made my way onwards towards Pinbury Park where, once again, I encountered a bull in a field of cows. I passed through without any problem, but I could see that the bull had his eye on me all the way. The park had a deep valley running down to a pond near the park house, giving some fine views. From there, the route led through buttercup meadows bordered by high trees, though the buttercups were not as prolific as those I encountered yesterday.
Pond in Pinbury Park
Llamas near Sapperton
After the village of Sapperton there ensued a lot of road walking and, just as I turned off the road into a field, I stopped for a rest and a drink. Before long, spots of rain started to fall so, thinking that it would only be a brief shower, I held my fleece up over my head to provide some shelter. However, the rain was rather heavier and lasted longer than I had anticipated, but I didn't feel inclined to start unpacking and putting on my waterproofs in the rain, so continued to shelter as best as I could until it eased off. By this time, my fleece was quite wet and the rest of me hadn't escaped all of the rain either, but it wasn't too bad.
The Thames and Severn Canal Tunnel was not far away and I was soon walking through woods above the tunnel with evidence of the excavations in the form of spoil heaps, now mostly overgrown, and fenced-off ventilation shafts going deep down below. The route eventually emerged from the woods near the Tunnel House Inn by the southern entrance to the tunnel. The tunnel is blocked by rockfall in places, but boat trips run from either end for about a thousand metres in winter when the water level is generally higher.
East Portal of Thames and Severn Canal Tunnel
Tunnel House Inn near Thames and Severn Canal
The Tunnel House Inn was closed when I went past, but was the place to which I should be getting a lift from my B&B this evening. My B&B at Rodmarton was a little way off-route, so I had decided, rather than taking the nearest route to the village, to continue along the route past the village and enter it from the opposite end to avoid bypassing part of the route. As I was making my way there, the sky turned very dark and large spots of rain started to fall. This was not going to be just a shower, so I stopped to put on my waterproofs before it got any worse. Sure enough, the rain became quite heavy with rumbles of thunder in the distance. This made the ground very wet with large puddles along some of the footpaths. One lane was particularly bad with deep ruts full of water and overhanging branches dripping on me from above. A roe deer came out onto the lane in front of me, but apart from that, there was nothing of much interest along this part of the route, so I wouldn't have missed anything by taking the more direct route and I would have avoided what had become something of an obstacle course in the wet. I was quite glad when I eventually emerged onto the road and was able to have an easier walk for the rest of the way into Rodmarton, especially as the rain had eased off by this time.
At my B&B, I was pleased to find that they had a nice, warm boiler room where I could dry things out. After having a pot of tea and phoning home, I had a nice hot bath, not that my muscles needed it so much after a much easier day. With such good drying facilities, it was an ideal opportunity to wash out a few of my dirty things that had been accumulating. By the time I had done this, the landlady had returned home, her husband having greeted me when I arrived. She gave me a lift back to the Tunnel House Inn, which was now open. It was a very nice pub, frequented a lot by students from the nearby agricultural college. Recession or not, students always seem to have enough money for drinking, though most of them come from well-to-do families of farmers and landowners, who perhaps have not been affected quite so much by the recession.
Whereas in other areas, many places are offering special deals to attract customers , there was no evidence of that around this area. A pint of bitter cost £3.05 and the cheapest main course bar meal was £9.50. I had sausage and mash with onion gravy at £9.95, which was very tasty but not very filling. When Mr Fitzgerald came to pick me up at 21.00, as arranged, he asked me if I had met any royalty. Apparently this is one of the favourite watering holes of the two princes, being only a few miles from Highgrove House, home of their father the Prince of Wales. They weren't there tonight, but perhaps it explains the popularity of the place with the local girls.
Day 4 - Thursday 11th June 2009 - Rodmarton to Pinkney
Distance: GPS 15.4 miles
Accommodation: B&B Pinkney
I had breakfast at 8.00 and tucked into everything as I had very little left in my packed lunch box and wasn't too sure whether the shop on the way in Avening would be open. So many small shops are unable to remain viable with competition from supermarkets, especially in a recession. Some of my washing was still a bit damp despite being hung next to the oil fired boiler, which has been running 24/7 since the early 1960s.
Rodmarton Church from Village Green
Route through fields near Hazleton Manor Wet from overnight rain
Village Green, Cherington
Cherington Pond, Nature Reserve
It was a beautifully sunny morning with a freshness in the air so conducive to walking. After taking a quick look around the village, I was on my way at 9.20, retracing my way along the road to where I had left the route yesterday. The bright sunshine made everything so much more pleasant, even though much of the walking was along straight paths through field after field, or on minor roads. There were places where paths were overgrown with grass or crops still wet from yesterday's rain, and my shorts and socks got quite wet though I knew they would soon dry out again in the sunshine.
After a couple of miles I came through the village of Cherington with its old well head on an attractive village green, then down by Cherington Pond, a local nature reserve. Judging by the number of cars parked there, it was a very popular place, but I didn't see much evidence of their occupants, though they could have been members of a group working somewhere else in the reserve. The pond was covered in water lilies, some of them just starting to open out in the sunshine.
More road walking brought me into the village of Avening, where I was pleased to find that the Post Office/Village Store was open, though this was not surprising as this was quite a large, busy village and I even encountered a mini traffic jam as I was trying to cross over to the shop. Climbing up the hill out of the village, I stopped for a rest and a drink, looking back towards Gatcombe Park on the opposite side of the valley, home of the Princess Royal and venue of the renowned Horse Trials. The weather turned cooler and there was a brief shower, but still quite a bit of blue sky around. By now, I was finding the walking easier and getting used to the weight of my pack. I still had a few aches in my legs, but these were improving as time went on, which meant that I was able to walk at a slightly faster pace.
Gatcombe Park from above Avening Home of the Princess Royal
Chavenage House - Elizabethan manor house
The next section proved to be one of the most overgrown so far. There were some vast meadows traversed by a little-trodden footpath. The first meadow wasn't too bad, as the grass wasn't so thick or high, but in the second one it was both high and very thick. Fortunately it was only a little wet from the recent shower, otherwise I would have become saturated. Stiles were overgrown with nettles that had to be avoided and, further on, the entrance to a footpath from the road was so overgrown with bushes that I had to fight my way through only to encounter nettles on the other side. The only thing to be said in its favour was that here the route through corn fields had been sprayed with weed killer to about a metre width, so they were easy to negotiate.
I emerged onto the road by Chavenage House, a fine Elizabethan manor house, which happened to be open to the public today as it was Thursday, the other opening day being Sunday, though I wasn't inclined to go in. After taking a look at the house from the driveway, I continued on my way with the sun now shining in full force along with a strong wind, as I stopped for a lunch break. Despite the wind, it was still very pleasantly warm in the strong sunshine as I relaxed on the grass by the wayside sheltered from the full force of the wind by some trees. I had a good, long spell of sunbathing, as I had only about six miles left to walk and had plenty of time to spare, hoping that I might change the colour of my legs from their present 'whiter shade of pale'. I also took the opportunity of laying my damp washing out to dry in the sun and wind, also taking off my boots to give my feet an airing.
At 15.00, it was about time to make a move, so I headed across more fields towards Westonbirt. There were several people riding horses around one field, this whole area being very much geared up to horse riding. I also noticed in my guidebook a polo pavilion marked nearby. Further on, the path skirted around the perimeter of the Westonbirt Arboretum, though from the path, it was a matter of being unable to see the arboretum for the trees, as there were some densely planted trees round the outside restricting the view of the more interesting trees further in. After a while, there were some better views into the interior and eventually, the path entered the part of the arboretum that is freely open to the public. On the way, however, there were three electric fences across the route of the path, none of them either signposted with warnings or provided with any means of crossing them. However, as the fences were not too high and the supporting posts were well spaced I took the option of treading the wire to the ground with my boot in order to get across. Had my boots been wet, however, this wouldn't have been such an easy option. This is just one example of the disregard for public rights of way that occur in some areas.
After a lot of rather uninteresting walking, the way through the arboretum made an interesting and welcome change. There were some magnificent examples of a wide variety of mature trees laid out around broad avenues, all looking at their best in the bright sunshine. No doubt the part for which paid entry was required had even more exotic species, though it must take quite a long time to explore fully, as the site boasts 13,000 trees and 600 acres of grounds.
Broad Drive, Westonbirt Arboretum
Broad Drive, Westonbirt Arboretum
River Avon near Sherston
Departing from the arboretum, the path towards the road was heavily overgrown, partly with nettles, making it necessary to walk through the edge of the crops, which still was not easy. After a stretch of road walking, the next obstacle course was a recently ploughed and planted field where the path should run diagonally across. There was no path at all, so I had to make my own route across which again wasn't easy. Once I reached the road to Sherston, I then went in the opposite direction of the route for three quarters of a mile to my B&B in Pinkney.
When I arrived, there was a bit of a problem with the family dog, which was in the garden as it apparently didn't like strange men – here I go again, being classified as strange! The landlady had quite a problem getting it indoors, which she had to do before she could let me in via the back entrance. Once inside, the dog was quite alright so long as it had the chance to sniff around me for a while, though I was warned that there might be a problem when I returned from the pub later that evening. They do not do B&B here on a regular basis, generally only taking people at peak times such as when the nearby Badminton Horse Trials are on, but I was put onto them by another B&B that was fully booked.
When I tried to phone home I found that my mobile phone had only a limited service for emergency calls through another network, but no service from O2. I had come prepared for just such an eventuality, having bought a phone card last year from the Post Office, but had not needed to use it then. There was a phone box conveniently placed just across the road, saying that it wouldn't accept coins, which is becoming the case more and more with the phone boxes that have not already been removed. When I used my card, I was surprised to hear that, once I had activated the PIN, it would only remain valid for 90 days. Also my £5 card would give me only 21 minutes of time on a UK national call home. Bearing in mind the generally low cost of telephone calls these days, with BT offering 20 minutes for 40p from many of their coin-operated phone boxes, the phone card prices seemed rather excessive. Also, as phone cards are often used for just the occasional call when there is no mobile phone reception, a time limit of 90 days of use may well mean, as in my case, that one call can end up costing £5, even if it is a very short call. I can see no justification for a 90-day expiry period and it seems to me just a way of ripping people off. I checked up later on the call pricing and found that the prices were very reasonable to UK and international destinations, but that there was a 20p a minute surcharge from payphones, so they are good value for foreign visitors, say, provided that they use something other than a payphone and are able to make good use of the card within the 90-day period.
I made my way back along the road into Sherston and then found that as soon as I got out of the dip in the road, I had reasonable reception on my mobile phone, so I needn't have used the card anyway. The first pub in the village was the Carpenter's Arms, a little under a mile away. The prices were more reasonable than in some places I had come through, with most main courses costing less than £10, and beer at £2.85 a pint. I had some very nice hake with boiled potatoes and a sauce for £8.90. On my way back into the B&B, I was spared any further encounters with the dog, as I was able to enter via the back door and go directly up to my room.
Day 5 - Friday 12th June 2009 - Pinkney to Box
Distance: GPS 16.8 miles
Accommodation: Queen's Head Pub, Box
It was raining a little when I first got up for breakfast at 8.00, but by the time I had finished and was ready to set off at 9.00, it had cleared up and there were a few patches of blue sky. After rejoining the route on the way into Sherston, I called in the Post Office Shop, where I bought a baguette and some crisps to add to my lunch supplies.
Dropping down on the road out of the village, the route then ran beside a stream to the village of Brook End where there was a ford on the way into the village with a large blue sign saying 'Unsuitable for Motor Vehicles' and at the other side of the ford a red triangular sign saying 'Try your Brakes'. This made me wonder just who the second sign was aimed at. Cyclists would most likely cross by the footbridge, and the only other non-motorised vehicles I could think of would be a horse drawn carriages, though they would be very few and far between. Perhaps they thought that, if motorists ignored the blue sign, they might at least take notice of the red one!
There was another ford at the other end of the village and the stream made the walk a little bit more interesting for a while. At the next village of Luckington, was an interesting looking church just next to a building with small lions on its stone gateposts. Through the churchyard was the main driveway to the church and this was overhung with some huge trees from Luckington Court, which bordered onto it.
Mature trees of Luckington Court overhanging church driveway
Close encounter with a bull
The update sheet to the guidebook warned that the route to Littleton Drew could be a little difficult to follow and, sure enough, this proved to be the case. It started off reasonably well despite overgrown paths, but it wasn't long before I strayed off the route a little though I then managed to find it again. Further along, however, I went completely off-track. The guidebook suggested looking for the church tower as a landmark to head towards, but I could see no sign of a church tower anywhere, only a church spire in completely the wrong direction, so I headed across a field of cows in what I thought was roughly the right direction, only to be confronted by another bull that started to move towards me. After changing my course away from him, he then took no further notice and I was able to reach a minor road at the other end of the field.
I could see from the sketch map in the guidebook that there was a railway line nearby, and I could see a railway bridge crossing the road not far away, so I made my way to it and climbed up the overgrown embankment to see if I could find my bearings, but this didn't help and I was still unsure as to whether I was east or west of where I should have been. My best option seemed to be to follow the road roughly southwards and hope that I would find a signpost. It wasn't long before the road climbed slightly uphill and the church tower came into sight a little to the east of where the road was heading. Rather than trying to cut across fields, I continued along the road to a T-junction near the entrance to the village. Checking the odometer on my GPS against the distance shown in the guidebook, I had not had to walk much extra distance, so nothing was lost other than a bit of time trying to work out which way to go. It did, however, remind me of just how vulnerable I was with only the very sketchy maps in the guidebook showing little detail either side of the route and with no grid lines or references.
I stopped for a rest on a seat on the village green opposite the church, having done six miles, and set off again at 12.05 with the weather overcast, rather cool and with occasional spots of rain, though there were a few brighter spells earlier. Soon came the busy M4 motorway on a bridge over the minor road out of the village. After crossing By Brook and traversing some fields, I nearly missed Lugbury Long Barrow, but then turned back to take a closer look. It was in the middle of a field recently sown with crops and the barrow itself was heavily overgrown with nettles, which made it difficult to take a good look, though the big stones of its main tomb were fairly clear to see.
Entrance stones of Lugbury Long Barrow
Neo-gothic bridge by Castle Combe Golf Course
A little further on, the route entered the golf course of the Manor House Hotel, with several golfers playing round and about. This was quite an attractive valley, despite the golf course, with a neo gothic bridge crossing By Brook. For the first time in quite a long distance there was a hill of some significant size with the path going up the valley side and through woods. At the top it opened out giving a view of Castle Combe Church over a wall and some grounds on the steep hillside with a high level walkway.
Dropping down the hill, I entered Castle Combe itself and found it to be a very picturesque village. A lot of other people obviously felt the same way, as it was overrun with tourists, many of them sitting on tables outside the Castle Inn Hotel and the White Hart Inn, both of which overlooked the ancient market cross. Despite the crowds, this seemed like a good place to stop for my lunch, sitting on a seat by the entrance to the church, as it is often difficult to find anywhere comfortable to sit along the way.
I set off again at 14.10, with about seven and a half miles left to walk. Near the bottom end of the village was a picturesque group of cottages overlooking the the river By Brook. In 1966, this setting was used as the harbour for the film Doctor Doolittle, which involved building a dam to flood the river and this was not popular with many of the locals at the time. At Castle Combe, the scenery had taken a sudden change for the better. Instead of long flat fields, there were now steep sided valleys, with the route climbing up the hillsides making the walk far more interesting. Even when the route followed minor roads, some of them weaved around and meandered up and down making them far less monotonous than the straight, level ones I had grown accustomed to for much of the walk in recent days. There were not always good views because of the trees, but the whole thing gave me a better feeling.
Market Cross, Castle Combe
By Brook at Castle Combe Flooded in 1966 to make harbour for Dr Doolittle film
Route near Ford village Improving scenery and better walking
The route roughly followed By Brook for much of the way, and this added to the scenery with its various bridges and views of the water. I lost the way slightly towards Slaughterford, but soon managed to reach the village via a farmyard to quickly regain the route. Weavern Lane was very waterlogged as it ran through the woods with deeply rutted tracks filled with water, and larger puddles in places, so it took a bit of careful footwork to get along. As I emerged from the woods, I took a little rest on a chopped-off tree stump beside the track and finished off my drink with about three miles left to go.
Looking back to Ford village from By Brook
By Brook with Box Church spire just in view
After a while, the route dropped down into the valley to follow By Brook for the rest of the way. There was a bit of a confusion of pathways near Box Mill, so I just chose one that seemed to be going roughly towards Box Church and this eventually came out by large playing fields with the Queen's Head, my destination for the night, at the top end. I arrived at 17.40 and, after phoning home, watching the news and having a shower, I went downstairs for a drink and a meal. The prices here were much more reasonable, with most main courses costing from £6.50 to £7.50. I settled for a very nice rump steak at £6.95 together with a couple of pints of Wadworth 6X at £2.90 a pint.
At the time of booking my accommodation, I was told that I could either have a Continental breakfast at any time, or a cooked breakfast at 10.00, which I though was rather odd. However, it seems that this is just at the weekend when they like to have a lie in. The options also included having a packed lunch instead of breakfast, so I decided to go for that. Although I was in no rush tomorrow with only six miles to walk, I didn't particularly want to hang around waiting for a late breakfast. The packed lunch was left out for me later in the evening, so I could leave at whatever time I wanted in the morning.
Day 6 - Saturday 13th June 2009 - Box to Bath
Distance: GPS 7.5 miles
Accommodation: YMCA hostel Bath
I got up at 8.00 and had half of my packed lunch for breakfast along with a cup of tea, using the facilities in the room. The weather was not bad with reasonable patches of blue sky and a fairly good forecast. Having paid for my room in advance, all I had to do was let myself out of the Queen's Head, making sure that I hadn't forgotten anything, as I wouldn't be able to get back in again.
Attractive gardens at foot of Box Park
After wandering down by the church, which was close by, I headed back down the playing fields to rejoin the route at the bottom, which initially passed by some attractive park gardens. Box was a much larger and busier place than most of the places I had encountered along the way, being only six miles from Bath and on the main A4 trunk road, though there is still a lot of very nice countryside around, despite evidence of much more residential development. One of its claims to fame is that it is at the western end of Box Tunnel: a great engineering achievement on Brunel's Great Western Railway. It was not far from the tunnel entrance where I rejoined the route, although it was difficult to get a very good view of it from down there. There is another minor tunnel just to the west of the main tunnel, and the route skirted around the hill that the tunnel went straight through. Again, there were limited views of the entrances to this tunnel from the route as it followed the now familiar By Brook along the valley. There were some very attractive landscaped gardens at the bottom edge of the playing fields before the way led across a field just up the side of the valley.
Some of the directions in the guidebook were difficult to follow, as things on the ground have changed somewhat since publication: gates and stiles have been changed, hedgerows have been ploughed out and trees and bushes have matured, blotting out some of the landmarks from view. This has been quite a common problem throughout the route, though it has been largely compensated for by the very good waymarking along most of the way. Here, though, there was no waymarking to help in the immediate vicinity, though it was obvious from the sketch map that I needed to stay parallel with By Brook, and this was easily achieved by following the upper edge of the recently ploughed and planted fields, even if that were not the correct route of the path.
The roadway had led me to a fairly elevated position up the valley side, and I stopped for a rest and a drink just before Bathford, overlooking the sunlit valley with wooded hills behind, and a glimpse of much denser urban development further west on the outskirts of Bath. From there, the route dropped back down towards the main road, but just before I reached the bottom, I noticed a bee orchid right in the middle of the little-trodden path. Bee orchids are quite uncommon, and are often hunted for with great difficulty by keen botanists, so I was very surprised to see one in such a prominent place and also surprised that it had not been trampled upon. On further investigation, I found another three in the area nearby, but the first one I saw was the finest specimen.
Bee Orchid on pathway near A4
Ducks by Kennet and Avon Canal, Bathhampton
After crossing the busy A4 and going up the hill to Bathford, the route dropped down again to cross By Brook for the very last time, just before its confluence with the River Avon. Shortly afterwards, at Bathampton - everywhere around here is prefixed with Bath - I joined the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath along to Bathwick. The weather by now was beautiful and the canal was a popular place for walkers, joggers and cyclists as well as those on barges. For once, I didn't look odd in shorts, as the warm sunshine had encouraged many others to wear them, and by now my legs had taken on a more healthy looking colour than the deathly white they were at the start of the walk.
House built over Kennet and Avon Canal near Bathwick
The Moorings, Kennet and Avon Canal, Bathwick
Locks on Kennet and Avon Canal, Bathwick
There were several interesting features along the canal, including a fine house built on a bridge over the canal, and a number of very elegant portals on some of the short tunnels. The route turned off towards Bath just before the flight of locks, but I decided that a bench just by the first lock would make an ideal spot for a lunch break in the warm sunshine.
Just across the canal, on a wall that stood a good twelve feet high on the canal side, though just a few feet above his garden on the other side, stood a man with some pruning shears. He must have spent about half an hour there, balancing on top of the wall, chatting to his neighbours down below and doing the occasional clip here and there once in a while. He showed no signs of fear about falling off into the canal, though I suppose that falling into the canal wouldn't have been anywhere near as dangerous as would falling onto a hard surface from that height. I did get the impression though, that he was showing off a bit to his neighbours and the many passers by. Eventually, he returned to his house without any mishap, and the show was over.
I dropped down the path from the canal and it was not long before I was entering the city of Bath, passing the Cricket Club, the Parade Gardens and on to Bath Abbey which marked the end of the Cross Cotswold Pathway section of the walk and the start of the Cotswold Way. The city centre was quite familiar, as my wife and I had visited it several months ago, but in cold, wet weather. Everything looked so much better in the warm, sunny conditions, except for the fact that there were so many more people about, with sightseeing buses everywhere and masses of pedestrians walking around the streets. It wasn't long before I found the YMCA where I had booked a room for the night. It was quite busy at the YMCA, with a few groups of people checking in. They have beds available in dormitories, much like the YHA do, but none of these were available when I booked, so I had to take the more expensive option of a private room, though this was still quite reasonable compared to what I would have had to pay in a B&B in Bath. The room had a fine view over the rooftops to the Abbey and the rest of the city centre, and I was able to drop off my things there before going out for a leisurely walk around the city for the rest of the afternoon.
Pulteney Bridge over River Avon, Bath
Bath Abbey - Start of the Cotswold Way
Pulteney Bridge over River Avon, Bath
The YMCA was not far from The Circus, a fine example of Georgian architecture designed by John Wood the Elder, though he died three months before it was completed, leaving his son John Wood the Younger to oversee its completion. From there, I continued onward to visit the Royal Crescent, one of Bath's most famous landmarks, designed by John Wood the Younger. Beyond there were the Royal Victoria Garden and the Botanical Gardens where I did a spot of sunbathing before the sky clouded over. There were quite a number of people about taking advantage of the good weekend weather, though the gardens were big enough for it not to be overcrowded.
Royal Crescent, Bath
Royal Victoria Park, Bath
Bath Abbey
At the end of the afternoon, I headed back for a shower at the YMCA before going out to find something to eat. As well as all the expensive restaurants and bars that would be expected in an elegant city like Bath, there were also pubs that were part of large chains, offering food and drink at very reasonable prices. The recession had sparked a bit of a price war throughout the country, with all sorts of cheap meal deals to be had, and I settled for a 10oz gammon steak with all the trimmings for £6.25 in the Litten Tree not far along the road. Later, I wandered around the town again, picking up a few things for tomorrow's lunch in a Sainsbury's Local before retiring to my bed.
Day 7 - Sunday 14th June 2009 - Bath to Old Sodbury
Distance: GPS 20.7 miles
Accommodation: Cottage owned by Dog Inn B&B
I had intended to set off as early as possible, as I had quite a long way to go but, after a fitful night's sleep, interrupted by late night revellers outside until after dawn and then by a loud chorus of birds, I dropped off to sleep again at about 6.30 and didn't wake up again until 7.45. In a bit of a rush, I managed to get down for breakfast at 8.05 to find the whole breakfast bar filled with a large group of Frenchmen, probably a coach party. The room price included a continental breakfast, but a full English breakfast was available for an extra £2.10. I eventually managed to get served and found one of the few remaining tables, enabling me to down my breakfast, pack up my things and set off by 8.50, which wasn't too bad, but a bit later than I had hoped.
Having already bought things for my lunch last night, I was able to get started on the walk straight away, and as I had already done the city centre part of the walk yesterday, I was able to head straight across to the Circus, then to the Royal Crescent and through the Royal Victoria Park to pick up the route up the hill out of the city. This was now the Cotswold Way, which I was walking in the opposite direction from normal. Fortunately, the Cotswold Way guidebook had fairly detailed maps for route finding rather than relying heavily on a route description as the Cross Cotswold Pathway had done. When walking a route in reverse, route descriptions are of very limited help, whereas maps can be used quite easily in either direction. It also helped that the route was very well waymarked, having been upgraded to National Trail status fairly recently.
View from YMCA window over Bath City Centre
Entrance to Royal Victoria Park, Bath
Cotswold Way up Sion Hill, Bath
The walk up the hill from the park was quite a steep climb followed by a steep drop back down again and several more ups and downs. This was more strenuous already that any of the walking I had done so far, but the scenery was also some of the best I had seen since the start of the walk. It helped, of course, that the sun was shining, but I now started to feel that I was doing some real walking for a change and not just trudging along to get to get through to the end of each day's walk. The reason for the change of scenery was that the Cotswold Way follows the escarpment on the edge of the Severn Valley, whereas the Cross Cotswold Pathway just traverses the gently rolling countryside that makes up most of the rest of the Cotswolds.
There were quite a few people out and about – some out walking and some out jogging, which was not surprising on a sunny Sunday morning in a well populated area. Coming through Bath, I wondered where working class people managed to live, as all of the housing seemed to be so grand and expensive looking, but a couple of miles out of the city, I started to see blocks of utilitarian flats and more modest housing. After a few miles, the urban areas were left behind and replaced by open countryside as the way took to the higher ground.
Coming over Dean Hill, there were views of Beckford's Tower, a neo-classical folly on Lansdown Hill to the northeast, and at Kelston Round Hill I took the short permissive path to detour to the summit where a circuit of the small copse of trees enabled me to see a whole panorama. The Severn Bridges were visible out to the west, with the Cotswolds ranging onwards towards the north. I stopped at Prospect Stile for a rest and a drink near to a toposcope that pointed out all the landmarks, and met two walkers who were walking the whole of the Cotswold Way in the same direction as I was.
Pendean Farm and Kelston Round Hill from Dean Hill
Looking back to Kelston Round Hill from Prospect Stile
Battle of Lansdown display boards (some of many)
After all the early ups and downs, the route levelled out for some easier high level walking along the plateau at about 230m above sea level. Although the way remained close to the edge of the hill, the views were obscured quite a lot by trees, though there were a number of good vantage points from time to time, and both bridges over the Severn were becoming clearer with the large urban mass of Bristol also in view. The plateau was very flat and was the site of both a racecourse and a golf course, which I passed before encountering the first of the display boards commemorating the Battle of Lansdown in 1643.
The two other Cotswold Way walkers were already at the display boards, reading about the battle and trying to work out which side had won, which was not all that clear. As I stopped to have a look, they continued on to the next display board. About every hundred yards there was yet another display board or monument, some with a freshly painted decorative post bearing a metal flag at the top and imitation swords at the sides. This went on and on – there must have been about half a dozen of them in total – until I completely lost interest in the whole affair.
One of the problems with the route, if it can be called a problem, is that it is so well signposted that is generally not necessary to refer to the maps in the guidebook for quite long periods of time. As a result of this, I got completely out of touch with just where exactly I was. After the last plaque of the battle, I set off along the Cotswold Way route but was looking at the wrong place on my map. The way seemed to go on and on down a long, sunken lane with no turnings in either direction and I started to get worried as to whether I was going the right way. The two others, whom I had passed further back, were following me, but that didn't necessarily mean that anything as they could just have been following me thinking that I knew the way.
View east from Battle of Lansdown battlefield
At the bottom of the lane, there were footpath signs but none of them were Cotswold Way signs, so I stopped and waited for the other two to catch up with me. Fortunately, they had an OS map, so we were able to work out where we were and where we had all gone wrong – we must have all missed a sign to the left at the top end of the lane. Luckily, one of the marked footpaths would take us back to rejoin the route about half a mile or so further along the valley without having to go all the way back up the hill. Just before getting back on the route, I decided to stop for a lunch break on the hillside as it would be more peaceful there than on the Cotswold Way itself. I had done over nine and a half miles, though only about nine miles of progress along the actual route.
The other two walkers were doing the walk more like a pub-crawl, with the whole way mapped out in pub stops both at lunchtimes and in the evenings. They were heading to the pub in Cold Ashton for their lunch and had been a little concerned that they had been delayed by the error of navigation and might be a bit late getting there, so they phoned to make sure that they would still be serving food.
At 13.45 I was on my way again, soon rejoining the route and starting a very steep climb, first up a farm track, then up a road with the gradient gradually easing off as I got further up. There was at least a good view as a reward for the climb before coming to the busy road crossing of the A46 on the way to Cold Ashton where the other two were having their pub lunch. In the village, I met up with a group of walkers who had come from Old Sodbury this morning: the place I was heading for tonight. They had stopped just by a very impressive looking house with fine views just opposite. The 'great views' are mentioned on the map in the guidebook, but not the house.
View south from Cold Ashton
Manor House, Cold Ashton
Dyrham House and Park (National Trust)
On the way from Cold Ashton to Pensylvania, I had to cross the busy A46 again, and this was easier said than done. The traffic was very heavy and the queue for the nearby filling station was doing nothing to help matters, though it did eventually help me by bringing the traffic to a halt for a few moments, enabling me to dash across the road. I met several other Cotswold Way walkers on my way to Dyrham where I stopped for a rest and was passed again by the two who had stopped at the pub. I was off again at 15.30 with about seven miles still to go.
There was a fine view of Dyrham House, a National Trust property, through its gates with lots of people enjoying the sunshine in its grounds. Being a member, I could have gone in for free, but I had neither the time to spare nor the inclination to walk any extra distance wandering around the grounds, as I had enough walking to do to get to my destination. Past Dyrham, at Hinton Hill, the hillside had a series of tiered ridges that were the remnants of a strip lynchets field system from the Middle Ages. Further on, I encountered a long stretch badly overgrown path beside a field full of rape seed. It was bad enough ploughing through the mixture of undergrowth from one side and the rape seed on the other but when nettles started to be mixed in with it all, it was beyond a joke. By the time I had struggled through, the laces on both of my boots had become completely undone and I had several nettle stings on my legs.
I made another rest stop at the picnic area by Beacon Lane Plantation and finished off the last of my drink. It was still very hot in the bright sunshine, though there was a breath of cooler air in places to prevent it from being too oppressive. Setting off again at 16.45, I had to cross the A46 yet again with heavy traffic constantly streaming past. I was just wondering how I was going to manage it when a car flashed his headlights to let a lorry come out of a lay-by and I seized the opportunity to dash across.
Strip Lynchets Field System at Hinton Hill near Dyrham
Dodington Park near Old Sodbury
Entering the village of Old Sodbury
The landscape had become much flatter for the last few miles, and the route continued across fields to Tormarton, where it did a quick detour past the church before entering Dodington Park with its vast sweeping areas of grassland and trees. Although it looked very fine, it seemed endless as I neared the finish of a long day's walking. At the top of a gentle hill, the landscape opened up giving even better views beyond, with a bowl shaped valley and sheep grazing at the bottom. Although there were one or two posts marking the way, it wasn't very clear where park exit was. The map showed the corner of the field, but the posts tended to indicate somewhere further to the right, so I swung around in an arc, only to find that the map was, in fact, correct.
The park exit brought me onto the road leading into the village of Old Sodbury, where I was stopped by a passing motorist who asked for directions to the Village Hall. Of all the people to ask – someone with a large rucksack who was obviously not a local and who had just entered the village from the park, whereas he had already driven through part of it himself so would have had more chance of seeing it than me. I looked at my guidebook to see if that showed the Village Hall, but it didn't, so I suggested that he would be better off asking a local. Soon after, at 18.15, I reached the Dog Inn where I was staying for the night, and was shown to my room in a row of cottages across the road. I had the use of a kitchen, conservatory and garden, which was very pleasant. My room didn't have en-suite, but it was next door to the bathroom, which had both a bath and a shower. This often seems to be the case with rooms that aren't en-suite, so if you like a relaxing bath after a day's walk, it is better and cheaper than having en-suite rooms which seldom have a bath, though I did stay in one earlier in the walk that did.
When I got undressed to get into the bath, I realised that my arms looked almost black once they were out of the sunlight and my legs looked almost the same colour except with much more red to them. A few days of better weather had made a lot of difference to the pale shade I was earlier in the walk.
I had imagined Old Sodbury to be a quiet little village free from hustle and bustle, but found that it straddled a busy main road, so wasn't the tranquil place I had expected, though it was still picturesque. After my bath, I went across the road to the pub and had some Wadworth 6X at £3.20 a pint: a price I had become accustomed to expect by now, and cottage pie and vegetables at £8.95, one of the cheaper options on the menu. There was a large beer garden and patio at the rear, but most of the tables were shaded from the evening sunshine, which was a pity. There was also a group of children running around everywhere screaming and shouting, which didn't improve the experience. However, the cottage pie was very good and the people with the children eventually left, so things were a lot better then, though it was still a pity to be out of the sun. I got another pint and decided to drink that at one of the tables at the front of the pub, though they was next to the busy road.
Back in my room across the road, I watched TV for a while before going to bed. It was a very warm night, so I slept with my duvet half off most of time.
Day 8 - Monday 15th June 2009 - Old Sodbury to Dursley via Stinchcombe Hill
Distance: GPS 22 miles
Accommodation: B&B Dursley Housing Estate
I arose at 7.15 and got as much ready as I could so that I could get off fairly quickly after breakfast at 8.00. The young man who checked me in last night said that breakfast was served in the cottage, but it turned out that this was not the case and it was served in the pub. The breakfast was very good and I had decided not to ask for a packed lunch, as there was a filling station across the road where I had been able to get a sandwich to supplement the few things I still had left. I thought that I had already paid £35 for my B&B by credit card over the telephone when booking, but it turned out that the card details were only taken to guarantee the booking and when it came to paying my bill was only £25, which made a pleasant surprise. This was one of the few places with an actual single room rather than a double room for single occupancy, which was probably why the price was more reasonable. It was also not en-suite.
The weather was warm and sunny as I set off at 8.45 heading up the hill towards the village church. From the church, there was a good view across the Severn Valley and a Millennium Stone there had pointers to various landmarks including the two Severn Bridges, the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons, although distant haze prevented the farthest of these from being seen with any clarity, if at all.
There were a few steep ups and downs to start with as the route climbed up to one hill fort on the way to Little Sodbury and then, after passing a reservoir on the way to Horton, up to another hill fort. There was a folly on the hillside near the second hill fort acting as a nesting place for swallows, built as part of the Millennium project. Both of these vantage points gave good views across the Severn and along the hills of the Cotswolds, making the walking interesting and enjoyable. By now, I had shaken off any aches and pains: my feet were doing fine and I was accustomed to the weight of my pack, so I was able to enjoy the walking without dwelling on how far I had left to go. I knew that if I just kept going at a steady pace I would get to my destination at a reasonable time. This is ideally how it should be on a long distance walk, but it often turns out the other way round if aches and pains set in or the walking becomes boring. Further along, the landscape was less hilly, but there still a few things of interest to see and, further on past Hawkesbury, was a monument to Lord Robert Somerset, which could be seen for some distance beforehand.
Small reservoir on the way to Horton
Folly above Horton Court built for nesting swallows
View NW near Hawkesbury
The monument looked as if it might be a good place for a rest, with possibly a chance to climb to the top for a view, but access to the site was closed and it was obviously not built with sightseers in mind, though the monument itself could be seen well from all around. I walked on further and stopped on the grass just before Lower Kilcott, having walked about six and a half miles. Along the way I had met several other Cotswold Way walkers: three elderly ladies, an elderly couple, and two chaps who were carrying camping gear, the others looking as if they were using a luggage transfer service.
The scenery started to improve again as I made my way from Lower Kilcott to Alderley and then Wortley. From there a steep, sunken track climbed up the hillside through the trees. It seemed to go on forever, with the gradient gradually becoming gentler and gentler until it finally levelled off at the top of the wold. Unfortunately, there was still no view, as I was still in the woods, and the route turned to the left and started to drop down again. I was just beginning to think that I had climbed all the way up and was going to drop back down again without even being rewarded with a view when the path levelled off again and exited the woods revealing wide open views across the Severn. From here, not only could the now familiar Severn Bridges be seen, but also the River Severn itself. Further along were fine views of the Cotswolds as I joined the road leading down to Wotton-under-Edge. From further down the road a very steep bridleway ran down to the valley bottom at the eastern end of the village, where the route joined a road for a short way before following a footpath by the stream towards the village centre.
Sunken path up Wortley Hill
I had been looking out for somewhere to stop for lunch and this seemed ideal, apart from the fact that quite a few people kept coming past. My GPS said that I was only two and a quarter miles from my destination for the night, but this was very deceptive as the route does a great deal of looping about near here, especially if you take the longer optional route around Stinchcombe Hill, which makes it about seven and a half miles from here. Having made good progress so far, I would have enough time to take the longer route without being pushed for time, but first I needed to call at a shop in Wotton-under-Edge to get some more to drink as my two litres of Kool Aid was not really enough in this hot weather.
At 14.20, I was off again towards the village, which was quite large with lots of facilities, so I called into the Tesco Express for a cool carton of orange and a packet of crisps. I thought it might be a good opportunity to send off some postcards, so I started looking for a shop that sold them. I walked up and down the high street and saw nothing. There was a shop advertising cards, so I asked in there, but the lady said that she didn't sell postcards but that I should try the Heritage Centre that did sell them. I followed the signs at the top end of the village and eventually reached the Heritage Centre only to find that it was closed, so I finally abandoned the idea, having wasted enough time already. This is obviously one of the Cotswold villages that is not on the tourist trail and just caters for locals.
Continuing on out of the village, I climbed up the hill where there was a circle of pine trees enclosed by a brick wall with a fine view across the valley. From then on, the views were hidden for quite a while first by trees beside the path and then by Westridge Wood until I finally emerged to see the Tyndale Monument on Nibley Knoll. On the way across to the monument there were good views and this time the monument was open to the public, allowing anyone to climb the 121 spiral steps to the top. It quite surprised me that, although there was natural lighting from small windows on the way up, there was also electric lighting installed. Apparently this was fitted when restoration work was undertaken as part of the Millennium Project. The monument was built in 1866 in remembrance of William Tyndale (1516 – 1587) who first translated the bible into English and who was martyred for his Protestant beliefs. At the top, the views were even better and I was able to get a more detailed view of the Severn Bridges through my binoculars. The only unfortunate thing was that a large band of black cloud was drifting across from the north making it look like I could be in for a downpour.
Wooton Hill looking south
Tyndale Monument on Nibley Knoll (from 1.5 miles away)
Southend from Tyndale Monument
I made my way back down the steps and then down the steep path to Nibley, stopping for a drink and a rest before climbing Stinchcombe Hill. The dark cloud was still hovering nearby but not looking quite as dark as it was previously as I set off again at 16.45 towards the steep path up to Stinchcombe Hill. At the top was a sign saying Dursley via direct route ¾ mile, via Stinchcombe Hill 2¾ miles. It was just 17.00 at this point, so I thought that I should be able to make it the long way round by about 18.00. It was starting to rain a little, but not enough to get wet as I made my way around the hillside with good views across to the Tyndale Monument and the valley below. Further round were fine views across the River Severn with hills in the distance that were either the Black Mountains or the Brecon Beacons. In fact, this was one of the best parts of the day's walk, so was definitely worth the extra effort.
Nibley and Tyndale Monument from Stinchcombe Hill
Dursley from Stinchcombe Hill
Round the northern side of the hill the views were restricted by trees for most of the way, though there was one opening giving good views across the Severn and another with views over Dursley. Although I had been walking at quite a good pace without stopping much at any of the viewpoints, it was 18.05 before I reached the club house of the golf course with still about half a mile to go into Dursley, so I think that the mileage shown earlier on the post was a considerable under-estimate. A steep path led down from the Golf Club into Dursley and it was 18.15 by the time I reached the town.
My B&B was in Shakespeare Road so I looked on the map in the car park but couldn't find it on there. I entered the grid reference of the B&B into my GPS and it showed that I still had three quarters of a mile to go. To avoid the landlady getting worried because I wasn't there by my estimated time of 18.00, I telephone her to say I would be late and she gave me some directions, though I wasn't sure that I could remember them all without writing them down. My guidebook gave different directions, so I was undecided as to which would be the best, but headed in the directions given on the phone, also checking with my GPS to see how I was progressing. The B&B was on a housing estate, and like many housing estates, the roads were laid out in loops and curves with limited means of access from the main roads. Consequently I had to keep going along the main road when my GPS was telling me I should be way over to the left and it was some distance before I could find a way into the estate. Even then, I couldn't head directly to where I wanted to be because of the road layout and finally resorted to asking directions. By the time I found the place it was nearly 19.00 and I was getting rather tired, having walked about 22 miles. However, I was greeted with a mug of tea and some cake, which was very welcome, and spent some time chatting with Mrs Harding, who had done a lot of walking herself.
After a refreshing bath, I got ready to go into town for something to eat and drink, taking the route described in the guidebook, which proved to be considerably easier and more direct. Although there were several pubs in town advertising food, most of them only served meals at lunchtime or had finished serving earlier in the evening. However, I managed to find one, the Old Bell, that was still serving food at well past 20.00, so I had a pork chop with new potatoes and vegetables for £7.95 plus a couple of pints of Otter bitter at £2.50 a pint. Mrs Harding had been out over Stinchcombe Hill walking the dog whilst I was out and we chatted for a while on my return before I retired for the night.
Day 9 - Tuesday 16th June 2009 - Dursley to Ryeford near Stonehouse via Uley Bury and Selsley Common
Distance: GPS 13.5 miles
Accommodation: Merton Lodge B&B, Ryeford
I had a nice breakfast at 8.00 and got off to a leisurely start at 9.30, as I didn't have as far to walk today. The weather was beautiful again and on my way into town I called in at the local Co-op to get sandwiches and yoghurt for lunch. Dursley did, at least, have shops selling postcards, so I sent a couple off and looked around town a little making it about 10.30 before I got started back on the route. On my way towards Cam Peak, I saw a young badger in the long grass beside the path. It made me wonder whether it was ill, as they are generally not seen out much in the daytime and it didn't seem in a hurry to rush away. A man with a young girl and a dog were coming down towards me, so I alerted them to the badger in case the dog decided to chase after it. After they had passed by, the badger retreated slowly into the long grass and was then out of sight.
A steep path led up out of the valley onto a ridge with Cam Peak just off the route, but it was well worth the short detour to the top for the glorious views. There were a number of people out walking including a group who were cooking up food beside the path. Another steep path took me up onto Cam Long Down, a ridge with more glorious views all around. There I met a chap who was out walking his dog. He was a Londoner but had lived in Dursley for forty years and was able to point out all the landmarks to me.
Dursley from Peaked Down
Cam Long Down from Peaked Down
Uley Bury from Cam Long Down
After this fine bit of ridge walking, the way dropped down into a valley and up again to Uley Bury. The steep climb up there was along a sunken path under the shade of trees, which made it refreshingly cool on such a warm day, though it did cut off the views. At the top, there was the option of going just off the route for a walk around the Bury, an old, rectangular shaped hill fort. As I had plenty of time to spare, there was no problem in doing the extra mile circuit round the perimeter path, which gave more beautiful views for much of the way, except for some places that were shrouded by trees.
Cam Long Down from Uley Bury Hill Fort
Downham Hill and Dursley from Uley Bury
It was now about time for a lunch break and I took the opportunity to tend to my feet. Earlier in the walk my feet had been doing very well, despite some days with fairly high mileage, but yesterday I started to get a couple of blisters, one on the side of my heel and the other on my big toe. Neither of them was very big, but it was better to burst them otherwise they would have spread and got much bigger. It seems strange for these to start after a week of trouble free walking, but I put it down to the fact that I was now walking at a slightly faster pace. In the earlier part of the walk, my walking speed was reduced because of the aches in my legs and this meant less rubbing of my feet and less tendency for blisters to start. Now that the aches had gone and I was getting into my stride, the greater flexing of my ankles and movement of my feet within my boots was causing more rubbing and hence more problems with blisters. In previous walks, I have often found that problems have started later in the walk, but I never quite realised the probable reason, though it all made more sense now. There are, of course, all sorts of other factors that can provoke blisters such as walking with wet feet or over a lot of uneven ground, but I couldn't put it down to any of these on this occasion.
Further on through Coaley Wood, the views were lost but the shade from the trees did make the walking easier in the heat of the day. I missed Hetty Pegler's Tump, just off the path, not knowing quite what I should be looking for, though a plaque further on mentioned it as a fine example of a burial chamber. There were a few spotted orchids here and there beside the path, and I passed a chap with a camera set up on a tripod, taking photographs of one. At times the hillside became very steep and the path neared the edge of a cliff dropping down beyond the fence. Eventually the route emerged from the trees into the bright sunshine with Coaley Peak just ahead. This place was a popular spot for tourists, probably because it had some great views across the Severn to the hills and mountains of Wales, but also because it was easily accessible from the nearby road, which had a large car park.
Toposcope near Nympsfield With views to River Severn and May Hill
Nympsfield Long Barrow With views to River Severn and May Hill
Middle Yard and Stonehouse from Pen Hill With views to River Severn and May Hill
From the toposcope, the bend in the River Severn, the site of a wildfowl park, was more clearly visible. May Hill had been prominent for some time, but now the Malvern Hills further north were in view, though the distant haze meant that the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons were only very faintly visible. Soon I came upon Nympsfield Long Barrow, which, being in the open rather than in woodland, couldn't be missed as easily as Hetty Pegler's Tump. It was then back into woodland again for a while and at the next place where there was an open view, I stopped for a rest and a spot of sunbathing until I thought it about time to press on. Before long, I was back into more woodland until coming to Pen Hill, where there was a choice of routes; the shorter route going directly to Stonehouse and the scenic route detouring over Selsley Common. I am always inclined to take a scenic route if I have the time, and today being a shorter day's walk, meant I had no problem in doing so.
Pyramidal Orchids on Selsley Common
Toposcope on Selsley Common With view over Stonehouse
Selsley Common was a lovely upland area with sweeping grassy slopes absolutely covered in orchids. I think they were pyramidal orchids, as they didn't have spotted leaves, though I wasn't quite sure. I have seen places with a fair number of orchids before, but never seen them as prolific as this and covering such a large area. The views across the valley were great and the distant haze had now largely dispersed, making Sugar Loaf and the Black Mountains clearer to see. There was another toposcope near the summit and most of the features indicated on it were visible in these better conditions. This had made a fine finish to the day's walk, so I was very glad that I had taken this route even though it was about two miles longer.
The path dropped down the grassy hillside towards the road near All Saints Church at Selsley West. The church was covered in scaffolding and sheeting, being in the middle of renovation work, so it spoiled the appearance of what looked like a very impressive building. Further down the road a path ran across fields towards the A419 at the bottom of the valley. This road was very busy, as seems to be the case with many of the main roads around the Cotswolds, though there were at least some pedestrian lights to help me to cross and the route soon joined a cycle track on an old railway embankment running parallel to the road before crossing the River Frome and joining the Stroudwater Canal towpath. This sounds as if it might be picturesque, but in fact it was rather industrialised and not very attractive at all.
My B&B was in a fine old house, Merton Lodge, on the road running near to the canal. It was next door to a pub, the Ryeford Arms but this had, unfortunately, closed down last year, so the nearest place to eat was in Stonehouse, about a mile further along the road. After a cup of tea, a shower and washing out some of my things, I headed off along the road for something to eat. Everything I passed on the way seemed to belong to the Wycliffe Prep School, with every entrance marked with a gate number to various school buildings and playing fields along the way. Such places are generally deeply into sports activities, so there were quite a number of sports fields occupying large areas of land.
As I reached Stonehouse, I passed a chip shop, so I decided to have a pint in the pub and then call back there for fish and chips. Across the road, in the Woolpack Inn, I had a pint of Abbot Ale at £3.20 from their good selection of real ales, and sat not far from an old chap who was talking to himself – not just a few little mutterings, but a lengthy monologue, which was quite disconcerting. He went up to the bar, where he seemed to have quite a lucid conversation with the bar person, but then returned and continued to ramble on to himself, so I finished my pint and went to the chip shop.
Whilst waiting for my fish and chips, a teenage girl came in and ordered something. After a few minutes there was the sound of a horse whinnying and the chip shop owner kept telling the girl that she should leave her horse outside, though there was no horse anywhere to be seen. It then dawned on me that the sound, which was very realistic, was actually the ring tone on her mobile phone as she received a number of text messages. I have heard all sorts of ring tones, but never one like that which genuinely sounded as if there was a horse outside. After eating my fish and chips, I returned to the Woolpack for a pint of London Pride at the slightly lesser price of £3.05 before returning to the B&B.
Day 10 - Wednesday 17th June 2009 - Stonehouse to Little Witcombe via Crickley Hill
Distance: GPS 19.5 miles
Accommodation: Witcombe (B&B)
It was rather overcast at first, but the sun started to break through by the time I was having breakfast at 8.00. The landlady was saying that her B&B trade had been hit badly by the recession, as most of it came from people visiting local businesses rather than walkers or holidaymakers, and they had been cutting back quite a lot. As she lived on her own, what she disliked most of all was the boredom of not having much to do and having little company.
By the time I had finished breakfast, got myself ready and picked up a rather costly sandwich from the nearby filling station, it was 9.00 and the sun had gone in again. There was a shortcut from the back garden of Merton Lodge, through the school playing fields, to the Cotswold Way where it crossed the railway line via a footbridge before heading over to Maiden Hill. At the top of Maiden Hill, the views were very lacklustre with May Hill just a grey shape and none of the more distant hills visible. The consolation was that the walking was a lot easier in the cool conditions, especially when climbing uphill.
I entered Standish Wood, which is owned by the National Trust, and very soon came to a junction of paths and tracks without any waymarks. This concerned me a little, but I just took the main track that seemed to be going in roughly the right direction and followed it along for some distance with no sign of any waymarks, which made me wonder whether the National Trust didn't like waymarks on their land or whether I was on the wrong track. I consoled myself by the fact that the wood, though long, was not very wide so, provided I stayed roughly along a middle line, I couldn't go far wrong. Also, at the far end, the wood tapered in to a point, so I was likely to meet up with proper route by then. Further along were some footpath waymarks, but none of them had a Cotswold Way marker until I eventually came near to the end of the wood and merged onto the Cotswold Way path. By the exit from the wood was a map where I discovered that I must have entered the wood a little way to the left of where I should have and I ended up taking a parallel route further down the hillside. However, nothing was lost, as it was only about the same distance as the proper path.
From the wood was some open ground leading towards a very grand toposcope in the form of a 3D relief map of the hills nearby with pointers all around to distant landmarks. At this point, I was looking back almost due south, as the route tends to twist and turn to take in various viewpoints. Swinging back round first to the north and then to the west led to Haresfield Beacon, another hill fort with a good panoramic view. Turning again to the east and then to the south, the route came back to within a quarter of a mile of where I came out of Standish Wood having covered a few miles in the process. However, I didn't mind this, as it provided me with some good walking and fine views along the way. For much of the way now there was woodland until I reached a clearing coming out of Halliday Wood and stopped for a rest, having done nearly six miles.
3D Toposcope overlooking Standish Park
Trig Point on Haresfield Beacon Hill Fort
Painswick from Edgemoor Inn
Unusual Cotswold Way sign on way to Painswick THE COTSWOLD WAY - CHIPPING CAMPDEN 47
At 11.50, I was off again and shortly entered an area of old quarries where there were quite a number of spotted orchids as well as other varieties. There was one much larger white orchid that I had not seen before so I took a photograph for identification later, and as far as I can work out it was a butterfly orchid. At the bottom, by the Edgemoor Inn, was a sign saying that it was a National Nature Reserve and that there were a large number of different types of orchid to be found. From here, there was a good view across the valley towards my next port of call, Painswick, on the next hill.
On the way to Painswick, I came to a rather unusually shaped sign mounted on a stone pillar saying 'The Cotswold Way – Chipping Campden 47 miles' and there was a stretch of walking through open countryside for a change after so much woodland earlier.
All morning, I had been meeting Cotswold Way walkers coming towards me and, unlike walkers I had met on other days, they were mostly carrying their own baggage on their backs. This was roughly the half-way point of the Cotswold Way, so people setting off at the weekend would reach here about now. This would explain the larger numbers, but not why few of them were using baggage transfer services.
Painswick is very attractive town and St Mary's Church made a good spectacle as I entered, with its fine lych gate and the topiary of the many bushes in the churchyard. By now there were a few small spots of rain – some rain had been forecast for the middle of the day. As I made my way up towards Painswick Beacon, another iron-age hill fort, I passed through a golf course with some very tricky holes. The rain spots got larger and the wind sprung up again, so I decided to take a lunch break in the shelter of some trees at the entrance to a wood. There was a seat conveniently placed with some shelter from the trees but also with a view across the valley. It didn't keep the rain off completely, but it served me well enough for a while as I tucked into my rather expensive sandwich of 'peppered beef and smoked Applewood cheese with tomato, iceberg lettuce and honey mustard mayonnaise in malted wheatgrain bread'. It was at least different from run of the mill sandwiches and was very tasty, so the price was somewhat justified if only for the elaborate description on the packet!
Church of St Mary, Painswick with all its topiary
Painswick Beacon Hill Fort
View west from Painswick Beacon
The rain was gradually passing over - it was never very heavy but came along in short waves, so I made my way onwards at 13.50, having already done nearly nine miles. Further along, I passed some very ugly buildings belonging to a stone merchant beside a quarry and then went onward beside the golf course, which seemed like a continuation of the previous one. The Cotswold Way went to the right of the course, but a path to the left led to the top of Painswick Hill, which gave a great panoramic view. Had the weather been better, I would have stayed a bit longer to have a good look around, but there was a very strong wind blowing with rain in the air, so I just took a couple of quick photos and continued on my way to rejoin the Cotswold Way by the end of the golf course.
For quite a way, the route went through woods and, although it was now raining steadily with a strong wind blowing, I was sheltered from most of this and didn't need to put on my waterproofs. It was not until I eventually emerged into the open that I realised just how much the trees had been protecting me from the elements, and I then had to put on my waterproof jacket and pack things more securely in my rucksack. Rather than getting my glasses spattered with raindrops, I decided to take them off and rely on the waymarking rather than following the guidebook. Before long, I started to follow a steep path down a grassy hillside but, after a while, I realised that I was no longer on the Cotswold Way and had no option but to turn around and climb back up the steep hillside again. I then realised that I had followed the wrong finger pointer on the signpost at the top.
There were few places with any view through the trees for the next few miles, so at least I wasn't missing anything because of the weather, though the walking became rather tedious. Although the trees had proved useful in the early stages, having saved me from much of the rain, the situation was now reversed. The rain had eased off quite a bit, but all the water held on the leaves of the trees was showering down on me every time a gust of wind came along. Eventually the way headed over towards a viewpoint at The Peak, but doubled back again without actually going to the viewpoint itself to take in the view, which seemed a bit pointless, though there was a path leading over there that I took. From there I could see Witcombe Reservoirs with Crickley Hill across the way, and the busy A417 dual carriageway dropping down the hill to the valley below and off into the distance. Retracing my footsteps from the viewpoint brought me back on the route towards Crickley Hill, coming out onto the main road near the Air Balloon pub by a roundabout. The traffic was horrendous as I stood near the roundabout trying to get half way across the road onto a central island. I thought I was going to be stuck there for ages until a kind van driver stopped to let me across accompanied by the sound of angry tooting of horns from impatient drivers on the roundabout behind him.
Witcombe Reservoirs from 'The Peak' viewpoint
Witcombe Reservoirs from Crickley Hill
Once across, I was able to follow the path up onto Crickley Hill, with good views back where I had just come from. It almost goes without saying by now that in the open spaces along the way there were orchids dotted here and there. From Crickley Hill, I had to make my way off the route for about one and a half miles to my B&B at Little Whitcombe. Before I set off, I had taken the trouble to print off a section of Ordnance Survey map showing the way there. A path dropped down from the end of the hill to join a minor road with another path further along the road dropping down by the main road at the bottom of the hill. All was fine until I reached this second path, which was badly overgrown with nettles. Someone had done a bit of work trying to clear a way through but, wearing shorts, it was difficult to avoid being stung on the way. At the bottom, I was able to join the remains of the old road into Little Whitcombe. This road remained for local access when the main road was straightened and upgraded to a dual carriageway, so was quiet with only an occasional vehicle passing by now and then. From the map, it looked as if I might have to join the main road again, but I found that I was able to follow a road through an underpass to get to the other side and to my B&B.
When I got there, I tried knocking on the door using the knocker but there was no reply. Then I noticed a card on the door with writing that had almost completely faded away. I could just make that it said to go to the back door if there was no reply, so I went round through the garden and did just that. Still there was no reply. Looking through the window I could see a television set that was on but was then switched off. Still nobody came to the door. I was just wondering what to do next when a lady came up from behind and greeted me. It turned out that the lady in the house was infirm and unable to get out of her chair but must have phoned the other lady to come across and see me in. After being shown to my room and given a cup of tea, I went to have a bath. Once again, I was in a B&B with a bath: some places had had both bath and shower, but this had just a bath, so I was again able to relax in the soothing hot water after a fairly long day's walk.
There was a Beefeater Inn just down the road, so I was able to get more reasonably priced food and drink than in most places. In the recession, the pub chains have tended to respond by cutting back on prices to stimulate trade. In this case Wadworth 6X bitter was £2.55 a pint as opposed to more than £3 in other places, and a beef and ale pie was very good value at £5.95. Whilst I was in there the large-screen TV was showing football but the volume was at a moderate level, so it was not too intrusive. However, someone behind the bar then turned it up to a much higher level making it overpowering for anyone who didn't want to watch. I then noticed that there was sunshine outside making it pleasantly warm, so I was able to finish my pint in peace and quiet.
I was still a little foot-sore as I had done the last ten miles without a rest and I was not particularly looking forward to tomorrow's walk of 23 miles even though the weather was forecast to be better. Generally, I try to avoid days of over twenty miles, but the lack of accommodation in some places makes it necessary on occasion. In this case it wasn't helped by the fact that tonight's accommodation was a mile and a half off-route making a long day even longer. The only thing to do was to try to get off to an early start and then to press on and on without much time for resting along the way. Even then, it was likely that I would arrive fairly late in the evening, though the consolation was that I had booked B&B in a pub for the night so wouldn't have far to go for food and drink.
Day 11 - Thursday 18th June 2009 - Little Witcombe to Winchcombe
Distance: GPS 22.4 miles
Accommodation: Plaisterer’s Arms Pub B&B
I awoke to a lovely sunny morning, had a good breakfast at 7.45 and set off at 8.15 making my way back along the road to return to the route where I left it at Crickley Hill. This should have been quite straightforward, as I was merely retracing my steps of yesterday evening. I came to a footpath overgrown with nettles and was prepared with my over-trousers handy to help me through. It was a steep climb up and I didn’t remember it looking quite the same as yesterday, but it brought me out on a road running round the hillside as it should have done, so it didn’t worry me too much. I then had to find the path where the Gloucestershire Way ran up to the top of Crickley Hill and joined the Cotswold Way. As I walked along the road, things didn’t seem quite right as it started to descend a little rather than continuing on a gradual ascent and there was no sign of the footpath I was looking for. A sign for Oakland Farm came up and when I found this on my map I realised that I had taken a footpath up the hillside too soon and had joined another road running around the hillside lower down. Just then a lady came out of the farmhouse and, seeing that I was unsure of my way, proceeded to give me all sorts of possible directions to where I wanted to be, though eventually she decided that there was not really any other way than the one I had already worked out from my map. This meant going back along the road I was on, past the overgrown footpath I had come up, then further on to find the bottom of the other overgrown footpath that I should have taken.
I had removed my over-trousers once I had reached the top of the overgrown path and was not inclined to mess about with them any more so decided to take my chances with the nettles. By careful dodging and trampling I evaded the worst of them but still got several stings. However, I rubbed them with dock leaves and all was well apart from the fact that I had wasted some time and effort that I could ill afford with the long day’s walk ahead. By the time I regained the Cotswold Way, an hour had elapsed since I started out whereas I had anticipated taking little more than half an hour. On my way, I had passed a couple of the largest snails I have ever seen. They had bodies that were pinkish white and shells of a golden brown colour; much brighter than the snails that are commonly seen.
Huge Snail near Crickley Hill
Witcombe from Crickley Hill
Crickley Hill Country Park
Some light cloud had covered the sky, but the views were still good from the top of Crickley Hill as I made my way along the ridge. There were a few other Cotswold Way walkers about and then I spotted the two I had met up with previously doing a Cotswold Way pub crawl. I joined them for a while, walking and chatting and then we kept passing each other from time to time along the way. They were heading for Cleave Hill for the night, but were also meeting up with some friends for lunch at the Reservoir Inn.
The route was not very well waymarked off Crickley Hill and my guidebook showed a proposed route change that I failed to find on the way, though I soon realised the need for one when I had to keep squeezing myself into a thick hedge to let vehicles pass by. After a while, I reached another fine viewpoint at Leckhampton Hill, where there is a pinnacle of rock called the Devil’s Chimney. This isn’t a natural feature, but was left there after quarrying. Nevertheless, it adds an interesting feature to the hillside. This was just slightly off-route and I continued past it along the path but then found I had to climb a very steep, crumbly hillside to get back on the route, whereas it would have been much better to have just backtracked a little from the Devil’s Chimney as the two pub crawlers had done.
Devil's Chimney with Cheltenham and Malvern Hills in distance
Fungi in Lineover Wood
There followed some fine ridge walking along Charlton Kings Common on the way to Seven Springs and then, after some walking through fields, another good viewpoint at Wistley Hill. I had been pressing on without a rest for about three and a half hours by now, so the seat overlooking the valley below seemed like an ideal place to have a short break. I ate some of my packed lunch and then continued onwards at 12.00, trying to get as much walking done in the earlier part of the day to make things easier later on. I pressed on past the Reservoir Inn and across the road to Dowdeswell Reservoir where I got a little confused with the direction of the route. I had gone up the path to the reservoir itself, whereas the way went off along a lane before reaching the reservoir. It didn’t take me long to get back on track and climbing steadily up the hill to Lineover Wood, where I passed some interesting, large fugi growing out of a fallen tree trunk.
The only problem with taking a short rest break rather than a longer one was that I was still rather weary and already starting to look forward to another rest. However, I pushed on for another four miles until I reached the top of a hill with a disused quarry to the right. This had lots of mounds and dips and had been used extensively as a moto-cross circuit, with tracks running up and down all over the place. I chose a grassy hump as a good place to eat the rest of my packed lunch, as it was in a position with quite a good view. This was all well and good until it started to get a bit cold and windy making me put on my fleece.
A chap on a motorbike came along, rode around the hillside for a while and then went on his way and I decided that it was time that I was on my way as well. By this time, however, I had discovered from my guidebook that I didn’t have quite as far to walk as I thought. When doing my initial planning, I had copied a table of distances from the Internet and had been using this to calculate my daily walking distances. Although the total length of the walk from this agreed with that of my guidebook, there was some disagreement between the two along the way with variations of up to two miles or more arising in certain places. It seemed that my guidebook tended to be the more accurate in general, but it surprised me that the discrepancies existed, though there have been some recent route changes near Cleave Common and there are other places with optional route variants, which could account for some of the differences. Today, this was a welcome bonus for me as the longest day in my schedule was a couple of miles less than I thought and this more than compensated for the wasted time at the start of the day.
As I got up to go, I noticed that quite a few red ants had been crawling all over me, and it wasn’t long before I felt one or two bites around my ankles where some had got caught up in my socks. They have quite a sharp sting to their bite, but it wore off before too long.
Whilst I had been looking for somewhere to sit down for my break, I had walked almost to the top of the hillside, having left the Cotswold Way over to my left, and I continued to the top when I set off again. Where the hill levelled out was an area that had been frequented by fly tippers, and there were piles of old refrigerators and all sorts of other rubbish. It seems a pity that nobody takes responsibility for places like this and things are just allowed to accumulate there, but this is probably private land that has just been abandoned once its use as a quarry was finished. Whilst I was there, a man in a 4 x 4 came along to try out a bit of off-road driving, which was probably better done here amongst all the rubbish than in some other area with more natural beauty that may have been destroyed.
It took me a little while to find my way back onto the Cotswold Way, as it had turned off part way down the hillside before reaching the top of the hill. This is one of the disadvantages of having a guidebook with maps that do not show any contours, as it is far more difficult to relate the map to features on the ground. This is where the National Trail guidebooks score, as they use sections of 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps with all the wealth of detail that they contain. However, the disadvantage of these guidebooks is that they give virtually no information about accommodation and other local services other than giving references to Tourist Information Offices, whereas my guidebook contained a wealth of useful practical information for planning the walk despite having more limited detail in its maps. As the route is generally very well waymarked, it is only occasionally that the limitation of the maps becomes apparent.
When I did manage to find the waymarked route again, it was still not all that easy to follow as the grassy hillside covered in gorse had also been used by motorcyclists with tracks running all over the place and in all directions, making it difficult to tell which track actually was the path. After a while, the tracks became less numerous and it became obvious that I was on the right one as I headed towards Bill Smyllies Nature Reserve. I came across an elderly couple who were on their knees and I wondered at first whether one of them had fallen down, but then discovered that they were examining a couple of bee orchids that they had found near the path. They were quite good specimens but not as large as the ones I had seen near Bath. We had a discussion about orchids and I told them of the places where I had seen them in great profusion along the way.
A little way further along, the way led up to Cleeve Hill, a fine upland walking area with views across Cheltenham Racecourse and the town itself with distant hills and mountains beyond. On a clear day, some of the Welsh mountains can be seen over sixty miles away and today, when the weather wasn’t particularly good, I could see for forty or fifty miles. The edge of the hill has cliffs that were presumably left by quarrying for building stone, and there are remains of another iron-age fort. I was now embarking on the part of the Cotswold Way where I had done some bits on day walks in the past, though I had often not tried to follow the route itself and had worked out my own circular walks from a map.
Approaching Cleeve Hill
Cheltenham Racecourse from Cleeve Hill
Looking back south along Cleeve Hill
The only thing to spoil Cleeve Hill is the golf course that spreads all over it, and this is the reason why some route changes were proposed when the Cotswold Way became a National Trail. The old route went over the hill through the middle of the golf course past the fourth tee on a permissive path and then over Cleeve Common to Belas Knap. Since the beginning of 2009 it takes a lower route round the edge of the golf course and down through a wooded valley, missing out Cleeve Common altogether. This is a pity, because this is one of the best upland walking areas of the Cotswold Way and is a considerable loss to the walk. Presumably this was a compromise that had to be made in view of the anticipated increase in walker numbers over the golf course, though I am not sure whether the National Trail status will really make a great deal of difference to what was already a well established walk.
Cleeve Common - Old route of Cotswold Way
Cleeve Common
One of the entrances to Belas Knap Long Barrow
There were still some marker posts along the old route with their arrows painted out, so I decided to take that route anyway, though it got a little confusing beyond the golf course trying to decide whether I was following the correct route or not. I just made my way as best I could using the sketch map in the guidebook, though without contour lines it wasn’t all that easy when the marker posts petered out. I did see some wooden posts without markings and took these to be old waymarking posts until I saw a sign on one of them saying ‘Warning Electric Fence’ and realised that they were not marker posts at all. However, the way became reasonably obvious from the description and landmarks in the guidebook and I was able to find my way to Belas Knap Long Barrow without much difficulty, meeting up with the new route along the way.
By this time my feet were getting sore, particularly my heels, both of which were hurting and probably forming blisters, so each mile seemed more tiresome as I had to tread as evenly as possible everywhere to minimise my discomfort. The walk along the edge of a field seemed particularly long as, although the barrow could be seen straight ahead, it seemed to take ages to reach it. The barrow is quite impressive with various entrances including a false one to deter thieves.
From there it was less than two miles down into Winchcombe where I reached my B&B at the Plaisterer’s Arms much to the relief of my feet. After a shower, a much needed rest, and some doctoring of my feet, I went down to the bar for a couple of drinks and a meal feeling glad that I had only a very short way to go to get there. The food was rather expensive with only a couple of main courses under £10, the rest being £13 or more. However, there didn’t seem to be anywhere else any cheaper in town according to my guidebook, so there was no point in making my feet suffer any more by looking elsewhere. I had a steak and ale pie which, apart from the silly puff pastry crust that disintegrated into a pile of flakes, was very tasty. I never understand why chefs use puff pastry on pies as it does nothing for the taste and just makes a mess everywhere. A short-crust pastry is so much better. The Timothy Taylor’s Landlord bitter at £2.95 was good and not excessively priced for the area. I returned to my room to put my feet up and try to give them as much rest as possible ready for tomorrow.
Despite having been a long day and the build-up of problems with my feet, it had not been as bad as I had anticipated. This was partly because it had some of the best walking of the whole way making the miles seem to pass more quickly. Also, it helped that the mileage was not quite as great as I had expected from my initial calculations, though I still managed to clock up over 22 miles on my GPS including a few little detours on the way. After having had very few problems with my feet in the earlier part of the walk it was a bit surprising that my feet were so bad at the end of today’s walk. Not only was I footsore on the soles of my feet, but I had also got a few blisters round the heels of both feet. The blisters I put down to the slightly faster walking pace that I was doing now, having got rid of the earlier aching of my legs as I noted before, but the soreness of my soles had probably just built up during the walk and had not been helped by having two long days in succession.
Day 12 - Friday 19th June - Winchcombe to Chipping Campden
Distance: GPS 18.9 miles
Accommodation: Lift to my Daughter's House
I went for breakfast at 8.00. This was one of the least generous ones of the walk with a small portion of muesli followed by bacon, sausage and egg with toast but no marmalade or jam and a small pot of tea. I could probably have asked for more, but it was adequate so I didn’t bother. By the time I had eaten breakfast, got myself ready and called at the Co-op for a few things for lunch it was 9.00 before I set off from Winchcombe.
The blisters on my heels were rather painful, as might be expected, but I tightened up my laces a little to stop my heels from rubbing up and down and also shortened my stride to keep my feet in a more constant position within my boots. Before long I had managed to achieve a relatively painless mode of walking that was not much slower than when I was striding out more. The bright start to the day once again gave way to cloud, but there were still a few bright spells as I made my way to Hailes with its little church and ruins of an abbey. The track up through Hailes Wood had signs warning of erosion caused by flooding. I had already seen signs of this yesterday on my way up to the disused quarry where the path had been eroded to a depth of a foot or more in places. This I assumed had happened last Wednesday when I was caught in heavy rain myself and there were distant thunderstorms indicating even heavier rain in other places.
Hailes Church
Monument near Beckbury Camp Hill Fort
Route down to Wood Stanway
At the top of the hill was a monument, though I couldn’t work out to what or to whom it was dedicated. There was also and old hill fort, Beckbury Camp, with good views of the surrounding hills. Dropping down the steep hillside on the way to Wood Stanway, I met a couple of Cotswold Way walkers - Dutch I think. I hadn’t expected to meet anyone this early in the day, as anyone setting off from Chipping Campden would have met me in the middle of the day, so I presumed that they must have only done a short walk from the start yesterday. Further on at Stanway, I found a nice little spot for a rest at 11.15, having done about six and a half miles, so my steady plodding wasn’t doing badly. However, just as I had had a bonus yesterday with less mileage than I had previously calculated, it worked the other way today with my guidebook showing a mile more today, making it 18 rather than 17 miles.
Stanway House and Church
Mature trees in pasture near Stanway
Picturesque village of Stanton
I had arranged for my daughter to pick me up at about 17.30 to 17.45, so I would need to keep an eye on progress to avoid being late. I was off again at 11.45, passing through the village of Stanway with its fine looking Stanway House next to the church. The buildings around here tend to have a much richer coloured stone than in other parts of the Cotswolds, making them even more attractive. From Stanway, the path runs through what looks very much like parkland with mature trees along the way. In fact I thought it was parkland until I saw a comment in the guidebook pointing out that it was not. The next village of Stanton was also very picturesque, again being built with the deeper coloured stone.
Looking back towards Stanton from Shenberrow Hill
Large Pyramidal Orchid on verge of farm track
A long climb then led up to the top of a hill giving some wider views over to the west but they were then lost for a while behind trees. Even so, the walking was enjoyable and easy going with views opening up from time to time. As I was walking along a wide track, I spotted a most magnificent orchid on the verge. It was larger than any of the spotted or pyramidal orchids I had ever seen. I could see no others around that area and it seemed to have grown in the most unlikely of places. From the photograph that I took, the nearest match I could find on the Internet was a pyramidal orchid, though all the ones I have ever seen have been much smaller. However, it appears that there are wide variations in shape and size within the various orchid types.
Further along, the track had a horrible surface for walking on. It had recently been spread with stone that had not yet been compacted down making it very bad for my feet, which were still in a rather delicate condition. Eventually though the surface did improve making me heartily glad. Broadway Tower, probably the most famous landmark of the Cotswold Way, was now in view on the hillside opposite and, as I started to drop down, Broadway itself came into sight down below with its fine church and stone buildings.
About half a mile before reaching Broadway I stopped at 14.00 for a half-hour lunch break overlooking Broadway. I now had about six and a half miles to walk to reach Chipping Campden, which meant that I should be able to get there on schedule without much of a problem. There were a number of walkers now coming the other way, presumably having started the Cotswold Way at Chipping Campden this morning. Since I had joined the Cotswold Way, in many ways I had been looking at Chipping Campden as an end point. It marked the end of the walk in this guidebook, though, as I had been doing the Cotswold Way in the opposite direction, I was now nearing the start of the book and counting down the map numbers as I walked along. It also seemed like the end of the walk in that I would no longer be staying in B&Bs but staying with my daughter’s family and completing the Cotswold Round with two more day-walks using Shutford as a base and carrying a much lighter pack.
Overlooking Broadway
Broadway High Street
View from near Broadway Tower
Broadway itself is a very up-market tourist trap with many expensive shops, hotels and restaurants. It is very picturesque with its fine old buildings of the local stone lining the very long main street, but it is not the ideal place for a Cotswold Way walker on a budget. In any case, I seldom stop off anywhere during the day, so it didn’t really matter to me whether it were expensive or not, and I carried on walking up through the town until I reached the path towards Broadway Tower. This is a folly that was built in 1799 for Lady Coventry by the 6th Earl of Coventry and is sited on Beacon Hill, which is the second highest point in the Cotswolds at 1024 ft (312m). Regardless of the reason for its construction, it is still a fine feature on the landscape offering wide, panoramic views of the Cotswolds from the top.
The climb up Beacon Hill is fairly steep at first followed by a small, steeper ridge, then a more gradual climb to the tower at the top. There are good views of the town below from part way up, but these are lost further on due to the contour of the hill. The views to the west are extensive, though there are not many hills to be seen, most of them having been passed further south. The tower is open to the public for a charge allowing the full panorama to be seen, but I didn’t have a lot of spare time, so just called in the gift shop for a couple of little things to take back for the grandchildren.
Broadway Tower
Route northwards along Broadway Hill
I made my way along the ridge from Broadway Tower towards the picnic site at Fish Hill, where there is a toposcope. The only problem is that most of the view from there is obscured by trees. Whoever decided to put it there must have overlooked the fact that trees keep growing taller. No doubt in winter time, when the leaves have fallen, there will be more to see, but now there was not much of a view at all. There followed a walk through fields for a while, with views opening up towards the east for a change. Most views from the Cotswold Way are to the west of the escarpment rather than plateau to the east, but now the more undulating Oxfordshire countryside made the views eastwards more interesting. After passing through some fields planted with crops, there was a walk through a long, narrow swathe of mown grass with trees to one side and a hedge to the other, which made it seem like walking to the end of a mile-long lawn.
Dover's Hill near Chipping Campden
High Street, Chipping Campden - End of the Cotswold Way
Just when I was starting to think I had come to the end of any good views for the day, the route made its way to Dover’s Hill, owned by the National Trust, with more fine views to the west and a lovely bit of open walking along the ridge to finish off the Cotswold Way. Now it was just a matter of dropping down into Chipping Campden, which was visible down in the valley to the east. It was quite busy in the town with all sorts of things going on. There were vintage cars, stretched limos, horse drawn carriages and floats of various kinds making me wonder what it was all about. My daughter picked me up from there and we soon got stuck in a traffic jam caused by all these vehicles. Eventually, we reached Chipping Campden School where all of the vehicles were heading and it became clear that this was a prom for all the school leavers. I wasn’t aware of it, but it is becoming more commonplace nowadays to have an extravaganza like this as a leaving party. It was frightening to think how much money had been spent by parents to pay for all this, though there was obviously no shortage of money around here, recession or no recession.
Day 13 - Saturday 20th June 2009 -
Chipping Campden to Shenington
Distnace: GPS 19.9 miles
Accommodation: Lift to my Daughter's House
After breakfast with the family, I was dropped off in Chipping Campden by my son-in-law Steve at about 9.45. I hadn’t gone more than 100 yards when I came to take a photograph and found that I had forgotten to put the battery back in my camera after recharging it. Normally, it is quite easy not to forget things, as it is just a matter of making sure that nothing has been left in the bedroom. However, now that I was using my daughter’s house as a base for the last two days of the walk, I was just carrying a few essentials each day, leaving most of my things in the house, so it was far easier to forget something. It was too late to do anything about it now, so I would just have to have a day without photographs. At least I would only be without the use of a camera for one day and the weather was not particularly good, though I do like to have as much of a record as I can of the whole route, even if conditions are not ideal.
Today’s walk and part of tomorrow’s walk was on the Cotswold Link, joining the northern end of the Cotswold Way to the start of the Cross Cotswold Pathway at Banbury. This meant that I was now following a guidebook written in a similar style to the Cross Cotswold Pathway, with its reliance on a detailed route description but extremely sketchy maps that were very short on detail. Whereas the Cross Cotswold Pathway had been quite well waymarked for most of the way where it followed the Macmillan Way, there were no such waymarking on the Cotswold Link. The waymarking had helped a great deal earlier on in that it helped to avoid any confusion caused by lack of detail on the maps and gave reassurance that I was following the correct route. All I had to help me now were normal footpath and bridleway signs with no confirmation that they were the ones I should be on.
Picking up the route out of Chipping Campden towards Hidcote Boyce, there was some good, open walking with fine views of the rolling countryside in places. Some of the paths were a little overgrown, being less well walked than those of the Cotswold Way, and my legs and socks were starting to get a bit wet, as the grass was still wet from earlier rain. There is a National Trust garden at Hidcote Manor, but I didn’t have a lot of time to spare having had a fairly late start, so I carried on past through the picturesque village and over the hill, which gave more fine views.
Towards Darlingscott I started to have problems with the route. Things didn’t properly match up with the route description and I wasn’t sure whether it was because the guidebook was out-of-date or whether I was on the wrong path. Eventually, after going around in circles for a while, I had no option but to join the nearby road and follow that into Darlingscott. What made matters worse was that the mileage markings on the sketch maps were hopelessly inaccurate and were passing very slowly. At Darlingscott the guidebook showed 5 miles but my GPS showed 8.5 miles. I may well have wasted about a mile, but there was still a big discrepancy. If this were going to be the same all the way I would have a lot more miles to cover than I had bargained for. I took a short break for lunch and then pressed on. The whole thing had now become a matter of whether I could complete the day’s walk in time so that I wouldn’t be too late back causing a delay to dinner with the grandchildren, as we were supposed to be having a barbeque. One option that would help matters is that I could be picked up from Shenington to save the 2 miles off-route to get to Shutford, so I could bear that in mind if I were running late. Once a walk turns into a race against time, the whole thing is spoiled as there is no longer any interest in the walking, only in the amount of progress being made and the amount of time left. In any case, the scenery got less interesting and the walking was flatter just following the edges of fields.
Past Honington, the route joined the Centenary Way, which was well signposted, making route finding easier. All was going well as I went through field after field until I failed to see any signs for quite a while. I followed what seemed to be the main path but that eventually headed off in the wrong direction. Faced with the prospect of having to backtrack for quite a way until I found where I had gone wrong, I decided to head in the general direction of my final destination of Shenington, which was more or less due east, and see where I ended up. This meant following the edges of a few large fields without proper footpaths, so it involved uneven ground, long grass, thistles and various other impediments, but I carried on until I reached a road and was able to find a sign to Tysoe, having presumably bypassed Whatcote on my way.
After a long stretch of road walking, I picked up the route again in Tysoe, where I stopped for a short rest. The weather had been rather changeable throughout the day with one or two light showers earlier and now a slightly heavier one, as I sat on a seat near the church. I could have taken a shorter route to Shenington via the road, but I determined to follow the route again, as the countryside was getting a little more interesting and I would be able to get back in reasonable time if I had a lift from Shenington. The walking wasn’t all that easy with my feet getting sore from lack of rest as well as the ever-present discomfort from my blisters. The uneven ground in places just aggravated the problem and tended to slow my progress, though I was doing my best to press on. The final obstacle of the day came as I left the route to enter Shenington village and had patches of nettles to negotiate to reach the road. This is never easy in shorts and inevitably results in a few stings in getting through.
Eventually, I reached Shenington at 18.00 having clocked up almost 20 miles on my GPS on what should have been a 15-mile walk according to the guidebook. It is hard to say exactly how much extra distance I covered because of the errors in my route finding, but it certainly didn’t account for nearly 5 miles and much of it must have been due to inaccuracies in the guidebook. By the end of the walk, my feet were feeling very sore and I was glad to get back and sit down. The planned barbeque was cancelled because of the poor weather, so we ate indoors instead.
Day 14 - Sunday 21st June 2009 - Shenington to Shutford via Banbury
Distance: GPS 15 miles
Accommodation: My Daughter's House
My wife was travelling down to meet me today, so to save time in my walk, I decided to have a lift back to the route at Shenington where I left it yesterday. In general, I try to avoid lifts to accommodation on my long distance walks, trying to do everything on foot, but there are times and circumstances when this is not very practical or convenient, so I am not pedantic about it and make exceptions at times. In theory, I only had about 12 miles to walk today from Shenington or 14 miles from Shutford, but if yesterday’s experiences were anything to go by, I would probably do a few miles more because of guidebook mileage errors and possibly by making mistakes in route-finding.
Sunday is not a day when most people want to be up early and I didn’t want to put any pressure on the family in this respect, so it was 9.20 by the time I had had breakfast and got back to the route at Shenington. The weather was much as it had been for the past few days: cloudy and cool with a few bright patches and the chance of a shower or two. I had to negotiate the nettles again to rejoin the way, getting a few more stings, but I was almost immune to them by now, having had so many on the walk.
Village Green and The Bell Inn, Shenington
Thatched cottages in Hornton
Village Green, Hornton
Soon the route started to follow the waymarked D’Arcy Dalton Way as it headed across to the lovely village of Hornton. The landscape was pleasantly undulating with good, open walking though some of the paths through fields were rather uneven and awkward for my feet, which were still suffering from blistered heels and a few other aches and pains. On the way to the next village of Horley I passed through a llama farm with a large group of young ones. They didn’t seem to be bothered by people and stayed quite close to the fence by the path enabling me to get some photographs from quite close by. Horley, like most villages around here, has lovely houses built from the local stone. In this case they were strung out for quite a way along the road rather than being built in estates, though there were a few more recent developments off the main road. However, local planning tends to be fairly strict and requires houses to be built of the local stone to be in keeping with the older buildings.
Llamas near Horley
Fishing Lake near Drayton Golf Course
The Roebuck next to a thatched cottage in Drayton
By 11.45 I had reached a fishing lake just before Drayton Golf Course and this made an ideal place for a rest and an early lunch break. There were several fishermen around, some with their families, though I can’t imagine it being very exciting day out for wives and children. I have always got the impression that men (it generally seems to be a male dominated pastime), go fishing to get away from their families, so it was somewhat unusual to see families involved here. At the other side of the lake was the edge of the golf course with golfers coming and going, playing their shots.
At 12.20 I was off again, having done about five and a half miles so far. It took me a little while to get myself back up to a moderate walking pace again as my feet were complaining again. A rest of half an hour or so is enough for all the sensation to come back to the nerves, so it is like starting off afresh until the pain gets numbed again after a period of walking, whereas a short break of five minutes would not require the same period to get going again. I soon reached Drayton with some more interesting buildings of local stone, some with thatched roofs, but then I was into the outskirts of Banbury through housing estates and a park to reach Banbury Cross. At least this route was better than just following the main road, though it was not the most picturesque part of the walk.
Banbury Cross
Banbury Cross marked the end of the Cotswold Link and the start of the Cross Cotswold Pathway which would take me back to where I had started two weeks earlier, thus completing the Cotswold Round. I stopped for a short rest and a few photographs before making my way back out of Banbury heading towards North Newington. As I reached the outskirts of Banbury, there was a section in my guidebook that I had crossed out with a note saying ‘see amendment sheet’, as the route changed was too much to pencil into the margin. Unfortunately, I had left the amendment sheet in my other rucksack at my daughter’s house. The reason for the route change was that the gates to the water tower were now locked because a new housing estate had been built blocking off the path at the other side. I tried to find my way around on an overgrown path, but just ended up on a main road going the wrong way for a while until I was able to work out where I was. After doing an about turn, I was able to find a path leading up the hillside to rejoin the route towards North Newington.
The route then started to drop down again and I encountered another fox just before entering some woodland. It started raining a little, but I was sheltered from most of it by the trees. Just before I came out of the wood, I decided to take advantage of the shelter to have a rest and to finish off the rest of my lunch before walking the final leg back to Shutford. The rain soon eased off, and I set off again at 15.00. From North Newington, I had some difficulty finding the right path to Broughton. At first I took a wrong path and had to head across to meet up with the road to get back to the route further along. Even then, I missed the first point where the route crossed the road, probably because the stiles were well hidden in hedges, but I was able to find the next point where it crossed the road again.
The route doesn’t go through Broughton itself, but through Broughton Park, which overlooks Broughton Castle. I diverted a little from the way to get a closer look at this fine moated castle, where lots of people were paddling around in little coracles and having great fun. Heading back up the hillside, I rejoined the route to Fulling Mill Farm and then met up with the old Roman Road to take me back to where I first started. I was feeling very weary towards the end, not because this had been a particularly long or difficult day, but because of the discomfort of walking for the last few days with painful feet and the extra strain that it puts on the system. Once again, I had walked a greater distance than indicated by the guidebook, though I had wasted some of this when I missed the way in places. The main source of error in mileage is in the Cotswold Link guidebook, which underestimates distances by about 20 percent – a significant amount to add to a day’s walk. The Cotswold Way and the Cross Cotswold Pathway guidebooks both seemed to be fairly accurate, bearing in mind that GPS mileage is always slightly greater because of minor wanderings off the route here and there.
Broughton Castle
Leat at Fulling Mill Farm
Route of Roman Road towards Madmarston Hill near Shutford
I got back to my daughter’s house to a warm welcome and congratulations for having completed the walk, though I didn’t really consider it a great achievement, having done many other more difficult walks in the past. My wife had arrived earlier by train, so it was good to see her again and to have a family meal together before we left the following day to drive down to London for a day watching the tennis at Wimbledon – a birthday present to my wife from our two daughters.
After Thoughts
I did have some reservations about this walk when I was planning it. The Cotswold Way seemed like a good walk, but I was not so sure about the other parts that made it up into the Cotswold Round. The attractions of making it into a circular walk were that it would extended it to two weeks, it simplified the travelling, and it enabled me to pay an extra visit to my daughter’s family, where I could take advantage of accommodation at either end of the walk. However, much of this extra walking was disappointing as far as the scenery was concerned, and a lot of it was tedious and boring, with considerable stretches of walking though field after field, often on relatively flat land with few interesting features. Most long distance walks have a few sections like this that have to be embraced in order to get from one good part to another, but generally these are either only a few miles or a day’s walk at most. With the Cross Cotswold Pathway, a large percentage of the walk fell into this category and sections of interesting walking were few and far between.
To compensate for the less interesting scenery in these other parts, I had anticipated that there would be a lot of picturesque towns and villages along the way, but in reality there were not very many that were particularly good. Lower Slaughter was very picturesque, with the river running through the middle of the village, and Castle Combe was also particularly attractive, especially as it was surrounded by more hilly scenery, but not many more come to mind. True, nearly all of the towns and villages were being built of the local stone and often had a number of thatched buildings as well as a church, but most were not all that memorable and were passed through quite quickly. Whilst trying to get as many photographs of the walk as I could, the most interesting features were often the churches and it started to look as if I were trying to make a catalogue of Cotswold churches rather than of the walk itself. I did pass a number of stately homes and, had I allowed more time, I could have looked around these in more detail, especially as I could have visited some of them with my National Trust card at no extra cost. Generally, however, I couldn’t spare the time and the only National Trust property I actually visited was the Roman Villa at Chedworth.
There were a few other interesting places such as the arboretum at Westonbirt and the Kennet and Avon Canal on the approach to Bath but my main interest in walking is to enjoy the beauty of the countryside, particularly where there are hills, valleys, cliffs, lakes, rivers and other such natural features, and in this respect I was rather disappointed.
When looking at the long distance trails that are put together by the Macmillan Association, one has to remember that their main purpose is to raise money for their cancer charity by promoting sponsored walks. Most people do these walks having had close involvement with someone who has benefited from their nursing care. As such, their interest is more in fund raising than in getting the most enjoyment out of a walk. They may not have a keen interest in the countryside or walking, and may not appreciate the extra challenge and potential dangers of hilly or mountainous terrain. The Macmillan Way provides a coast-to-coast route along safe and easy paths without going through any remote or exposed places and is, therefore, quite well suited to inexperienced walkers who are looking for a challenge walk. The Cotswold Round merely links a large section of this to either end of the Cotswold Way for those who want to encompass the National Trail into a circular walk.
The Cotswold Way itself, is a much more interesting walk, with far more ups and downs and good viewpoints, though it does have a few limitations. Basically, it follows the escarpment to the east of the River Severn and most of the views are across the Severn Valley towards the distant hills and mountains of Wales. Although there are many fine viewpoints, the view does not change very much from one viewpoint to the next: the same distant features are seen time and again, only changing very gradually as the walk progresses. Each one of the viewpoints would be fine on a single walk, but there is a sense of déjà vu at each of the many toposcopes along the way.
Although the Cotswold Way is very undulating in places, it seldom reaches any great height, the highest points being little over 1,000ft (300m) above sea level. As such, most of the walking would not be really classified as upland walking, though this is not to say that there is not a lot of fine walking over much of its route. However, the disadvantage of the lower level walking is that much of it is below the tree line and there are lengthy sections of the path where views are obscured by trees with just an occasional open view from time to time. This is why I tend to prefer walking over higher level terrain, as there tend to be less obstructions to the view.
One thing that did make itself evident, was that walking without detailed maps is a risky business, even on walks that are quite well waymarked. It only takes a small lapse of concentration to miss the route and then it becomes very difficult to find the way to rejoin it without going back to the last place known to be on it. Even then, if there is some ambiguity or uncertainty about the directions, without a detailed map, these are very difficult to resolve. A set of 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps are the ideal thing, but these can prove very expensive to cover a whole walk, as well as adding extra weight. A compromise is to use 1:50,000 maps, which at least show all the footpaths and other main features, though they omit field boundaries. However, in conjunction with a GPS, which can give an accurate grid reference, I generally find them quite adequate and the route can usually be covered with considerably less maps.
Photography and Technology
Over the years that I have been doing long distance walks, camera technology, Internet technology and display technology have developed by giant leaps from 35mm colour slides that had to be scanned to produce low quality digital images for the website up to the present day with high quality digital photography, almost unlimited memory and super fast broadband,
The article in the 'Other Items' section chronacles all of this throughout my walks.
