Our Day Off (almost!)

Gloucester Docks

The skies were dark and rain threatened, so our decision to postpone our day off from yesterday looked like a good one.  Unfortunately the weather forecast for the whole of the coming week looks poor, so at some time on this walk we are going to get wet!

The cabinet makers premises at Ebley

We began the day with a trip to Gloucester docks for me, and to the Gloucester Quays Designer Outlet for Anni (no surprise there!). The docks and waterways museum were fascinating. The shopping trip, judging by the bags, was productive!

Straight from the Designer Outlet walking through
Fields of sweet corn.

Our B&B for the night was located at King's Stanley, near Stroud, right on the Cotswolds Way.  A glance at the map showed it made good sense to be able to set off tomorrow straight from the front door, but in order to do so we needed to walk the missing  mile between Ebley and King's Stanley first. So, despite it being our day off, we did...in both directions!

Just as we finished the rain started, but conveniently we found a pub with a skittles alley. Anni won the first game, but my aim improved with lubrication and we finished at one game each.

Tomorrow we will be back to walking in earnest, with 11 miles planned....no doubt in the rain!

Painswick to Ebley (Stroud)

It's Sunday.  Brain and body are in unison - it's our day off!  Brain checks weather forecast - fine today, rain tomorrow.  Brain wants to walk, body disagrees.  Brain promises day off when it rains. Body reluctantly acquiesces!

Painswick

So, contrary to plan, we are walking again.  We drove from our hotel in Gloucester to Ebley, near Stroud. We needed to walk an additional mile off the route into Stroud in order to catch the bus back to Painswick, yesterday's finish point.  I can now officially say we have gone the extra mile for charity!

In the Stocks

In late Summer sunshine and temperatures of 19 degrees Painswick looked lovely.  There were 99 yew trees in the churchyard. The rumour is that the 100th tree will not grow.  The stocks beside the church are  unusual in that it is the feet, and not the hands, that are manacled.  Anni tried them out.

Painswick church

One mile out of the village we encountered our first serious climb.  In the middle of a field a milestone announced it was 55 miles to Bath - nearly half-way.  At the top of the hill there was a great view back to Painswick with the church spire clearly visible. 

Looking back to Painswick

A short while later the path entered a section of woodland and soon reached a large, inscribed stone, known as the Cromwell Stone, which commemorated the raising of the

Cromwell Stone

siege of Gloucester in the Civil War. We could imagine Cromwell sitting under a nearby spreading yew tree, surveying his troops.

View from Harefield Beacon. The walk continues around the ridge through the trees.

Climbing again - we now seem able to take the hills in our stride - we reached

At Haresfield Beacon

Haresfield Beacon.  This was worth a stop, as, under clear blue skies, the views were simply amazing.  In one direction the walk could be seen stretching along the escarpment for miles, whilst in the other the River Severn and the Severn Valley were clearly discernible.

A little further on at the highest point of the walk, a 3D topograph identified all the points of interest in the wide and magnificent vista.

Anni points out just how hilly the walk really is!

The path then entered a long stretch of very pleasant woodland on wide, gently

downhill paths.  For the next 4 miles we were joined by an enormous number of walkers, all completing the Five Valleys Walk in aid of the Meningitis Trust. I was pleased to retract my comments about the English being a nation of couch potatoes.  

One more surprise awaited us as we began the final descent into Ebley.  An enterprising farmer had replanted his fields with grape vines and they seemed to be doing extremely well.

The Cotswolds way here has two alternative routes and we elected to take the longer one, walking along the towpath of the  Stroudwater canal. The canal was originally opened in 1779, linking Stroud to the River Severn.  It was an important transport route for the owners of the Cotswolds woollen mills.  Sadly by 1954 it had fallen in to a state of disrepair and was closed.  However with the increase in leisure boating it is now partially restored and there are plans to eventually relink it with the Thames and Seven canal to the East, thus finally reuniting a link between these two great rivers.

Stroudwater canal. Ebley Mill in the background

At Ebley mill we returned to our car, another  11 miles under our belt, and two significant milestones in that we have now covered more than half of the total distance, and we have walked the equivalent of 2 marathons.

Birdlip to Painswick

Last night I gave my feet some special attention.  A one hour soak in the bath and plenty of toe wiggling.  It seems to have worked, although I did receive a few stares when I dined in the restaurant in my bare feet.  

Now here's something new! For once the walk did not start with a steep climb but actually went downhill.....yes downhill.  For the first 20 minutes we descended on paths

through a mixed conifer and beech plantation. And we actually overtook 4 walkers!  Not real walkers like us of course.  They were doing the Cotswolds Way in day stages over several months. However they were English.  Until now all the walkers we have met have been American, Australian or Canadian. Are we just a nation of couch potatoes?

View from the top of Coopers Hill

We stood at the bottom of Coopers Hill and wondered how it was possible that every year racers hurl themselves down the hillside in the famous cheese rolling competition.  The path bent around and climbed to the top of the hill. From the top the prospect was simply terrifying.

After more beautiful woodland the path crossed a golf course and passed besides ramparts of Painswick Beacon,  the remains of an impressive triple fortified Iron fort. 

Finally we walked along the road into Painswick and admired the sculptured yew trees that filled the churchyard.  The village pub was hosting a real ale festival.  The mad goose bitter from the Purity Brewing Company was a fine pint!

Painswick

 

48 miles covered. Nearly half way.  At one point yesterday I thought I could not continue, but now, relishing the prospect of a day off tomorrow, I feel optimistic we will start next week with renewed confidence.

Dowdeswell to Birdlip

Day 4

Walk distance:  10.3 miles

Total Ascent: 1,328 feet

Today I reached my personal low point. Or so I hope. It can't get any worse, can it?

The prognosis did not look good when I struggled to climb two flights of stairs after an excellent breakfast at the George Hotel in Cheltenham. Over previous days the pattern has been:

0 - 2 miles : warm up

2 - 5 miles : striding out

5 - 8 miles : tiring

8 - 9 miles : fading fast

10 miles : exhaustion

Over 10 miles : agony!

The problem is the hills! Today there were more than ever. Exhaustion took over at 6

miles, and agony levels were off the scale.  If I stop I seize up and it takes me half a mile to get going again. Anni says if she had taken a video of me hobbling along after one break it would have gone viral on U-tube! Please make tomorrow easier!!

I need to remind myself we're doing this for charity:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=wickham&isTeam=true 

We took a taxi back to the start of the walk at Dowdeswell and were faced immediately with a long, steep ascent through Lineover Wood. I renamed this section Poachers Paradise on account of the constant clatter of pheasants startled from the long grass as we passed beside them.  At one point a family of six preceded us up the hill for some distance before slipping off into the undergrowth.

 

At Leckhampton Hill and Hartley Hill the views to Cheltenham in the valley below were stunning. In 10 miles we have completed a long clockwise sweep around the escarpment from the North to the South of Cheltenham. 

 

My feet hurt so much I would really have liked a mobility scooter at this point!

 

The route continued along the escarpment eventually entering Crickley Hill Country

Park, an area administered by the National Trust, and most definitely an area of outstanding beauty.  Here the views of Cheltenham were replaced with views towards Gloucester, with it's magnificent cathedral clearly visible. This was an area of humps,and hollows from old quarries, from where much of the stone that formed the building material for Cheltenham Spa was cut. Turning a sharp corner at the head of a

promontory rewarded us with a fine view back along the escarpment all the way to Cleeve Hill., some 10 miles further back along the walk. In the near distance was Crickley Hill Fort that archaeologists have now discovered was settled first  in the Neolithic Age, later in the Bronze Age, and then again in the Iron Age.Finally the hill was quarried for stone until modern times.

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We covered The last 1.5 miles walking through mature beech woodland carpeted with golden leaves as Autumn begins to exert its influence.  Despite the aches and pains this had been a stunning walk in absolutely ideal conditions.  Nevertheless as we arrived in Birdlip the hotel was a most welcome sight!

Winchcombe to Dowdeswell (Cheltenham)

Day 3

Walk Distance: 11.1 miles

Total Ascent:  1,040 feet

NEWSFLASH:  £500 now raised for charity.  A big thank you to all our sponsors and please keep the donations coming.

Once again we planned to do this walk in reverse as public transport options made this a more viable alternative.

We drove to Cheltenham where I had made an arrangement to leave the car at the George Hotel for 3 days and then took a taxi to the start of the walk about 3 miles away at Dowdeswell reservoir.

There is nothing like a steep uphill climb to get stiff joints moving, and that is exactly what we got as we climbed the hillside parallel to the Dowdeswell Wood Nature Reserve. High voltage power cables crossed the path at several points, and, judging by the sizzling, it seemed that Cheltenham was exerting a severe drain on the National Grid.

The humidity of the past two days had gone and a fresh breeze had cleared the air.  After 90 minutes we reached the summit of Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds at 1,038 feet.  The 360degree view from the triangulation point was magnificent, including Cheltenham, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, the Severn Vale, and in the far distance the mountains of South Wales.  

Continuing across Cleeve Common the panorama included views to Sudeley Castle and Winchcombe still some 5 miles distant.  The area was littered with prehistoric earthworks and disused, grassed over quarries.

Another steep climb followed through some beautiful woodland.  The path then passed Belas Knapp, a restored Neolithic chambered long barrow. It was constructed around 3,000BC and when first excavated around the middle of the 19th century four separate chambers were found, containing more than 30 skeletons.

Finally, after so much climbing, the path began to fall, and on tired legs we covered the last 3 miles to Winchcombe.  We missed the 5pm bus. Despite it being tantalisingly in sight we were simply not able to run to catch it.  How cruel! The 1 hour wait for the last bus of the day was spent sitting on a bench by the war memorial nursing our wounds and reflecting upon our achievement.  30 miles down; 73 to go!!

Broadway to Winchcombe

 

Day 2, and our first full day of walking with 12 miles planned.

We covered  this section of the Cotswolds Way in reverse driving to Winchcombe and then walking Northwards back to Broadway.

Leaving Winchcombe we crossed the main road to climb a track up the side of the hill along Puck Pit Lane. With my deteriorating eye sight I had to look twice to be sure I had read the signpost correctly and wondered if the youth of the village had christened this track with a rather more unpleasant name.

After 2 miles we passed the ruins of Hailes Abbey, founded in the thirteenth century and one of the last Cistercian houses in England.  In the church opposite we admired a fine set of medieval wall paintings.

The route then passed through the tiny community of Wood Stanway before gently falling to the small village of Stanton with its church, Court and Manor House. The latter possesses the tallest gravity fed fountain in Britain, shooting 300 ft high, being fed by a pipe from a reservoir one-and-a-half miles away. The houses here of Cotswolds stone took on a particularly golden hue.

The Manor House at Stanton

Cotswold Stone houses in Stanton village 

The viaduct of the former Gloucestershire and Warwickshire railway was visible to our left. Part of the line has been reopened running trains to Cheltenham racecourse, and on several occasions we heard the mournful whistle of a passing steam train.

The guidebook here remarks how the Cotswolds Way studiously avoids the nearby pub...... but we didn't, feeling that after 7.5 miles we deserved a liquid reward. Suitably refreshed we resumed our walk and were immediately faced with a punishing climb up to the top of Shenberrow Hill, another Iron Age settlement. On a clear day the views would have been superb.

After this the last 4.5 miles to Broadway felt particularly energy sapping.  With one mile to go, both succumbing to fatigue, we stopped for a much needed rest.  Another mile further  on we spotted a signpost indicating a further three-quarters of a mile to go! Morale was now falling fast, but fortunately this was an exaggeration and within 20 minutes we were installed at a cafe in Broadway drinking Gaelic coffee and eating carrot cake. It was a real effort to walk the last 100 yards to the bus stop for the bus back to Winchcombe!

Chipping Campden to Broadway

The official start of the Cotswolds Way is at the Market Hall in Chipping Campden where a plaque marks the spot.

Like many of the Cotswolds towns Chipping Campden owes its growth and prosperity to the wool trade.  It's origins can be traced back to the 13th century at which time the Abbey at Gloucester had a flock of 10,000 sheep roaming the region. The church was

the main beneficiary of the wealth, and this is particularly evident here at the church of St James I.

Yesterday was Anni's 50th birthday and we celebrated with a night at the Abbey Hotel and spa 50 miles away near Redditch.  Whilst I enjoyed the  leisure centre Anni had an invigorating back massage! I took Anni's  bottle of perfume into the shower instead of the shower gel, an expensive mistake, but at least I smell good! 

After so much pampering and great food it seemed inappropriate

to start the next day with a gruelling walk, so we are beginning our journey with a gentle 6 mile stroll to Broadway. We drove there first and caught the bus back to Chipping Campden to start the walk.

We walked up Dover's Hill to the top of the escarpment at 230 metres above sea level. There is a magnificent view here across the Vale of Evesham, although today it was somewhat shrouded in mist. 

Market Hall Chipping Campden

In 1612 Robert Dover instituted annual games here that came to be known as the Olimpick games. We can envisage the running and jumping events that took place on the broad, grassy expanse behind us, but it takes a little more imagination to conjure up a picture of the backswords, coursing and pike-tumbling events.  The Games still take place each Spring Bank Holiday and some of the older events survive, although I admit I do not fancy the idea of the shin-kicking contest.

The path then followed a wide grassy track, known as the Mile Drive, where we

encountered an organised group of walkers coming towards us through the mist, before rising again to the Broadway Tower, the second highest point in the Cotswolds.  The tower was constructed around 1800, a quirky folly to impress the neighbours.  On a clear day one can see thirteen counties from here. William Morris, of wallpaper fame(!), was a regular visitor along with Dante Rossetti and other founders of the Arts and Crafts movement.

From here the walk descended quite steeply eventually arriving in Broadway at the top of the High Street where we enjoyed well deserved ice creams!