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.