Anne-Marie’s Cotswold Way Adventure

By Anne-Marie Wilson

Any of you that are regular readers of our Mickledore blogs will know that last year on my familiarisation trip, my friend Sarah and I got rather wet on the West Highland Way. So, this year, I requested to head south in the hope of getting some warmer, dryer weather on the Cotswold Way.

Incredibly, when I asked Sarah if she would join me again, she said yes and she headed back to the UK from her home in Uganda, Africa.

I started my adventure by driving to Bath, leaving my car there so I could pick it up at the end of the walk and catching a train back North to Chipping Campden. As usual it was raining at home but once I passed Lancaster on the M6 the sunglasses came out of the glovebox and I felt my shoulders relax and my walking legs begin to warm up with anticipation.

Sarah started her journey at the other end of the country in Guildford, Surrey and we had a fairly ambitious plan to meet on the same train in Oxford. Unfortunately, these plans were slightly more ambitious than we originally thought and we arrived in Chipping Campden 2 hours apart. It was absolutely great to see Sarah and we had loads to catch up on as we had our first evening meal in a family run Italian Restaurant called Da Luigi Bistro. It was really busy but the owner of the restaurant even took the time to come and sit at our table and chat to us about the area and how his family ended up here. It was a lovely evening and we went to bed excited to start our second national trail walk the next morning.

Day One: Chipping Campden to Stanton

Our friends Mark and Nicki came to wave us off and to walk with us for the first couple of hours. We set off from the official start of the Cotswold Way which is a circular limestone plaque set into the flagstones at the foot of the Market Hall in the centre of the village.

It is engraved with the names of places along the trail and encircled with a line from TS Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’. ‘Now the light falls across the open fields leaving the deep lane shuttered with branches dark in the afternoon’.

Very early in the day we walked through a field of white flowers and we were intrigued as to what they were as they had obviously been planted and were a crop of some kind. We asked a couple of local people along the way and found out that they have started growing chamomile in the area.

We had been told that there was a food festival in Broadway which was to be the midpoint of our day. When we arrived there, we wandered around the stalls and decided that ‘The Broadway Food Festival’ was a misnomer and it should have been called the food, gin, rum, brandy and liqueur festival.

We had a delightful conversation with Corben and his brother-in-law William from The Spirit of St Maur who took the time to explain to us the origins of their family elderflower liqueur that is made using elders that they pick from the woodlands and hedgerows on their family farm. William’s great great Aunt, eight generations ago was Jane Seymour, Henry the Eighth’s third wife and in those days the Medieval way of saying Seymour was St Maur. Hence the name. They explained to us that now the liqueur is served in many ways but one of the most popular ways is as a ‘Hugo Spritz’ made using 50mls of St Maur, the juice from half a lime, 4-5 mint leaves, prosecco and ice. Oh, go on then – we will give it a try!!

We proceeded to amble around the festival and were given taster portions of gins, rums, beers, cheeses, sauscisson and chocolate. It was a very pleasant way to spend an hour or so in the beautiful village of Broadway. I’m just very glad that we were on a walking tour not a driving tour.

After our gastronomical interlude we carried on our walk to Stanton. When we arrived in Stanton, we needed to wait a while for our taxi transfer so we had a very nice beer in the sun at the Mount Inn which looks down over the beautiful village which is full of limestone houses with fabulous hanging baskets and vibrant flowers in the gardens.

Day Two: Stanton to Cleeve Hill

After a lovely early breakfast provided by Annette, Sophie and the team at Bantam Tea Rooms, I jumped into Steve’s taxi with Maria and Dennis from Louisiana. Maria had a problem with her luggage but was finding it difficult to contact the luggage courier using her US mobile. Steve immediately called the courier and sorted the issue. This was a wonderful example of how all our service providers work together to make our holidays exceed the expectations of our guests. Well done Steve from Cotswold Exec – you were my hero of the day.

I started walking from Stanton and I can only describe the morning as totally beautiful. The Great British countryside at its absolute best, dazzling in the late summer sunshine. I happily wandered through fields and meadows, apple orchards and woodlands. I shared my space with cows, horses, sheep and wonderful sweeping birds of prey.

I was walking alone today as Sarah had to go to a funeral and wasn’t able to come with me. We often get asked in the office, what it is like walking alone. Did I feel safe? Yes, I did. Was I lonely? No, not at all. Did I enjoy the day? Yes, I find it peaceful and you can do your own thing and walk at your own pace. Also, you are not really alone, I met lots of people on the trail who I chatted with and could have walked with if I had wanted to.

I sat at Winchcombe cricket pitch and ate my lunch on a bench in the sunshine. When I closed my eyes, I could hear the quintessentially English sound of leather on willow and I could taste the thick white bread, butter, egg and cress sandwiches that I ate every summer Sunday of my childhood whilst watching my father and brothers play.
In the afternoon, I started to flag at about 17k. I put some Broadway Bangers on my airpods and soon I found myself belting out tunes from Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, Joseph and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Just call me Julie Andrews (or Jason Donovan!).

I had my end of day celebratory beer at Cleeve Hill Golf Club. A beautiful place to stop before you drop down into the village with views across from Cleeve Hill to the Brecon Beacons and the Malvern Hills. It was a very well-deserved pint.

Day Three: Cleeve Hill to Birdlip

Whilst walking yesterday I somehow managed to give myself an enormous blister on my heel and I used three of my four large Compeed plasters in the space of an hour.

Sarah’s kind, friendly and adorable parents, Pat and Sydney had taken Sarah to the funeral yesterday and they stayed overnight. I am so glad that they did as they came to my rescue this morning. Pat and Sydney spent the first hour of their day scouring the suburbs of Cheltenham to find me some more blister plasters and then, even more challenging, attempting to find Sarah and I on the trail.

Eventually we found each other, thanks to google maps, dropped pins, find my iPhone, what three words and pure luck and I am so grateful for their help. They really did save the day as there were no shops at all between Cleeve Hill and Birdlip so I would have had to cheat and call a taxi. Bear this in mind if walking the route as there isn’t even a café to buy water on this section.

The day was again beautifully sunny and warm and the trail skirts around Cheltenham from Cleeve Hill in the North East to Leckhampton in the South providing absolutely spectacular aerial views of the City. We spent a while sitting on a bench seeing how many sports pitches we could spot and also how many wonderfully manicured golf courses there were. We also got a fantastic bird’s eye view of Cheltenham racecourse.

There was an interesting trig point on Leckhampton Hill, painted white with a yellow band circling it with the following inscription, ‘Imagine peace permanently flowing quietly together through the prime golden spiral core of your being’. I was unable to find the origin of the words but I liked the sentiment and I believe that there are others across the country with the same inscription.

Today the route was a hefty 27Kms and I found the last 7K particularly challenging, especially with my sore foot! We found that in the afternoon the route often traversed three sides of a rectangle and we were unsure whether this was to lengthen the route or to take you to more specific points of interest. Either way, even though it was very tempting to cut the day short, we didn’t. It was heads down, keep going and head for the pub.

We arrived at the Royal George in Birdlip to a wonderful welcome from our host, Joanne and one of my favourite people to communicate with by email, Elaine. Elaine has a sidekick called Carol but unfortunately, she was on holiday so I was unable to say hello to her.

Before dinner, I fell into the deepest hottest bath you could imagine and rested my weary feet. After a tricky start to the day the rest of it had been amazing.

Day Four: Birdlip to King’s Stanley

Today’s walk couldn’t have been more different to yesterday where we were treated to an elevated walk with stunning panoramic vistas. Today we spent a lot of the day walking through woodland and through vibrant green countryside and farming fields.

We set off from Birdlip at 08.30 as we were aware that we had a long day ahead of us. We spent most of the morning in Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods Natural Nature Reserve and far from being boring it provided us with a fascinating display of flora and fauna. The great big Beech trees were home to many types of birdlife and we think we heard Kite, Owls and Kestrels.

About an hour into our walk, we came across a rope swing and obviously had to give it a go. It was so high in the trees I have to admit that I was quite scared preparing myself for take-off but I needn’t have worried. It was great fun and entertained us for a good 10 minutes.

Not long after this we climbed to the top of one of many steep ascents and bumped into a lovely chap called Mike. Mike was from Connecticut. Mike told us that we were standing at the top of what is generally known as the Cotswold Cheese Festival Hill (had I read my guidebook thoroughly I would have been aware of this!). This very steep hill is the location of a yearly event whereby people chase a cheese down the hill, only to be tackled by rugby players at the bottom of the hill to stop them. Mike told us the history of the event and said that it has been run since the 1880’s. He found it quite amusing that he was educating ‘Local English Ladies’. Thank you, Mike, we enjoyed your company and we are very grateful to you for sharing your knowledge with us.

In the woods we also chatted with lots of lovely animals. Our favourites were Hamish and Pomegranate, the Hungarian Vizslas and Alice the pug.

We popped out of the woods at Painswick Golf Course. The course itself is built on Painswick Beacon which is one of a string of pre-Roman Hill Forts constructed on the Cotswolds. These date from the Bronze age and are approximately 3000 years old. Sarah and I spotted the ridiculously tricky hole 5 which requires an entirely blind one-shot up and over the walls of the original fort. Not one for a golf novice such as myself but Sarah may stand more of a chance, she is an expert!

In Painswick I popped in to see the delightful Denise at Troy House (4 in a bed winner) and the charismatic Greg at St Annes Guest House. These are two accommodations that I use a lot and it was wonderful to meet them and have a sneaky peak around their properties. Thank you both, it was a pleasure to meet you.

Next stop was Painswick St Mary’s Church. The churchyard was simply stunning, home to 99 perfectly manicured Yew Trees. Legend has it that a 100th tree would never grow and if it did the devil would pull it out.

We left Painswick and headed South. Shortly after leaving the village, we came across the marker point for the middle of the Cotswold Way. It was 55 miles to Bath and 47 miles from Chipping Campden. Personally, I would have located it 4 miles further down the trail but then Painswick probably couldn’t claim to be the mid-point of the Way. It’s safe to say that the ascent out of Painswick was certainly Painful. One of many steep ascents achieved during the day which had upwards of 650 meters of elevation gain.

In the afternoon the trail sent us to many Trig points and topographic maps. We followed the route through very lush, green rolling hills. As we neared King’s Stanley, we passed though some fields of Maize with huge kernels of sweetcorn that looked ready for harvesting.

Our final point of interest for the day was the Woodchester Valley Vineyard. Again, the grapes on the vines looked ready for harvesting and the thought of a cold glass of white wine waiting for us at our accommodation was almost too much to bear.

We fell into The Frocester after 9 hours on the trail and I cannot praise the staff enough. Owen and the team were simply magnificent and they certainly won the prize for the biggest bedroom, the biggest bathroom, the hottest shower and the most amazing meal cooked by their head chef Mark Sandell. Delicious.

Day Five: Kings Stanley to Wotton under Edge

Today we were joined on our walk by some of our friends and family. Joan, Caroline and Billie. We spent most of the day deep in conversation and the kilometres passed happily, quickly and easily.

Joan, my fit and fabulous mother-in-law and her red setter, Indie joined us for the first 12k. They totally smashed the morning walk including two very punishing climbs.

The first up through Penn Wood above Kings Stanley and the second, up to Cam Peak. Both of these climbs were characterised by steep stepped sections and can only be described as not particularly pleasant. The morning walk was certainly far from easy but they stayed with us and I was very proud of them.

As we reached the top of the Penn Wood climb, we found ourselves at Nympsfield Long Barrow. A long Barrow is essentially another name for a communal burial ground. They were also built so that the communities could mark their territory. Nympsfield has incredible views over the Severn valley so I could totally understand why they wanted to settle there.

As we were walking through a wooded section on the trail, we came across a sign that said ‘Designated Smoking Area’ We all thought that this was strange as smoking in the woodland is obviously a very bad idea due to the chance of forest fires. We then realised that the other side of the sign someone had written ‘Path closed ahead’ Oh Oops!!

After a minor detour, we reached the market town of Dursley and picked up another friend who was going to join us for the afternoon. Billie is a friend of mine from when we used to live in the French alps. She now lives nearby in Chippenham. It was an absolute pleasure having her join us for the afternoon.

Again, the trail was characterised by a punishing climb out of Dursley to the Stinchcombe Hill Golf Course. Here you have two options, the longer scenic route which circumnavigates the golf course or the shorter, more direct route which is favoured by many, especially in poor weather. Billie and I took the scenic route and Sarah and Caroline opted for the more direct route.

Billie and I chatted away as we happily wandered around the golf course and the extra 3k passed in a flash. We loved the view from the toposcope on the top of Stinchcombe Hill across to the Tyndale Monument. This monument was erected in 1866 in memory of Sir William Tyndale, who was the first man to translate the New Testament of the Bible into English. After he had done this the bishops and church leaders did not want the general public to be able to understand what had been written in the bible so he was killed and many years later the tower was built in his honour.

Just before we reached Wotton-under-Edge, Billie and I came across a field full of swallows. Swallows swooping low over fields tends to indicate that they are feeding ready for migration but it can also be a sign of when air pressure is low, indicating the arrival of rainy weather. Were we about to get wet?

Day Six: Wotton-under-Edge to Tolldown

Caroline joined us again today and also a friend of Sarah’s from Uganda called Bob. Unfortunately, the cloudless blue sky that had accompanied us for the first five days of our walk had been replaced by clouds.

Caroline grew up on a dairy farm in Cornwall so she was used to the cows that we passed at various points during the day and took lots of photos of them. Caroline moved up to the Lake District (via Sheffield) in 1990. She became a teacher at Trinity School in Keswick in 1996 and this is where she met Joan.

Bob, named after Bobby Charlton met Sarah in Uganda when she was working for a charity building toilets and improving the appearance of the local schools by painting them in bright vibrant colours. She is originally from Shipley in Yorkshire but now lives in Bristol and still loves to visit Uganda to help with charity projects when she can.

Both Caroline and Bob have a lot of knowledge when it comes to wildlife so we spent a lot of the day discussing the animals that we spotted on the way.

Bob spotted some sheep in a field and described them as ‘Tupped’. I had never heard this phrase before so she explained that a tupped sheep is one that is pregnant. A tup is another name for a Ram and tupping is the mating season. The gestation period for a sheep is 147 days (approximately 5 months). This surprised me as it meant that those sheep would be lambing in January and I thought that all lambs were born in late spring when it was warmer. After a little investigation we found out that actually the lambing season in the UK can run from November to June.

Caroline identified some robins singing in the trees and hedgerows. Again, this prompted a long discussion and we learnt that robins sing in the Autumn to establish and maintain their winter territory and to defend it from other robins. Male robins are known for being aggressive and territorial and are at their most aggressive in early autumn. Female robins are sensible and migrate to warmer climates before winter arrives, crossing the channel to as far afield as Spain or Portugal.

We sat and had lunch at another memorial tower, this one was built in memory of General Lord Robert Somerset, a British Army commander.

Shortly after this at 14.08 we heard the first clap of thunder and by 14.30 we were being well and truly soaked. 30 minutes later we fell into the Dog Inn at Old Sodbury and had a pint whilst we waited for the rain to pass.

Bob and Caroline left us at this point and Sarah and I were very temped to get a lift with them to Tolldown, cutting out the last 7kms of our day. However, as we now consider ourselves to be Cotswold Way ‘purists’ the thought of cheating was not really an option so off we trudged.

We arrived in Tolldown shortly after 5.30 and it had been another long day on the road. We had a lovely meal, rested our tired legs and went to bed, ready to attack our last day.

Day Seven: Tolldown to Bath

I woke at 05.00 and listened to the rain hammering down outside our window. It bought back memories of the last day of our West Highland Way Walk when we quite literally swam through clouds and rivers of rain all the way from Kinlochleven to Fort William.

We delayed our departure to try to avoid the worst of the forecasted rain and set off at 09.30 fully togged up in wet weather gear. In fact, we needn’t have worried, 10 minutes after leaving our accommodation the rain stopped and we stripped off again.

A few hours later we were treated to a fabulous display from a sheepdog rounding up his flock. We stopped and chatted to the farmer and the dogs, Mac and Toby. I was fascinated by the agility and the capability of the dogs and the incredible job that they do.

We passed hedgerows bursting with blackberries and flowers and fields full of interesting trees that we struggled to identify. We saw one bright pink one with pink leaves and pink berries. Its label identified it as Euonymous Europaea. The RHS website told us that this was a spindle, a vigorous, spreading deciduous shrub or small tree with narrowly ovate leaves that turn pink or red in Autumn.

We got our first view of Bath and Bristol from Lansdowne Hill at about 14.00, unfortunately it was a bit too murky to see the Suspension Bridge or the bridges over the River Severn. We (wrongly) assumed that it would be all downhill from there. Haha, how wrong could we be? The Cotswold Way hadn’t finished surprising us with its ups and downs just yet.

I have few words to describe Bath apart from to say that you must have extra days in this fantastic city. In my opinion, the most beautiful City in the UK. It is simply gorgeous and a fabulous place to finish the Cotswold Way.

Here are some words of wisdom:

• I strongly believe that a walking holiday should be an enjoyment rather than an endurance event so choose a longer itinerary than you think you need to give you time to enjoy all the numerous historical sites, beautiful churches and historic houses.
• It is almost impossible to get lost on this trail. If you haven’t seen a way marker for 500 meters then you are probably lost. Go back and re-trace your steps.
• Seriously consider the packed lunch option as there are very few, if any places to find water and food along the route, especially in the middle section.
• If you are only wanting to do half of the trail then do the Northern section if you are wanting quaint English charm, do the Southern section if you want to explore the fabulous city of Bath. There are more stiles on the southern section.
• I totally underestimated the level of fitness required to complete the Cotswold Way in 7 days. There is 3,320m of ascent in total, that is more than three times the height of Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. On the shorter itineraries, you can expect to steeply ascend and descend 3 or 4 times in a day.
• Finally, if you don’t like cows then this might not be the right trail for you.

If Anne-Marie, Billie, Bob, Caroline, Joan and Sarah have inspired you to walk the Cotswold Way and you’d like to know more, email us [email protected] or call us on 017687 72335 to speak with our friendly team of walking holiday experts. We offer 6 itineraries over the entire length of the route from 6 to 11 days, and we have 2 shorter breaks, each with  5 days walking, covering the northern section from Chipping Campden to Painswick and the southern section from Painswick to Bath.