Cotswold Way

Decided that a bit of cross-country walking is needed so did a couple of bits of the Cotswold Way. It starts at the beautiful old church in Chipping Campden. It's one of those honey-hued traditional Cotswold towns with all the marking of woolen trade prosperity; grand church, 17th century market hall, alms houses and the like. Jill and Freya dropped me off on Tuesday. Bright blue skies with a target to getting to Stanton.





After a walk through the town I reached open fields where the easterly wind was merciless. When you get to the edge of the escarpment at Drovers Hill the views across to the west are spectacular. This is where they hold the Cotswold Olymipcs each year. They started in the 1600s I think and some of the "games" seem now to be pretty brutal. Stick-hitting was a crowd puller. In this "recreation" two blokes hit each other on the head with cudgels until one of them was knocked senseless. They still practice the art of shin-kicking (a bit like wrestling but where you're allowed to hack the shins of your opponent) to this day.

You can see how cold it was with some quite deep drifts still sitting around. This is the folly called Broadway Tower at the top of Fish Hill which looks down on the touristy town of Broadway.








It lives up to its name with the road through being bordered by wide grass banks. It always seems to me a bit of a pastiche of a Cotswold village, more a picture on a biscuit tin than a real, living place. Fine art shops, interior design studios, smart hotels and antique dealers compete for space along the main street and around the green. Thank goodness for the Crown and Trumpet; a proper pub with a bar and coal fire.






 The next bit of the walk is quite steep to regain the height lost in the descent into Broadway and get back to the top of the escarpment again. Lovely views, good path and signage. The walk meanders down to the village of Stanton which is as pretty as the Cotswold gets. The Mount is a lovely little pub but check on opening hours if you are walking there with a beer in mind. I took to a bench and awaited my carriage.



Glad I didn't organise a Wednesday walk as the legs were a bit stiff the next morning. However, my old friend Bob had planned a trip for Thursday. We were to bus out to Cranham and walk back to Cheltenham via Birdlip on the Cotswold Way. Bob walked with me through the Champagne region when I was walking to Rome and never a day of walking went by without something memorable happening. The day started with us meeting wandering balladeer  Jeremy Steffen while waiting for the Stroud bus. I had a chat to him about music and asked if I could take a photo. Not only did he agree but he sat and played and sang all the way to Cranham. I know the A46 isn't Route 66 but some Muddy Waters and Peter Green numbers gave it a delta feel.

Our walk was great, heading north through the trees and well sheltered from the north-easterly wind. The walk takes you to the top of Cooper's Hill where each year they re-run and old Cotswold tradition of cheese-rolling. A couple of big rounds of cheese are rolled off the hill which is STEEP and the competitors run down after it. Sounds tame but have a look at it on Youtube. Very funny. Stopped at the Air Balloon (getting across the road there is suicidal) and then through the Crickley Hill Park and down into Cheltenham. We estimated it as 10 miles so I'm not far from the required fitness level.