Craig Henderson Europe '23 Part 14 - Cotswold Way

10 October 2023 - Bath, England; day prior to start of the Cotswold Way

Why the Cotswold Way as my last hurrah on this safari?

For one thing, it’s unfinished business. When living in London years ago, Cathy and I did sections of the Cotswold Way but never the whole shebang. I like to finish things and, even if it might be 30 years later, this walk needs finishing.

But also I feel an urge to revisit the classic, timeless beauty to be found here. The gentle, rolling hills; ponderous streams; ancient woodlands and lush fields. The lovingly maintained honey stone cottages draped with wisteria. The stately homes created and adorned through exquisite and lost craftsmanship. The gardens - both cottage and formal - that embellish so much built form.

There have been changes over the centuries, but many parts of the Cotswolds feel like they would be recognisable to 19th, and maybe even 18th, century ancestors. It’s quintessential English countryside. You might experience more dopamine than adrenaline, but there’s a time and place for each.

Elegant stone architecture in Chipping Campden

11 October 2023 - Day 1 of the Cotswold Way: Chipping Campden to Stanton (16km; 4.0h)

Public transport this morning from end of the walk (Bath) to start of the walk (Chipping Campden) involved three trains and a bus. Return transport is a whole lot simpler - two feet.

You really should get to Chipping Campden the day before starting the walk. It’s very attractive and there are several museums and galleries of interest. The High Street is a consistent stretch of period buildings, most constructed with the distinctive honey-coloured Cotswold stone.

For those of us who arrive late morning with four hours of walking ahead, it’s a quick sweep up and down the High Street and a photo of the Cotswold Way starting plaque before setting off.

The first objective is Dover’s Hill. It’s helpful to get to this vantage point early on as it reveals quite clearly the Cotswold escarpment, running in a south-west/north-east direction. As I’m starting at the northern end, I’ll be following the escarpment in a south-west direction.

From Dover’s Hill, there’s some humdrum walking as we cross a few fields. But after that the walk into the village of Broadway is classic Cotswolds. A grassy path leads to the remarkable dreamy folly, Broadway Tower, with its William Morris interior and rampart views. Then the path meanders through parkland into the lovely and humming Broadway.

Finally, today there’s a six kilometre stretch to Stanton. It’s late afternoon and raining lightly. Notwithstanding the general popularity of the Chipping Campden to Stanton section of the Cotswold Way, I have the path to myself. The kilometres slip past quickly and easily.

12 October 2023 - Day 2 of the Cotswold Way: Stanton to Cleeve Hill (23km; 5.5h)

I’ve seen a lot of sheep in the last four months. I can’t identify any particular breed by name but I do observe them and note their different appearances and characteristics. Well, you gotta find something to fill in the day!

In the Lake District they looked mangy and haunted; in Los Picos in northern Spain they looked and behaved like goats; in western Ireland they looked water-logged. But here in the Cotswolds they look and act like pampered princes. Their fleeces look freshly laundered and they stand their ground and hold your gaze as you walk past.

In the Middle Ages, the Cotswolds produced the world’s finest wool. Great wealth was generated by the large landowners. Many of the homes, churches and public buildings dating from that period owe their existence to sheep money. The breed of sheep most highly regarded in those times was the ‘Cotswold King’. I have no idea whether that breed still exists, but the sheep around here still act as if they’re royalty.

It’s a typical autumn day today - subdued light, misty towards the tops of the hills and 16C. The fields and walking paths are wet from last night’s rain but not sodden. The route is a kaleidoscope of pastures, lanes, trails, hills, hollows, ridges, woodlands, farms and villages. You never know what’s around the corner.

A highlight today was investigating a Neolithic burial chamber that the Way passes, known as Belas Knap. It’s a wedge-shaped earthen mound that’s about 50m long, 18m wide and 4m high (at its highest point). Dating from about 3,000BC, it was excavated in 1867. The excavations uncovered the remains of about 35 men, women and children. I spend 30 minutes or so exploring Belas Knap and don’t see another soul during that time.

Chatted tonight to two Dutch women doing the Cotswold Way. So far they are the only others I’ve come across doing the walk. There are a reasonable number of day walkers, but it seems that the number of walkers doing the full Way drops away dramatically in early October. I don’t see why; the weather is fine for walking and the villages and visitor sites are still open and active.

The quintessential English village of Stanton

13 October 2023 - Day 3 of the Cotswold Way: Cleeve Hill to Birdlip (26km; 6.0h)

Last night’s accommodation was in Cleeve Hill’s historic ‘Rising Sun Hotel’. Which prompts me to mention a trivial pursuit I’ve been engaged in while marching around Europe. I’m compiling a song playlist inspired by things I’ve seen or songs I’ve heard along the way. So, naturally, this morning I add Eric Burdon & the Animals’ ‘House of the Rising Sun’ to the playlist. Ignorant me thought that the song was an Animals original. Turns out that the song derives from an ancient English folksong and its precise roots are unknown. (The New Orleans bit only got added when the song jumped the Atlantic.) While I acknowledge there might be one or two Rising Sun pubs in England, my position is that I could have slept last night in the pub responsible for a rock classic.

Pondering that thought and trying to recall what a gamblin’ man needs in addition to a suitcase, I set off to climb Cleeve Hill. At 330m, Cleeve Hill is the highest point on the Cotswold Way. Now, before you break into fits of laughter and ask why I’d bother getting out of bed for 330m, let me tell you there’s a gale blowing this morning and as I get close to the top I need to bend double to stop the wind blowing me off the track. Much blowier than venerable Helvellyn or Kidsty Pike!

Today’s route spends much time on the extreme western edge of the Cotswold escarpment, providing views over the plains to the north and west. It has to be said that the sprawling town of Cheltenham and satellite villages dominate the foreground of this vista. And I also have to report that the Way fraternises with busy roads today and the tranquility I’ve waxed about is lost at times.

The strong winds of this morning were the prelude to a cold front that arrives right on time at 3.00pm. The heavens open and I get a thorough dousing. An hour later, I sheepishly walk into the reception of The Royal George Hotel, a dripping mess. The receptionist sees nothing out of the ordinary and checks me in without a word on my drenched state.

14 October 2023 - Day 4 of the Cotswold Way: Birdlip to Kings Stanley (27km; 6.5h)

Yesterday afternoon’s cold front has snuffed out the mild weather. It’s 7C as I head out this morning and only due to get to 12C today. However, the sky is clear and the damp countryside gleams in the morning sun.

The Way promptly descends into a deep forest. My guidebook tells me that “fallow deer roam these woodlands and lone walkers stepping lightly may be rewarded by a sighting”. I can satisfy those criteria! I tiptoe along, eyes peeled. There are lots of squirrels darting around and I surprise a brace of pheasants, but sadly no deer.

Soon we reach the remains of one of the largest Roman villas to have been discovered in Britain. It’s known as Great Witcombe Roman Villa. Hadrians Wall Path has given me an appetite for this stuff and I detour to visit. Amazing mosaic tiles from the bath-house are on display. As was common for bath-house mosaics, they depict a marine scene (but unusually a stingray features).

From the sublime to the ridiculous: after the villa, the Way climbs up Cooper’s Hill. On one side of the hill, there’s a very steep grass slope that looks like a ski run in summer. This is the site of an annual cheese-rolling competition. A nine pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled down the hill pursued by the contestants. The winner is the person who catches the runaway cheese or who gets to the bottom of the hill first. Only in England!

In the evening, I chat to B&B host, Rosie. She’s been running her B&B for 40 years. A few years ago Rosie won a British tourism award which resulted in an invitation to a cocktail party at Buckingham Palace. She can recite the conversations with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, and the framed invitation hangs on a wall. We get on to politics and her face brightens at my mention of Boris Johnson. He’s been found to be a serial liar, I say. Well yes, Rosie responds, but he’s so entertaining.

15 October 2023 - Day 5 of the Cotswold Way: Kings Stanley to Wotton under Edge (23km; 5.5h)

It’s a crisp, sunny Sunday morning. The fields have a light coating of frost. But plenty of people are out and about and the morning greetings are upbeat. People know a day out of the box when they see one.

The views to the west this morning stretch across to Bristol, the River Severn and Wales. The path provides plenty of opportunities to drink in the views. Seeking to capture the perfect vista on camera, I stop regularly.

In the afternoon, we reach the best vantage point for photos - Tyndall Monument. This is a 34m tower that sits atop the delightfully named Nibley Knoll. It was erected in 1866 in memory of William Tyndale who translated the Bible into English in the early 1500’s and was executed as a result of his religious writings.

Tonight’s accommodation is The Swan in Wotton under Edge. In the bar, all the talk is of the rugby, as England qualified for the World Cup semi-finals this afternoon. In the evening, we watch France play South Africa to see who England will face. South Africa win by a point.

The impressive Tyndall Monument landmark

16 October 2023 - Day 6 of the Cotswold Way: Wotton under Edge to Tormarton (25km; 6.0h)

There are lots of pheasants and guinea fowl around this morning. Which gets me wondering about hunting in England. Hunting with hounds was made illegal in 2005, but there are a few loopholes in the law so the traditional horse and hound hunt hasn’t been stamped out entirely. Hunting of some birds is permitted within seasons and with the permission of the relevant landowner. We’re currently in the hunting season for pheasants in England. Judging by the number of pheasants I see, there is no shortage of targets for the shooters.

The above thoughts return to me a couple of hours later when sharp cracks of gunfire echo around a valley below me. The noise continues and I only escape it by (eventually) walking out of earshot. I ask someone in the next village what it was. Apparently, there are two clay pigeon shooting ranges in that area. The noise is a source of considerable controversy in the area.

This walk sometimes feels like a live history lesson. A notable example today comes in the form of Horton Hill Fort. This fort was constructed in the Iron Age and then improved by the Romans who are thought to have had it as a frontier post. Armies have camped within the fort periodically over the subsequent centuries. Today what we see are two sets of earthen ramparts and parallel ditches enclosing a flattened 11 acre space. Admittedly, some imagination is needed to see the fort as it might have looked during one of those early eras, but it’s still extraordinary to think of the scenes this space has witnessed.

With today’s walk done, 138 km of the Cotswold Way’s 163 km are behind me. If I can manage a final 27 km tomorrow, I’ll reach Bath and the end of the walk. Bath is the only entire city in the UK designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visiting the city is always exciting; it feels doubly so when it’s at the conclusion of seven days of toil.

17 October 2023 - Day 7 of the Cotswold Way: Tormarton to Bath (27km; 6.0h)

One of the things that’s struck me as I’ve plodded along the Cotswold Way is the diverse array of rights and arrangements that underpin the route. A good proportion of it is off public roads; my rough guess would be 85%. Of those ‘trails’, a substantial proportion are rights of way established over long periods of time and now protected by legislation. These rights of way make walking in the UK unlike walking anywhere else and allow for an infinite number of walk routes.

But, in addition, there appears to be a lot of land - especially woodland - that’s owned and/or managed by charitable trusts or local councils for the benefit of the public. The National Trust and English Heritage are the most prominent of the trusts, but there are numerous smaller, local trusts with responsibility for individual pockets of land. Often this land was originally part of a large estate and the estate owner has at some point decided to make all or part of it available to the public.

In Australia, this is less common. We rely predominantly on government acquisitions to expand the ‘public estate’. We do have a few charitable organisations, such as Bush Heritage Australia, that look to acquire land to manage as wildlife reserves in perpetuity. However, we seem to be a long way behind the British here. Like in so many other areas of social need, we can’t rely entirely on governments.

It’s quite a long leg today but I’m in no hurry. It’s the last day of a four month walk extravaganza. I want to finish as I started - erring on the slow side, soaking it all in. There have been times when I’ve needed to put my head down and march at top pace but generally I’ve walked at a leisurely pace, looking around, pausing to listen, stopping to marvel.

The Way maintains its focus right to the end. We stay high in the gentle, rolling hills, enjoying sweeping views and woodland pockets. We do a lap of the Battle of Lansdown battlefield, where, in 1643, Parliamentarian and Royalist soldiers tore each other apart. The finish of the walk in front of Bath Abbey, with the Roman baths on the right, means that the walk draws for first place amongst my walks for ‘Most Spectacular Finish’. In equal first place is the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.