Cotswold Way Day 3

I was quite stiff when I woke up this morning at about 7am in the fabulous Waterside Inn at Dowdeswell. Most of my stuff had dried out thank goodness!! The £30 for the bed and breakfast here was certainly some of the best money I’d ever spent. If I’d have carried on up the hill and pitched the tent last night as it continued to rain on and off I would have been very cold, damp and despondent by this morning. Instead I was refreshed and re enthused after my drowning of the day before and the breakfast was as expected… rather large and nice, though I felt quite guilty at having to leave my 2 sausages and black pudding , for fear of anaphilactic reactions due to my food allergy to something in processed meats. I certainly didn’t want to be risking anythign so far from home and civilisation in general!

I set off at about 9am… late compared to yesterday!!!.... after buying three cans of ginger beer for my day’s walking. I wasn’t too worried about food today as the maps indicated two possible pub stops that I could get to for lunch time ish. To begin with it was a 100 yd dash up the busy main road and then I turned right up a track. I’d hoped to get views of the reservoir as I climbed up here, but I only managed the smallest of glimpses of water through the trees, right at the start of the climb.

I thought I’d gone awry right at the beginning of today’s walk, or rather that I was following a revised route and not the one in my guidebook again. My fears turned out to be groundless and more to do with my map reading skills!!! To begin with it was quite a ferocious climb up the edge of Lineover Wood, made worse by all the overnight rain and the paths all being slippery mud and squelch. Yet again, I thanked my lucky stars for the overnight stay in the Waterside Inn!!!

Eventually I turned right to walk more along the contours of the hillsidead if anything slightly downhill through Lineover Wood. It was quite beautiful, with plenty of bluebells, if not carpets of them and lots of clumps of smelly Ramsons. Also I came across the largest snail I’d ever seen in the wild just after entering the wood. Its shell was well over the size of a golf ball!!!! I was so amazed that I tried to take photos, though the ones without flash were blurry with having no tripod and low light conditions under the trees and grey skies above. As I continued, I didn’t need to be so amazed apparently, as the path ahead was to be strewn with the monsters!!! I want some as pets!!

The weather stubbornly continued ot be very overcast, with spits of rain in the wind, but this was nothing compared to the nightmare of yesterday’s drizzle and downpour afternoon!!! Besides I’d seen the weather on the TV at the B&B and it had promised brightening skies through the day, so I was happy!!

I emerged from Lineover Wood and walked behind Old Dole Farm with good views back out over the valley and the end of yesterday’s walk down the opposite valleyside to Dowdeswell. Still no views of the reservoir though, hidden by trees… so I have no idea what it actually looks like!

The pretty Old Dole Farm.

Still no sign of the reservoir looking back to the
Dowdeswell Valley.

Giant snails everywhere...these just before the final
climb up Wistley Hill

The climb up to Wistley Hill was the steepest and most prolonged of the way so far I think!! It certainly got my heart racing, but I managed it without stopping despite all the weight on my back. The pain in my shoulders seemed slightly less today too, so that was encouraging. At the top of the climb was a bench and I stopped for a can of ginger beer. The wind was from the north today and cold, but nice and cooling in my sweaty state! I looked at a change of route board stapled to a waymarker behind the bench and decided to follow it. The route my book showed was an old alternative route anyway, that was very detoury according to this board and so I plumped for the new route hoping it would be well signposted so that I didn’t get lost, which fortunately it was!!!

I eventually emerged at Seven Springs, the junction of the A36 and A435 and set off up a lane, now following the guidebook route again.

I found my way up onto Hartley Hill, and again had views out over Cheltenham. I was at this point beginning to get slightly jaded by the Cotswold Way and its determination to follow every winding detour of this westernmost edge of the escarpment. Yes the views are panoramic, but I was beginning to get slightly bored of having every town down on the plateau below in view for the whole day as I walked around the hill edges enfolding it to the east!

Cheltenham from round the corner on Wistley Hill

Cheltenham as I climb Hartley Hill

View from the end of Leckhampton Hill near The Devil's Chimney

I got a bit lost on the top of Leckhampton Hill. I seemed to be higher than I should have been if I’d been on the official route? Hey ho! I sat on the trig point and wandered down to have a look at the topograph on the cliff edge, though the weather was still stubbornly hazy and grey so most things on it couldn’t be seen. I carried on around the hill’s edge.. of course!!!....and round the back of a disused quarry to join a lane onto which I turned left and gently climbed to a track off to the right. This continued downhill for some time to emerge at another lane near a golf course club house and Ullenwood Manor College. I turned right up this lane and then at the main road crossed straight over and up another straight and narrow lane past seemingly old barracks buildings behind a hedge to the left and then a fire brigade training area.

At the edge of the escarpment I turned left on a path through woods. I actually quite enjoyed this part of the walk along towards Crickley Hill, maybe because I’d rounded the corner and got a new view? Namely over Gloucester instead of Cheltenham. I couldn’t help thinking that the novelty would probably wear off during the day though, as I got to see it from every angle on my continuing journey!

Right: View from the edge of Crickley Hill as I leave the iron age fort.

The fort at the end of Crickley Hill was quite interesting and when I’d skim read some of the information boards I set off again up the side of the valley with the roar of the A417 below which was a shame as the woods were really pleasant apart from the traffic noise. I got to the traffic island at the junction of the A417 and A436 and the pub!!! (The Air Balloon) It turned out to be a gem and I had two pints of Stella along with a bowl of homemade broccolli and stilton soup served with half a quiche, side salad and crusty bread, a real bargain at £5.45, especially when compared with my bowl of french onion soup in Broadway on day 1 that had been £4.25 on its own!!

The morning weather forecast’s sun, finally showed itself briefly while I sat in the pub writing up a bit of the diary. I set off again at 3.45pm!!! Time flies when resting in comfortable sofas! The brief walk up the side of the A417 was a bit of a shock to the senses, but I soon turned right and continued on a footpatharound the front of the escarpment, below the road and a viewpoint car park along the road. The noise was therefore reduced a bit from above, but still rather noisy from the main road climbing up from below to join it back at the Air Balloon pub. It was a real pity, but the sun was glimpsing through the clouds and the two pints and nice food had certainly lifted my spirits a bit.

Panorama from below the main road viewpoint car park, Crickley hill jutting in from the right.

Above: Crickley Hill again.

Right: The lovely beech woodland walk out onto the Peak

The walk out onto the Peak was beautiful, through beech woodland and would have been made even more lovely, but for the drone of the traffic heading up the valley between me and Crickley Hill, where I’d been before lunch. As I rounded the

point of the Peak to gradually descend to the road up to Birdlip, it at least became more peaceful for a while.

I decided to take a slight detour from the official route here, so that I could go and have a look at Birdlip itself, so instead of crossing the road and descending through the woodland, I trudged up the road and round the corner into the main street of the village. The Royal George Hotel looked pleasant enough, though I decided I’d had more than enough at lunch time and so didn’t even investigate if it was open. I did walk along to the Post Office marked on the map though, thinking that it might have some provisions for my night under canvas in the wilds. It looked like it had shut down though unfortunately! Hey Ho!

I set off back down the road and turned left down road and then almost immediately right down a fairly steeply descending track. This had rejoined the official route in no time and I continued on what was a pleasant woodland walk through Witcombe Wood, about half way up the face of the escarpment. I’d hoped to get a glimpse at Witcombe Park, which I assumed to be a large house of some kind, but the woods were too dense. It actually made a pleasant change to NOT have panoramic views on this walk!

I started to look for likely fields in which to pitch the tent for the night. After a mile or more of wandering through here I passed three men going in the other direction who asked me how far it was to Birdlip. It seemed a long while back to me, so I guessed at 3 miles.. whoops… no wonder they were shocked and hurried off. It was probably more like half that distance when I looked at the map! Maybe they were stopping for the night in the Royal George Hotel?

The road coming up the escarpment edge into Birdlip.

Just after I’d come level with Cooper’s Hill Farm, I came to a gateway into a grassy field and walked up the edge of this in the direction of the Way to find a pitch for the night. For some reason I was worried about pitching in a field and worried that someone might come and tell me off, even though I was doing no harm and only at the VERY edge of the field. I picked a flat spot on top of an undulation running perpendicular to the escarpment edge, with a nice view back over the valley to Birdlip. I pitched up, hoping that people from the house just up the track wouldn’t come and complain. I was finished by 6pm and went to sleep at about 6.30pm after calling home… the wonders of mobile phones!!!:)