Weekend in the Cotswolds

Mark and I have just spent a couple of nights in the Cotswolds. We travelled up on Saturday morning hoping for some dry weather so that we could do some walks from More Cotswold: Walks (Pathfinder Guide). We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Gloucester. Mark booked the room several months ago for the great rate of £29 a night. The rack rate is £105 for Saturday and £229 for Sunday (does anyone actually pay these rates?)! When we checked in we bought breakfast vouchers. Usually you can buy these for less than the menu price if you buy them when you check in but do remember to check first. The price for a breakfast voucher this weekend was £8.50. I find a Full English Breakfast sets me up for the day and I don't need much at lunchtime. Having checked in we drove over to Painswick for a late afternoon walk (walk 19 in the Pathfinder Guide).

I enjoyed this walk which went up to the Iron Age Hill Fort at Painswick Beacon. The guide gives an estimate of 3 hours for the walk. It took us three hours with a stop for tea at the Falcon Inn in Painswick. The Falcon Inn has one of the oldest bowling greens in Britain (it was around in 1554) in its grounds and we made a mental note that the Inn had a good menu and used local produce.

The walk itself took us along some lanes and tracks with fantastic old hedgerows which had scabious, wild thyme and wild clematis growing in them. We also spotted a Magpie moth resting on a leaf. Halfway up the beacon there was a seat in memory of 'Stumpy'. Two hanging baskets were suspended, one at each end of the seat, which I thought was a lovely idea. There was also a container of water tied to the leg of the seat so we stopped to give the baskets a drink. The walk took us through a golf course. There was a house on the edge of the course with two topiary golf balls on either side of it's entrance which made us smile. We spotted two golf balls in the grass so I took a photo. I would have like to have lined the balls up but even though no one was playing that part of the course I thought I'd better not! By the time we got back to Painswick at the end of the walk it was around 6.30pm so we decided to go back to the Falcon Inn for our meal. It was excellent. We both had the Thai style fishcakes, which were served with a side salad, followed by the chocolate experience. I certainly can recommend the food there.






On Sunday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we drove to Crickley Hill Country Park a few miles north of Gloucester. We followed the route given for Walk 20 Crickley Hill and Leckhampton Hill. This was a 7 mile long walk with fine views but I would have preferred less walking on tarmac. I was out of sorts a bit anyway because my walking boots were causing pain in my right metatarsals. I have short, wide feet and find buying shoes and boots a problem. Currently I have a pair of Meindl boots. I've had them a few years and they've not been too uncomfortable but I guess two long walks on consecutive days with hot feet were too much. Highlights of this walk were the views, 250 year old beech trees, wild cherry and masses of green holly berries. Along the walk there were several places with loaded blackberry bushes... and no one picking them! I would have been tempted to pick if I'd had a container even though we were away from home. We took a detour on Leckhampton Hill to see the Devil's Chimney which was created by quarrymen in the 19th century. Note that there is a hairy crossing of the A417 and A436 roads at the end of the walk.



After our walk we went into Cheltenham for coffee and a cake and to buy provisions for an evening picnic supper. Then we drove to the Cotswold Water Park where we, more or less, followed the route of Walk 4 Thames and Severn Canal and Cerney Wick. By now the sun had put in an appearance and it turned out to be a lovely afternoon. We reached the cafe at the visitor centre just before it closed and enjoyed a cuppa by one of the lakes. The walk followed a disused railway and the towpath of the disused Thames and Severn canal and was much more interesting than our mornings walk. Looking at the map we had expected a fairly open walk even though the guidebook mentioned woodland. In fact it turned out to be a very pleasant woody walk. The lakes themselves were created by gravel extraction and there are now several gated housing developments beside some of the lakes together with water sports facilities. The only downside was the noise from the nearby A416 which has one of those very noisy surfaces. I was particularly taken with the arches in the disused railway bridges which had beautiful oval openings in the supporting walls and by a new bridge with bull rush railings.