Picture Perfect English Countryside Walking Holiday

The Cotswold Way is a 103 miles /164 km trail crossing one of England’s ‘areas of outstanding natural beauty’ and features striking panoramic views as you walk much of the time along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills.  Plan to spend eleven days walking this marvelous, historic path.

Highlights abound, including charming medieval villages, with some cottages retaining their adorable thatched roofs.  You’ll walk past historic ruins, many of the old wool churches, the Jacobean manor Stanley House, with England’s highest single jet fountain (300′).  Be sure to stop by the Cotswold Distillery for a locally made whiskey or spirit!

Why Walk the Cotswold Way?  It’s the Perfect UK Walking Holiday!

The Cotswold Way is one of Europe’s most beautiful long distance paths.  It winds through some of England’s treasured landscapes as well as absolutely charming villages.  Civilization is always fairly close by, so if you’ve never done a long distance walk before, this would be a stunning and excellent starter walk!

Each night you stay in a charming guest house or hotel in one cute village after another. You begin in either Chipping Campden (most common) or in Bath. Other notable villages include Broadway, Stanton, Painswick, and Wooten-Under-Edge. Cute – cute- cute!!!

Charming Villages

If you can spare the time, spend a night in Broadway, even though it’s only five miles to Chipping Camden.  Stanton is the quintecential English country village, so do stay there. Most of these villages are VERY small, so do make sure you know ahead of time whether you need to make a dinner reservation! You will be tired and hungry when you arrive and want to make sure that you can get a good meal!

Be sure to download the FREE Travel Planner for my itinerary and details and links needed to plan your Cotswold Way walking holiday (you will get access automatically with the monthly newsletter if you subscribe).

The Best Way to Walk the Cotswold Way

Using the itinerary above, you can plan your night’s lodging.  Or, do as I do, and use a self-guided tour company, like my affiliate One Foot Abroad.  They can make all of the arrangements for you, which is great, since they know the coolest places to stay.  They will also provide you with a good map, and 24/7 assistance, if needed.  And one super reason to use them, is that they will arrange to MOVE YOUR LUGGAGE EACH DAY, so all you have to carry is your daypack!

I highly recommend using One Foot Abroad, so all you have to concern yourself with is getting up and walking each day!  You can use my exclusively One Foot Abroad Promo Code ATA5 to get 5% OFF any of their spectacular European walking (and biking holidays).  Note: this code also works for their sister company, Follow the Camino (guided and self-guided tours of all the  Camino de Santiago routes).

Who Can Walk the Cotswold Way

Anyone reasonably fit, particularly if they train, can do the Cotswold Way trail.  This footpath is not particularly difficult, but because it is long, it is a big of an endurance hike.  The Cotswold Way would be a fun walking holiday for couples, friends and even solo hikers (I did it solo).

You need to get your feet, back and hips used to plodding along up to 16 miles each day AND being able to get up each morning to do it again.  This requires conditioning, especially your feet!  I recommend training at least two months in advance so that your walk will be FUN, not something too hard for your body.

You can also adjust the itinerary above by adding in the occasional REST DAY.  Or, sometimes it is possible to shorten the day by staying in more closely spaced towns.  Check with One Foot Abroad and tell them what you are trying to do. 

Villages where you might consider staying longer include: Broadway, Stanton, Painswick, and Wooten-Under-Edge.

How Hard is the Cotswold Way Trail

Much of the time you are walking on the ridge of the Cotswold Escarpment (and escarpment is where two mostly level landscapes are divided by different elevations). This is particularly true as you walk alongside the charming Cheltenhem (worthy of a day or two side trip if you have the time!).

There is no hill higher than 400′, so the hills are not excessively challenging. This footpath is more of an endurance event rather than a killer hike.  

Usually most mornings you start in a valley and climb uphill.  Then there will be a few ups and downs throughout the day. On my 9 day hike, I hiked between 7-16 miles per day. You can vary the length of your trip somewhat to accommodate your desired daily milage.  On my 16 mile day, I was mostly on the ridge so it wasn’t too bad.

Remember: The historic walking paths of Europe were formed by people needed to go from one village to the next.  Naturally, they chose the easiest path!

Cotswold Way Landscape

Much of the time you will be hiking through pasture land. I think the irregular hedgerows that mark the property borders make these pastures particularly charming.

Land use laws in England allow you to walk across private property on these century’s old footpaths that connect villages and other trade routes. You go through gates or sometimes steps over the fences and walk often through sheep (beware the Cotswold Lion (kidding : it’s their sheep!) and sometimes horse or cow pastures. Once the path even goes through a golf course – and people are walking their dogs on the golf course!

Yet other times you are in rare undisturbed meadowland preserves or in beech forests. At the end of each day, you land in a charming village with cottages made of the local Cotswold quarried stone – stunning! Some of the roofs are still made of thatch! Most have boisterous cottage gardens contrasted with perfectly manicured hedges.

Takeaways and Advice for Walking the Cotswold Way

This is a wonderful adventure for people interested in dipping their toes into adventure travel: it is challenging in an endurance way (you MUST make it to each day’s destination as accommodations are limited), but the trail itself is not too difficult. Everyone speaks English, and the food are things you would recognize. There is also public transport if you need a lift to the next destination.

It’s also great for someone who just needs some time to think. It is a very meditative footpath: you can be alone a lot if you wish. But there is also a lot of opportunities to interact with locals who use the path themselves for daily walks or to get somewhere. The locals are EXTREMELY friendly!

Were I to do it again (and I might!), I think I would go slower so I wasn’t so tired when I arrived at the night’s village (or train longer – I had just gotten into walking holidays and probably didn’t train enough). I would also take a detour and spend a couple of days in Cheltenhem, which is just downhill from the trail.

Other Links Mentioned in this podcast episode:

UK’s Ten Best Walking Holidays

Scotland’s West Highland Way Walking Holiday

Trailblazer Guidebook on the Cotswold Way

Podcast:  How I Built This with Guy Raz with Sir James Dyson (Dyson bagless vacs)

Compeed blister pads

England’s Cotswold Way Walking Holiday Transcript

On this show, I try to curate some of the greatest multi-day adventures from around the world where you’ve got to move. You’ve got to hike, bike, paddle, horseback ride or somehow in order to convey your body from one place to the next. My goal is not only to find and share these trips with you but also encourage you to go and give you the tools that you need so that you’ll feel the joy and the empowerment that you get from actually doing something exciting on your holidays.

—

On this episode, I’m finishing up my series on the Cotswold Way. The Cotswold Way is about 100-mile trail that runs through some of England’s most scenic and spectacular beauty. In fact, England designates the whole Cotswold area as an area of outstanding natural beauty and it’s an honor it richly deserves. In part one of the Cotswold Way, I started with the hike from Chipping Campden and worked my way down to King’s Stanley. Now, we’re going to head South and work our way down to the finishing point of historic Bath.

Cotswold Southbound

Most people traditionally do the Cotswold Way in a southbound manner from Chipping Campden to Bath, the way that I did it. They say that to keep the wind at your back. I only had one windy day and it was windy. It was whirling around so much. I don’t think it made a difference of which direction I was going in. At the end of part one, I was waking up in King’s Stanley where I hear the cows outside my window. I don’t see them but they must be nearby. Even though I’m in a town and I could see the main church right across the street. Like most villages, this is down in the valley, so I start the day with a brisk walk uphill. It gets your heart racing.

At the top of the hill, I’m amused when I see a memorial tree with the epitaph plaque saying, “It’s definitely someone else’s problem now.” I come across another amusing sign. This one says, “Sheep racing.” That I’d like to see. It’s interesting too that I’m starting to see some rock outcrops that you can see the Cotswold stone. You see the stone everywhere in the cottages. It’s his honey colored, very warm, rich stone. I’m also noticing too, the further South I get, the whiter the stone is getting. It’s losing a little bit of that tannish color. In the trail, I’m starting to see rock outcrops for the first time.

One thing I love about this trail is the constant contrast. Sometimes you’re in the woodlands, sometimes you’re out on a rich cap overlooking gorgeous rolling hills filled with pastures in the hedgerows that are whimsical, magical, a bunch of parallelograms forming to make a crazy quilt. If they were all perfectly straight, it would not be as cute. There is something about the irregular patterns of the hedgerows that adds to the charm. When you’re on top of the hill, you can see for miles. It’s this rolling gorgeous farmland, pasture land and the occasional woodland.

Most of those pastures are filled with the Cotswold lion, otherwise known as their sheep. They get the lion name because their fur grows in this round, almost dreadlocks coming off their face. It’s cute. You can see a picture on the website, ActiveTravelAdventures.com/cotswolds. I’m hiking near the end of the summer. It’s a great time to hike but I’ve missed the wildflowers in their final display for the year. However, on occasion I do see Eryngium Blue Bell and thistles. Some of the other common plants that you’ll see are some wild orchids, honesty plant, field poppies, dog violet and dog-rose, speedwell and foxglove and lots of butterflies. I may have missed the wildflower season, but I’m in time for the blackberries, which are growing rampantly wild throughout the hedgerows. You can grab a snack whenever you’d like. A little while later, I turned a corner and I see a farmer working the fields with his tractor. In the distance, I see two little red dots. I was like, “It’s out in pasture field. They can’t be some telephone booths.” Then I see that the little red dots are moving. I was like, “That’s where I’m going.”

If you can spare the time, slow down your hike so you savor the moments. Click To Tweet

I went up this nice but fairly steep little hill to get up to the top and once again get that view. It’s always worth it. Even though an everyday walk in the Cotswold’s has been a treat, now I have a special treat in store. I’m going to have lunch at the home of my friend, Simon’s parents, who live in Dursley, which the Cotswold Way happens to go right through. I’ll only have to make about a half a mile detour. I will go to have a nice home cooked meal, which will be nice. Simon is the friend that I made when I was walking the West Highland Way in Scotland.

You’ll also meet Simon in part one of the Cotswold because he and his girlfriend, Helen, hosted me the first couple of nights before I started my hike and we went to dinner midway. It’s so cool how quickly you can bond when you’re out on an adventure like this. As I start to enter the town of Dursley, the path takes us through a private vineyard and the grapes are ready for harvest. It was so cool to see them all lined up. Unlike the blackberries that were growing wild, these were cultivated. I was on private property even though the path goes through it, so I behaved myself and didn’t partake of any.

Based on the distance and the pace I’d been walking, I estimated that I would be about 1:00 before I would get to Simon’s parents’ house, but I had made good time. I Messengered Simon to let his parents know that I would be arriving early. When I knocked on the door, a woman answered. She looked shocked to see me. I forgot to tell Simon. He maybe should have warned them. I’m going to look a little ratty and disheveled with a big backpack. Once she realized who I was, a big smile and I was welcomed inside. We sat in the living room and visited for a while asking each other questions and trying to learn about each other’s lives.

I can see where Simon gets his charm. His parents are delightful. After visiting for an hour or so, I was treated to a wonderful grilled meal. When you’re traveling, a home cooked meal sure hits the spot. Since I had access to Wi-Fi at the house, I asked if I could use it and check my messages before I headed out. Sometimes when you’re in these little villages, Wi-Fi access could be dicey so you grab it while you can. I’m looking and I was like, “I forgot. It’s my birthday.” My friends and family back home had sent me emails and texts wishing me a happy birthday.

I must say that even though I like traveling solo, it was comforting to have some company on my birthday. I was having a good time. The minutes and hours are slipping away. I still had seven more miles to hike. I was to hike fourteen miles. I consider my feet thirteen-mile feet, which means that by thirteen miles, my feet are screaming. I prefer if I can to do ten to twelve or somewhere in there that I feel like I’ve had a good hike, but I’m not dying. It’s a good thing I’m not a pure saying I’ve got to hit every single mile on some of these treks because the trail happens to cross a road and the road is uphill.

Stinchcombe Hill And The Tyndale Monument

When Simon’s parents offered to take me up that hill, I readily said yes. It was a super steep climb, so I was glad for the lift. Once you got to the top, I know I keep saying, “Spectacular.” This view was SPECTACULAR. What a gorgeous view and it was flat up the top. In fact, they were going to take a walk after I went on my merry way. Up on top of the Stinchcombe Hill, you can take a shortcut but I recommend that you do that extra three miles where you walk all along the whole ridge. I got to drive, so it depends on your feet.

 

The prettiest part is at the end. If you take the shortcut, you’re missing all that capital letter spectacular. It’s still pretty, of course not as pretty as if you make it to this one particular viewpoint. It’s definitely one of the highlights. While I was up there, I was thinking again about Christine, the woman that I met that was doing it at a more leisurely pace. I wish in hindsight, I had truly had done it the way Christine was doing it. It would have been nice to spend the rest of the day in Dursley and enjoyed the company of Simon’s parents. If I didn’t have that, to go up and spend the afternoon up on Stinchcombe Hill, it was so pretty. It was one of the highlights of the whole trip. Time is going and I’ve got to make it to Wotton-under-Edge. I still have a long way to go even though I had the shortcut by taking that little drive up there.

What I’m saying is if you can spare the time, slow down your hike so you get to stop and savor the moments when you come across your Stinchcombe Hill. Whatever that may be, that you say, “I want to spend more time here.” Dursley was a cute town. I would like to spend the afternoon exploring it. Heading back down the hill, you go through the forest and the next thing I know, I’m walking through some mustard greens, a farm raising some type of cool weather crop. It’s so funny how you’re allowed to walk through people’s land. It’s so different from anything I’m used to around here. Another thing that caught my fancy was I came across one of those iconic red phone booths, which since people don’t use landlines anymore, had been converted as sometimes it’s a lending library. Sometimes it will have notes in there that have things to do in the town. I found one that still had the phone that apparently must still be in use.

A little further up is another great viewpoint at the Tyndale Monument. The Tyndale Monument is a tower that’s built in honor of William Tyndale. He translated the New Testament. He was born nearby. It was constructed in 1866. It’s over 100 feet tall. It’s possible to climb up to the top. It’s a spiral staircase of 121 steps. Since I still had many miles ago, I took advantage of the view from the ground. Since much of the trail is along with pasture land, it was odd when I see coming up ahead, a big cluster of pine trees. I was like, “What was that?” It was so out of place. It looked like it was there on purpose and sure enough. As I get a little closer, I see that the pine trees are all enclosed in a fenced area. It turns out that these were planted in 1815 to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. You read about the Battle of Waterloo in your history books and all that, but you sometimes forget that this is a real event. It’s something that happened to real people that affected the people in this area tremendously. I love when your holidays can also bring history to life for you as well.

There’s a ton of historical things. In addition to 500-year-old cottages and villages, you’ll see tons of hillforts and these burial grounds from Stone Ages. You see remnants of the Roman Empire. It’s a fascinating walk through history along your Walking Holiday. After walking around the pine tree enclosure, I start heading down the hill to Wotton-under-Edge, my destination. When I get down to civilization, it doesn’t take me long to realize that I like this town. I liked the vibe of it. When I finally make it to my guest house, which was more like an Airbnb rather than a guest house because they only had one guest room. What a view, what a house. If I had known I was going to be staying there, I had to stay two nights. When I went downtown later that evening for dinner, I was like, “This should have been a good day for a rest day because it was my kind of town.” It wasn’t hoity-toity. It was a real everyday person’s town that was cute.

As I said, I don’t mind traveling solo. In fact, I like it. However, the time that I like to talk to people is at the end of the day like 5:00, 6:00. Generally speaking, I will go to a restaurant. If they have a bar area, I’ll sit up there so I can have some conversation. One thing I know is culturally different. I had asked Simon about it. I said, “Simon, it was obvious I was an out of towner in this one place I went to.” Everybody knew each other and all that. I looked like I was out of place. You’d think somebody would say, “What are you doing here?” They were friendly enough but did not engage in any conversation. Simon says, they would think that would be weird for them to do that because they don’t know you. I got a little cagey. When I would go up and I’d order a drink or menu, I would make sure that the bartender would know that, “I’m hiking the Cotswold Way,” as an opening so that people might start a conversation. That did seem to work. Depending on how close I was to villages would determine whether or not I had a conversation with people along the path or was I pretty much in solitude. I like them both. At the end of the day, I like to talk to somebody.

The Falcon

The next morning when I was walking through the town, I passed a restaurant called The Falcon. It’s a local steakhouse that they use locally grown beef. If you want to eat there, you need to make reservations six weeks in advance. I wanted to give you a heads up on that if you want to have a nice fine meal out. I find it funny that I tend to get more lost when I’m in town than I do when I’m out in the countryside. That’s because there are signs and post all over the place. It’s easy to miss your marking of where you’re supposed to turn. I did that in Wotton-under-Edge and probably spend an extra twenty minutes or so wandering around until I finally found the trail again. Sometimes they put signs in unexpected places, sometimes on the right side, sometimes on the left side, sometimes it’s on a post and sometimes it’s on a little marker. You’ve got to keep your eyes peeled. You’re never going to get too lost. Trips like this too also help make you more mindful because you have to pay attention to what you’re doing.

No matter how much you’re enjoying the hike, at the end of the day, you’re ready to rest. Click To Tweet

In England, there are lots of nice old churches. There’s a particularly nice one in Wotton-under-Edge that you see as you’re heading towards the outskirts of town. You also cross a brook and that made me think, I’ve hardly seen any water. It reminds me that you need to bring your water every day because I can only think of when I was looking back of only one or two places that I could have gotten some water that is treated. With all the pastures and all that, you definitely want to treat it because there are too many livestock in the area. Pack water that you need for the day or until you get to the next village.

I stopped and listened to that babbling brook for about five minutes and it was nice. It helped reset my brain and to get my body and my mind in the right mindset for about another twelve-and-a-half-mile hike. This was going to be my last long day. The next is going to be pretty easy. A little later in the morning, I have to walk alongside a quiet country road. I see a sign that says “Drive slow, frogs and toads in the road.” I got to tell you, when people asked me, “Are you scared to be doing this by yourself?” I’d say, “The only thing that ever makes me nervous sometimes are the roads.”

There’s something else I’ve noticed that is a cultural difference. In the US where I live, if there’s an obstacle in the road, we don’t think twice about crossing the central line to go around the obstacle. It seems to me that the Brits stay in the lines. If I was there and there was nobody coming the other way, they would still stay in the line and be right next to me on the road versus crossing over into the opposite lane to give me more space. It’s a little unnerving for me. I preferred not being on the road as much as possible and you are very little on the road on the Cotswold Way.

Here’s a new site. All of a sudden, I’m walking through this ravine that I feel like I’m in Jurassic Park. I haven’t seen any landscape like this at all. I’m not quite sure why this is so different. I’m guessing that perhaps it is a dry creek bed that if they have heavy rain that this becomes waterlogged. It was a cool change of pace. It heightens the senses a little bit. I emerge again into a field and see still the remnants of the wildflowers. Although this time I’m starting to see a bunch of rogue buddleia or butterfly bushes. Some of them are quite large.

Speaking of flowers, not only did the homes usually have names but they also have gardens, both for flowers and food. I saw one interesting bird deterrent to keep the birds from pecking at the fruit in an orchard. On a pole, they had a spinning almost like a kite, of a hawk. As the wind would make the hawk dance in the air, presumably that would keep the birds from pecking at the apples or munching on the berries. Speaking of birds, when I was in Alaska, the first time I saw a bald eagle, I was like, “It’s a bald eagle.” You still get excited every time you see one for a while. After a while it becomes, “Another bald eagle.”

The Dyson Estate

The same thing happened to me with pheasants and I was like, “That’s cool.” I get excited every time I saw them but after a while, there are lots of pheasants. I came to find out from some locals, I was talking to one evening that they stock the fields with the pheasants and it costs about £50 to shoot one. They’re quite expensive. One of the pastures that you go through is Sir Dyson, Dyson of the Dyson vacuum fame has got this monumental spread. This huge estate and it’s loaded with pheasants as well. Even though the path goes right through his property, he has made a point of landscaping it. It’s hard to see most of the house. You see little snippets here and there, but you can tell you’re on it because everything is all first class, fencing and for everything. All signage is first class. It’s quite lovely. The guys who told me about the Dyson estate also told me that Dyson is the largest landowner in the UK. They believe because of inheritance reasons. Apparently, you can inherit land without paying taxes. If you’re in other financial vehicles, you do have to pay estate taxes on that. Dyson says he’s trying to grab as much land as possible to preserve the land.

 

Regardless, it’s a lovely estate to walk through. A little further, I’m again walking in a ravine. It’s a ravine down below a pasture. I am about five, six, seven feet below the pasture above me for some reason. There are cows right there. It’s like, “That makes a cute picture.” I’m getting ready to frame the shot. I realize I’m staring at the face of not one but two bulls. I cautiously kept on walking along after that. I didn’t take the picture. I didn’t want to alarm them in any way. The bull seemed to have no interest in me whatsoever, but I didn’t want to take a chance.

I’ve been walking for about three hours. I decided it’s a good time to take water and a little snack break. I found those shaded little trees. I sat beneath it. I have a Snickers bar and rest my feet for a little bit. I decided, “I’ll take a little pee break too.” Literally in three hours, I’ve not seen one Cotswold Way hiker along the path at all. Sure enough, that’s when somebody comes without fail. Usually, I can wait until I get to a village to use the restroom. On occasions, you do have to go in the wild. I always carry a little bit of toilet paper and also a plastic baggie to put my trash in. Please pack out your teepee folks.

The guy that I met is from Oregon. He’s doing a few days of the hike. Remember, you don’t have to do the whole hike, you can do sections of it as this guy did. He mentioned to me that he had passed some women from Boston. They had also hiked Hadrian’s Wall, which is another of the items that are on my Top 10 UK Hikes. In Hawkesbury, I come to a beautiful monument to honor General Robert Somerset. I didn’t know who the man was so I did some research on Wikipedia. He was a noted soldier. One interesting story about him is during the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he lost his hat during the first cavalry charge. When he subsequently tried to look for it, as he bends over, a cannonball, tears off the flap of his coat and kills his horse. It’s quite a pretty monument.

From there, as I’m entering the town, I take a detour from the path and I asked a local for a lunch recommendation. They sent me to the Beaufort Arms. It’s a gorgeous day and I only have a few more hours to go. I decided to splurge on a pint and prawns. As I went to wash up, I saw that there’s a nice picnic area outside. When I came back, I told my waiter, “I’m moving outside.” As I was sitting out there, I’ve got this book on the Cotswold Way by Trailblazer, which I’d recommend you pick up before you do this. It’s got nice hand-drawn maps there. I see that the Beaufort Arms is on there and behind me is the cricket field. I see that too. I said, “I don’t have to go back to where I detoured from the path. I could cut across that cricket field and work my way over to the path.” That’s exactly what I did. I cut through the cricket field. I cut through a farm. I catch back up with the Cotswold Way trail.

It made me think of my friends, Jerry and Jane, who were through-hiking the Appalachian Trail. They had a rule that if something notable to see was a quarter mile or more off the trail, they wouldn’t go look at it. I was like, “You’d never going to be that way again. I can’t believe you wouldn’t do that.” I get that. When you’re walking long all day long, day-after-day, those quarter miles make a difference. It’s got to be something special for you to do that extra mileage, which brings me back to Christine again. If I were doing fewer miles each day, I’d be climbing those towers and doing those detours. It’s something to think about. I continued my hike across multiple pastures and open fields and I kept pinching myself. I can’t believe that the views are so striking and it doesn’t get old. You can’t stop absorbing all this beauty. In a little while, I see a force in my head. I catch up and it was the Canadians I met a couple of nights. We hiked together for a little bit. They stopped to take water and a view break. I continued on.

Next, I come out to another old fort. One of the favorite things about it is folly. I believe I’ve mentioned it in the first part, but in case I didn’t or you did not read it, a folly is usually tall towers or structures that were built to show off one’s wealth. This particular folly at this fort was built literally for the birds because of so much of the nesting cavities, barns and all that had been torn down. This folly is built as a shelter for barn owls and swallows and such that use structures in order to build their homes. It’s quite pretty.

It's so cool how quickly you can bond with other people when you're out on an adventure. Click To Tweet

This particular folly was built in 2000. It’s a Millennial project. In a bit, I came to the town of Little Sodbury. I liked that I’m coming to towns and starting to have Sodbury in the name because that means I’m nearing where I could take my boots off because tonight’s rest is in old Sodbury. No matter how much I’m enjoying the hike, at the end of the day, I’m ready to rest. I am certainly ready to get my feet out on the boots. In Little Sodbury, I see where lots of locals pick up a little extra money by selling some of their excesses, whether it’s fresh eggs, produce, fruit from the orchards or whatnot. Usually, there’s a little honor system box out there. I saw one in particular that perhaps they’d been taken advantage of a few times too many.

Little Sodbury

The produce was out front, but you inserted your money into this tube. The tube went on the backside of a locked gate into a box on the other end. Even if you took the tube out, I assumed that it did not come with the box. From the town, I head back into the woods and then all of a sudden, my feet are finding comfort walking the soft ground. All of a sudden, there’s a change in the texture. I looked down and I see chestnuts. I haven’t seen chestnuts in forever. The town I grew up in Long Island, we had the chestnut trees but they’re all killed during the blight. I was so happy to see that England’s chestnut trees did not seem to be affected by the blight that firstly wiped out all the chestnut trees where I grew up.

Woodcock Farm

Next up is Woodcock Farm, another old hillfort with spectacular views. You drink in one last big view before you head downhill to Old Sodbury. It’s here that I see the first black sheep. About all the other ones had been that tanny off white linen color, then I started seeing someones with different kinds of faces, more black around the faces and then a true Baa, Baa Black Sheep. At last, I make it to Old Sodbury. After I walked past this massive sycamore tree, I cross through Saint John the Baptist Church, which was built around 1200 AD.

I’m grateful to see my inn, the Dog Inn, which was built in 1590. Remember I said how much I was enjoying the tubs and soaking at the end of the day. In the last three nights, my rooms have had a shower. I’m looking forward to once again being able to soak my toes, soak my feet and soak my tired muscles, but that won’t happen. As I relaxed in the courtyard, I looked at the walls and I wondered, “What sites and people and events these walls have witnessed over the last few centuries?” I ran into the Canadian couple and joined them for dinner. After dinner, I crashed.

Donington Park

In the morning, it’s off to Cold Ashton. I’ve only got eight and a half miles to go. I noticed that the hills are starting to flatten out again. However, I still have one more pretty decent hill to climb up and that’s Donington Park, the home of the famous Sir James Dyson, whom I mentioned. I’m now about to climb the hill that passes through his estate. There’s a fascinating interview on one of my favorite podcast called How I Built This with Guy Raz. It was in February of 2018 that he interviewed Sir Dyson. It’s a lot of fun.

After a lovely morning strolling the fields, all of a sudden I’m getting to what’s going to be my least favorite part of the trail. I’m starting to hear traffic. I’m starting to get back towards civilization. I’m nearing the end of my journey. I see the first major highway that I’ve seen in maybe a week. At least one that’s up close and personal. I can hear the noise of the trucks as I’m starting to get close. I also entered a new field. Away from the highways, I’m now going through a hayfield. This is the first time going through one of those. The hay has been cut, but it hasn’t yet been bailed. Still, the path goes right smack through it. This never fails to crack me up. I’m easily entertained.

 

Afterward, a farmer with conservation in mind has left a big strip of land, possibly about two acres that I could see allowed to go fallow. Therefore, all the wildflowers to attract all the bees, the butterflies and the birds. That was a ride of activity. I had a lot of fun going through that. I’m sure it had been absolutely spectacular. All those flowers are going to seed. The seeds are dancing in the breeze. It was cool to see. One thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned so far is throughout the hike, whenever I would get to one of the signs for the Cotswold Way, often somebody stuck a dove feather in the marker sticking out of the woods somewhere in a little crack in the post. Throughout the hike I’ve been curious, is this a person ahead of me, maybe by an hour, a day, maybe even a week or is this an ongoing habit of people that do it and I just didn’t know about it? In any case, when I came across a dove feather, I stuck it in the post too, so perhaps it’s many of us.

I noticed the doves here are fat and happy. They seem to be about twice the size of the doves I have here at home. Even if you can’t see them, you’re often going to hear them cooing in the background. They accompany you as you walk along the trail. I also hear a lot of songbirds much more than I hear at home. I don’t often see them, but I sure can hear them. At St. Mary Magdalen, there’s a beautiful graveyard that surrounds the church. Some graves filled with loved ones buried a couple of hundred years ago and many from the Great War.

I also come across somebody building a brand-new dry stone wall. Along the Cotswold, you’re going to see lots of dry stacked stone walls and seeing the one being built new and they even had a sign showing you how the thing is made. It was nice to see there are still traces of people out there that know how to build in the traditional ways. I understood from one of the farmers that because of the sheep, it was easier to contain them with the stone walls. It was less snagging on their fur versus some of the barb wire fences and things that we would use here in the states. These balls are about 24 inches across the base. They taper up to about sixteen inches at the top. With the weather, they require constant maintenance.

Badminton Plantation

You’ll never guess what comes up next. It’s a spectacular view. I’m at Badminton Plantation. I saw no signs of anything resembling badminton, but it sure was a pretty view. Then I come to one of the rare campgrounds. On the whole trail, I saw two designated campgrounds. You could camp, but it is difficult. This isn’t a camping trip. You need to plan to go from village to village. I wouldn’t recommend backpacking it. Up ahead is a windmill turning quietly in the gentle breeze. I’ve been stalking this windmill for days. I first saw it when I was up in that Napoleon Hill with the pine trees. I could see it a long way away. I can’t believe I’m finally by the windmill.

There is something interesting about the plants I’ve noticed. The plants that the livestock are ignoring are prickly. Things like stinging nettles and other little things that you have little spines in them. I’m guessing because of the spines, the sheep and the cows choose not to eat them until they’re allowed to mature and give forth their seed, unlike the grasses that are in the pastures that the animals are eating. This is a reminder too to remember to pay attention to where you squat. Their little prickly plants are mainly around the borders of the pasture and not in the main pasture lands itself.

I don’t remember seeing any in the woodland. It’s mainly around the pastures. Eventually, I hit civilization again. Up ahead is one of these cute mail carrier cars. Who would think mail carrier cars are cute? These are red. They look old fashioned. It says Royal Mail on the side. I stopped to take a picture. The mailman came out and I said, “I’m taking a picture. They’re so cute. I like the Royal van.” He said, “Would you like to sit in and drive?” I said, “Sure.” I’ve got a picture of me. I put on the website driving “The Royal Mail carrier.”

Trips help make you more mindful because you have to pay attention to what you're doing. Click To Tweet

I asked my new mailman friend, “Where I should go for lunch?” He looks puzzled. Finally he said, “There’s a cafe over in the National Trust.” I’m right at the border of the National Trust. The National Trust are places of historical interest or natural beauty that the country has designated as a preserve to keep the quality and to open it up to the public so that everybody gets to enjoy it. I’m coming up to a very formal estate that’s been restored. It has over three miles of stonewalls inside this estate. I was pleasantly surprised with nice healthy options that they offered in this cafe. I grabbed a nice meal and sat outside in the courtyard where I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken with mango chutney sandwich and a nonalcoholic sparkling wild elderberry bubbly.

I had come in through an unmarked back gate that the postman has sent me through. I saw some signs that the entrance was £13, but I didn’t see a ticket gate anywhere. I’m guessing if you want to go inside the old home, that’s where you pay the entrance fee. When I went outside the back gate that I came in and then walked past the front gate, I still didn’t see a ticket booth, so it must be inside the house. It looked to me that the public could enjoy the gardens and the grounds for free. I’d picked up a vicious cold, so I decided rather than finding out that I should head to my inn, try to take a nap and get as rested as I could for tomorrow.

During my walk, I’m out during the cusp of the change of the seasons from summer into fall. I see a big difference in the week that I’ve been out here. In fact, the first week, I see no signs of farmer activity, but now in the last two days, I’m starting to see the farmers are starting to till. They are starting to plow. They’re starting to harvest. Some of the green has turned brown with the newly exposed soil. The crazy patchwork quilt of hedgerows I’ve been seeing is now turning into a contrast of green and brown. Frankly, it makes for a pleasant contrast. Before I know it, I’m in town but that’s not what you’d call it. It’s more like an intersection. I see the Shell station. I know that I’m nearby home.

Mickledore

I had a company by the name of Mickledore who make all the arrangements for my trip. They planned where I was staying. They told me about my itinerary. They gave me maps, books, everything I could possibly need to know so that I would be able to do this with confidence. They did a fantastic job. It was because of these notes, I knew that when I see the gas station, I’m home. All I did was tell Mickledore how many days I wanted to hike and they did all the rest. It’s super easy. In the Cotswold brochure they gave me, it gives me my itinerary for the day, my accommodations with contact information, address, etc. It tells me if I have to do anything special for the evening meal and has a picture of what the building looks like and who my contacts.

For this day it says, “Follow the route of the Cotswold Way to Pennsylvania. When you reach Maine A46 Road, look to the left and you’ll see the Petrol station.” Swan Cottage is after the filling station and is clearly signposted and it has a map. It can’t get any easier than that. Mickledore also made arrangements to move my luggage each day. All I had to do is have it down in the lobby or wherever they told me to, usually 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning. By the time, I made it to the night’s accommodations, my bag was waiting for me. I’m glad I tried this company because I was super impressed. This is the second Walking Holiday that I’ve done and they did an exceptional job.

I don’t accept advertising at the Active Travel Adventures podcast or website, but one thing I do is try to build affiliate relationships with companies that I know, like and trust. I want to be confident in any company or product that I recommend to you. Mickledore hit it out of the park. While they are not an affiliate, I’m certainly going to approach them to see would they like to form that a relationship. When I build an affiliate relationship, I’ll often either get discounted or sometimes free travel, sometimes I get a small commission. If ever you use any of the links on my website and it happens to be one of my affiliates, it does help support the program. If you’re going to be doing these things anyway, I’d appreciate it if you show me a little bit of love and use my links. It lets them know that Active Travel Adventures did send you. It doesn’t cost you a dime but it sure does help defray some of my costs in putting together this program. I sure appreciate it. Thanks.

The City Of Bath

I saw the Petrol station. I knew if I hook a left at the station and I am home free for the night. I’m going to get cleaned up and then lie down and rest. I have picked up one nasty cold. I’m going to try to nip it in the bud. After a nice hot shower, I lied down for a couple of hours. I never did fall asleep, but it was nice to rest. My inn is in the middle of nowhere. I talked to the owner. I’m the only guest at the house that night. I have him make dinner for me. We were chatting and talking over a glass of wine. He said the big hang-up with this business is that there is no place that he could send his guests. Either he would have to drive them and then go pick them up ten miles each way or he’d have to cook. As a widower, he’s now the cook and made me quite a lovely meal. After my nice hearty meal, I decided to turn in early to bed. I can’t believe that this is my last night on the trail. I wonder if tomorrow I’m going to know when it’s my last cow, my last lamb or even my last hill. Simon has become a good friend. He’s staying nearby at his daughter’s dorm. He’s going to leave the dorm before dawn and hike six miles to join me to do the last stretch into Bath with me.

I’m excited to catch up with Simon in the morning and also to have a partner to enter the city of Bath and hit the final plate of the end of the Cotswold Way. True to his word, Simon is there not at 9:00 but a little bit before. At 9:00, we head off our last ten miles of the Cotswold Way and enter the historic city of Bath. I had walked in a pretty decent clip, but he has me at a good pace. It doesn’t take too long before in the distance we start to see the city of Bath. Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s famous for its Roman built paths. The trail itself ends at Bath Abbey in front of the abbey at the square inset into the square is an engraved limestone medallion that indicates the terminal point of the Cotswold Way or at the beginning point if you’re heading northbound.

In route to Bath, you walk across a famous old battlefield of lands down where a notorious battle was waged in 1643. In fact, they have a sign up there about two friends that knew they’d be fighting each other probably to the death that day, but on opposing sides, both convinced of the righteousness of their side. In the distance too you’ll see the final folly. Whoever built that, built this huge structure to show off to the people of Bath. As soon as we hit the town, we find a little pub for a celebratory pint before wandering our way to find the famous medallion.

In route to the abbey, you’ll also pass the Royal Crescent. The Royal Crescent is this magnificent building with Georgian architecture. People live there. I can’t even imagine what these places must cost. The Royal Crescent is about 500 feet long. It has about 30 terrace houses built in this huge crescent shape overlooking Bath. The first floor features over a hundred columns. It truly is quite striking. I would recommend staying at least a couple of days in Bath and enjoying one of the baths. People have been taking baths here in these invigorating springs since before the Roman times. The Romans made it popular. I had a conference for a week before this trip. I’ve been gone another two weeks on this trip. I’ve been on the road for three weeks and I have got to get back home. Unfortunately, that means that I did not get to truly explore the city of Bath. On the bright side, that gives me an excuse to come back again because it looks like a superb city. Simon and I wandered around a little bit doing some exploring, stopping for a bite to eat, stopping for a pint and soaking in the sites as best we could in the afternoon that we had.

When Simon and I finally made it to the medallion, it’s almost a little bit anticlimactic because on a trip like this, it truly is the journey. I felt the same way when I ended my West Highland Way walk. You’re like, “Where’s the band? Where’s the parade with all the trumpets and balloons?” You know you’ve done it but you’re surrounded by dozens if not hundreds of people all going about their way. They don’t even know the trail is there, most of them. In fact, when Simon was taking my “victory photo” of me kneeling down on the medallion, some people came to see, “What is this medallion and why has this crazy looking person doing like a victory, not a dance but victory gesture on top of it? It is quite fulfilling to know that you’ve hiked 100 miles. It’s not something a lot of people can do. This truly is a doable hike. Even with my heel issues, even with a cold and all that, on any given day, I’d give it a two out of five because it’s not that difficult. It’s the fact that you’re doing it day after day that I put it at a three. If you are at all in decent physical shape and you can hike for six or seven hours a day or walk six or seven hours a day, this is an eminently doable trip.

It’s a super starter trip because if you’re reading this podcast, you understand English, they speak English, although sometimes their words are different than ones that we would use. You still can get along fine communication wise. The food is similar to things that you’re used to eating. All the signage everywhere is in your language. The people are super friendly along the trail. This would be a great get your feet wet into adventure travel. Even if you’re a hardcore adventure traveler, the beautiful scenery, the people and the history are reason enough to give the Cotswold Way a try. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of the Cotswold Way and it’s inspired you to try your own Walking Holiday. If Cotswold is not your thing, I did put together an episode on The UK’s 10 Best Walking Holidays. I encourage you to try any one of those as well.

Particularly in Europe, they have trails everywhere. If England is not your bag, there are plenty of places. You want to go to Germany. You want to go to France. You want to go to Spain or Italy. Portugal, there are trails all over the place. I’ll be covering a lot of those in future episodes. If there’s one that you would like to see me cover sooner rather than later, please send me an email at Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com. I love getting your emails with feedback or suggestions all the time. It makes my day when I see an email come in from you. I encourage you to write to me to tell me about your trips, where you want to go and what other places you’d like me to cover. In the meantime, I will be back with another great adventure. Until then, adventure on.

 

Important Links:

• Part one of the Cotswold Way episode
• West Highland Way – previous episode
• Cotswold Way
• How I Built This with Guy Raz – Podcast Interview with Sir Dyson
• Mickledore
• The UK’s 10 Best Walking Holidays
• Kit@ActiveTravelAdventures.com

 

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!

• Here’s How »

Join the Active Travel Adventures Community:

• activetraveladventures.com
• Active Travel Adventures Facebook Page
• Active Travel Adventures Facebook Group
• Active Travel Adventures Twitter
• Active Travel Adventures Instagram
• Active Travel Adventures YouTube
• Kit Parks LinkedIn