Hiking the Cotswolds -- Tourism at 3 MPH

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Lava Lamp

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Wakefield, MA
The Cotswolds are a range of rolling hills well to the west of London. On a trip to England in August my wife, my son Chris and I spent three days there hiking from one bed-and-breakfast to another. Our bags moved by cab ahead of us as we followed a series of trails that took us through villages and over fields at the rate of about 15 miles per day.

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If our room at The Old Bake House had a right angle, I never found it.

The beginning and end point was a 600-year-old guest house in Chipping Campden. Like all the villages we visited, this little gem had streets barely wide enough for a single car, buildings that had been antiques when Nelson bested the French at Trafalgar, and a name worthy of a Monty Python skit. The first day’s hike had us taking The Monarch’s Way, a public footpath tracing the escape route pursued by Charles II in 1651 after losing the Battle of Worcester. The trailhead was an archway in an ancient building. The trail itself snaked through streets and lanes and over an endless series of fields to Moreton-in-Marsh, Longborough and our first day’s goal, Stowe-on-the-Wold, which boasts England’s oldest hotel, a claim supported by carbon-dated timbers that were felled a thousand years ago.

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Ever seen a trailhead like this?

We had to pay close attention to avoid losing the trail, which we did at least once a day. The footpath was marked with 5-inch diameter disks attached to fences and walls, plus occasional fingerposts. I clung to an awkwardly folded 4-foot by 3-foot map showing the route laid out over 5-meter contour lines. Of much more use were the 13 single-spaced pages of detailed directions that we got from the company that packaged the tour. How detailed? Consider this paragraph, which describes a part of the trail we came to just minutes after starting out:

“Here the path divides. Take the right-hand fork that runs past a pole supporting overhead power lines to a kissing gate leading into the grounds of a private house. Go through the gate and continue straight on between trees on your left and a fence on your right to join the drive in front of the house. Just beyond the house bear left (signed ‘footpath - this way only’) through another kissing gate into an alleyway leading into the village of Broad Campden. Follow this past the Quaker Meeting House to a junction with the main road running through the village.”

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My wife and son are distant dots in the upper left of the field. This is an unusual scene in the Cotswolds, where people rarely outnumber sheep.

We quickly became familiar with “kissing gates” and “stiles,” mechanisms for letting people -- but not sheep or cows -- pass from one field to another. Other British terminology took longer to grasp. When we saw a street sign that said “CATS’ EYES REMOVED,” I had to wonder what kind of country we’d come to. It turns out that “cats’ eyes” are reflectors embedded in the centerline of the road.

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This is the Gold Standard of Stiles. Note the metal studs for traction on the steps, the doggie door on the right and the circular way markers identifying two footpaths.

Day 2 took us from Stow-on-the-Wold to Winchcombe with a stop at the Plough Inn at Ford for a “ploughman’s lunch,” the ubiquitous pub meal consisting of a hunk of bread, a hunk of cheese and variable extras like a pickled onion and a dollop of chutney. This time we were following the Gloucestershire Way. We came upon a pair of deer in one field. In the evening we looked out our B&B’s window to see a fox perched on a stone wall. It was hard to find a spot in the Cotswolds without stone walls. Unlike their loosely-piled cousins in New England, these walls were stacked with nearly uniform, flat, mostly yellowish stone. Between villages we walked for hours without seeing a single human being. With so few civilians to complain, the area naturally attracted RAF pilots, who practiced low-altitude maneuvers in their jet fighters.

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The trail takes you from wide-open fields in the countryside to tight corners in the villages.

The third day we took a public footpath called the Cotswold Way from Winchcombe to Stanton, Broadway and finally back to Chipping Campden. We were footsore by now and paused in the afternoon to enjoy traditional British tea and scones at an outdoor cafe by the common in Broadway before tackling an imposing obstacle. Though topping out at only 1,024 feet in elevation, Broadway Hill offered false summits that would have done a 4,000-footer proud. It was capped by a tower built in 1798 to resemble a Norman keep; visible for miles, the faux castle offered fabulous views in all directions. This was one of several great viewpoints we came upon during our trip, including a hilltop from which Thomas Cromwell had supervised the dismantling of an abbey whose ruins we passed and the remains of a Neolithic fort.

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Broadway Hill Tower.

Some words of advice for anyone interested in hiking the Cotswolds: First, leave your heavy boots at home and bring a pair of good running shoes. I’d never do a summer hike in the Whites without my leather Asolos, but they left me in pain on this terrain, while my New Balance runners offered all the protection I needed. Second, though the weather cooperated with us, this is England, so expect to get wet and bring clear plastic to carry your maps and directions.
 
That is just the neatest place. Thanks for posting about it. Nice pics! :)
 
I clung to an awkwardly folded 4-foot by 3-foot map showing the route laid out over 5-meter contour lines.

Those OS (Ordnance Survey) maps pack in a lot of detail, do they not?

They show everything -- almost every rock, tree, and puddle.
 
Nice!!!! I really enjoyed your report! I'm a fan of anything so historic from northwestern Europe and America. I'd like to do your route one day :)
 
Love it! Your report brought back good memories from a similar trek done many long years ago (well before digital cameras!).
Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the memories!
 
South Coast 2006

Very beautiful indeed. I did some caravaning in the Plymouth region in 2006. Can you give us an idea of the cost of staying at these Inns ? I'd be interested in going to that area. I hiked up the the highest point on the south coast on a beautiful April day. Most of my stay was rain free.

Nice piks ...
 
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