Cleeve Hill to Leckhampton

June 4, 2013

Breakfast this morning was a bit different, because we were staying in a hotel with 14 rooms. We were sitting in a lovely conservatory room with a linen tablecloth and napkins. Still, the food was the same as in other B&B’s. Almost all of the guests were walkers, except for one man in a suit and tie along with his wife.

Our route today had us heading out the back garden and up onto Cleeve Hill. Christine had started a bit earlier than us, hoping her feet would survive the day, and Neil came with us as we made our way through the golf course and up to the trig point. The day was very beautiful with sunshine and blue skies, so the views were very good. Below was the city of Cheltenham, with the racecourse which was featured in so many of the Dick Francis novels which Rosemary had read. The racecourse looked so large that you could mistake it for a small airport.

We continued on to a nature reserve which was dedicated to butterfly diversity. And sure enough we did see several of the 30 species that are said to live there, and even managed to photograph some of them. For most of the morning we circled around Cheltenham, so we saw the racecourse from several angles, and closer to lunchtime we were walking through Dowdeswell Wood, which was carpeted with wild garlic. This led us downhill towards the reservoir. We didn’t go to the reservoir but instead stopped at Langett Walkers’ Oasis, where we had lemonade (a.k.a. 7-Up) and Neil and Christine had tea. The owners had previously run a B&B but now only did teas.

It was very pleasant sitting on the grass for our lunch, but we still had a long way to go, so off we went up the hill through Lineover Wood. This was hot work on this sunny day. We saw a deer in the wood, which bounded away quickly. We made a short detour to see the 400-year-old beech tree which is believed to be the largest in Britain, but generally we just carried on. Christine’s feet were still bothering her, so the two of us went on ahead along the escarpment, then down into some farms, then back up to Charlton King Common on the escarpment.

After checking the maps we were a little surprised to realize that our B&B was not near the Cotswold Way, but instead it was down at the bottom of Leckhampton Hill. And as we walked along Leckhampton Hill, we realized that we didn’t have a clear idea of how to get down into Leckhampton or how to find the B&B once we were there. We found some tracks going down, but they soon turned into informal goat tracks. Eventually we got all the way around to the Devil’s Chimney, which had a steep and official path down to the car park. From there we followed the road down into the town, and after a circuitous walk around the streets we finally arrived at the B&B at about 5:30 pm.

Our hosts Chris and Shelagh invited us in and offered us tea and scones, which we gratefully accepted. They were bird-watchers too and started telling us about their recent trip to the Danube Delta. Since we had been planning the same trip for next May, we were interested to hear about that.

Neil and Christine arrived at about 7 pm, but on foot, so her blisters must not have been too bad. Like us, they had had a difficult time navigating down from the escarpment. We had to get over to the pub before they stopped serving food, so we headed over there pretty quickly. They didn’t have much of a selection, and Rosemary got stuck with something very cheesy when she ordered the “pie of the day”.

Stanton to Cleeve Hill

June 3, 2013

When we got up this morning, the sky was blue and cloudless. Apparently the fine weather was supposed to continue for several more days, for which we were thankful. After paying the bill we set off to walk through the lovely small village of Stanton. The route took us along the main street past some beautiful old limestone houses with newly-blooming roses. Some of them had thatched roofs, and often there were thatch animals on the top of the roof. The house next to our B&B had a thatch kangaroo, and another had a thatch duck with ducklings.

After leaving the village we went through a field which had medieval ploughing humps. They had been formed because of the way people ploughed the fields 400 years ago, and now we were going up and down every six feet as we walked across them. Our next village was Stanway, and we idled our way through it too, looking at its lovely church and at the large Jacobean house named Stanway House. The latter has a water fountain which shoots 300 feet in the air, but since it wasn’t a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, unfortunately we didn’t see it in action.

Christine’s attempts to avoid using the broken toe had resulted in bruised soles, so at this point she headed along the direct route to Hailes while we and Neil toiled up and down the escarpment. At the top of the escarpment we passed by Stump’s Cross, which was a lump of rock which used to be the base of a cross. If you didn’t know that, you would have thought it was just a stray lump of concrete. We passed by a barn which was built on top of staddle stones and continued on to Beckbury Camp, an old Iron Age hill fort. All that remained now was a grassy mound. Finally we passed by a monument which was allegedly built on the spot where Thomas Cromwell is said to have sat and watched the destruction of Hailes Abbey before heading back down from the escarpment.

The descent was steep and rocky in places, but luckily it was quite short. Part of it was through a lovely wood with bluebells just opening. Just before we got to Hailes Abbey we met Christine, who was reading her book and resting her feet. We decided it would be interesting to have a look around the ruined abbey, since our Heritage Canada membership got us in for free. It’s unlikely that we would have paid admission to the ruins, considering we could see them as we walked along the road. The grounds were well maintained, and the gardeners had mowed the long grass into the shape of the original abbey, so with the help of interpretive signs we could imagine what had been there. That took us about half an hour, and then we decided to have lunch there.

After lunch we realized it was nearly 2 pm and we hadn’t even done half the day’s walk yet. So we set out at a fairly quick pace. But as we discovered later, Christine’s foot-sores had developed into blood blisters, so Neil put her into a taxi and sent her on to our destination. Meanwhile we didn’t want to be trailing in there after 6 pm, so we picked up the pace. First we passed through Winchcombe, which was a larger village than the previous ones, and then we started the climb up the hill to Belas Knap. This was an old burial site from about 5,500 years ago, which was even harder to imagine than the Castlerigg stone circle at Keswick. The mound had been excavated, and it was a very interesting site, not only for its history but also for its lovely view. We decided to sit and enjoy the area, so we had more tea and half a Mars bar each.

We carried on back down the escarpment, first steeply down through a wood and then gently down along a wooded trail. After passing Postlip Hall, an imposing manor which was mostly hidden by walls, we climbed up part of Cleeve Hill to the Cleeve Hill Golf Club where we could see both golfers and sheep on the course. Finally we could see the village of Cleeve Hill below us, so we found our way down to it and then made our way to the Cleeve Hill Hotel, which was actually a large B&B with 14 rooms. Our room was located at the top of the building, with a fantastic view over the valley below.

Our hostess had made dinner reservations at the Rising Sun hotel, because it was the only restaurant in the village. Unfortunately there was a busload of Japanese tourists ahead of us and the meal service was painfully slow. It took over an hour for our meal to arrive! The food was mediocre as well, and the portions were not as large as what we had become used to, but then it was very inexpensive. You get what you pay for.

Tomorrow is a much shorter walk, less than 10 miles compared to over 13 today. Hopefully Christine’s bleeding feet can be brought under control.

Chipping Campden to Stanton

June 2, 2013

Finally we were ready to start on the Cotswold Way! We packed our bags and left the larger ones downstairs to be picked up by the baggage transfer service, also making sure that Neil’s car was in the right place so that the people who were going to drive it to Bath could find it. But before starting out on the walk we had to make a side trip to the Ernest Wilson memorial garden. Wilson was a botanist who was born in Chipping Campden in 1876. He travelled throughout China, Japan, and Korea collecting plant specimens for various arboretums. He’s credited with introducing the kiwi fruit and the handkerchief tree to the wider world. The garden was small but beautifully laid out and it was a very peaceful place to visit.

We stopped briefly at Mile Zero, by the Town Hall, then set off out of the town. The first part of the trail had us climbing up to Dover’s Hill, where the Olimpick Games had taken place. From Dover’s Hill we had the same great view as before, since the day was mostly sunny again. Our route had us walking along a pathway which paralleled the road for a while and then went through fields, pastures, and forests with no serious ups and downs. Christine had taken a lower route, so as not to irritate her recently-broken toe, and we caught up with her at the county park at Fish Hill.

Soon we could see the Broadway Tower off in the distance and it wasn’t long before we were there. Contrary to some guidebooks there was a gate which provided access to it from the Way. The tower was built in 1799 as a folly for Lady Coventry, who made sure it was visible from everywhere around it. We didn’t really want to pay the money to go into the tower, but we did have a look around outside it.

As we walked down the hill from the tower a man, having seen the flags on our packs, asked if we were there for the Canadian airmen’s memorial. No, we said, what memorial? Well, apparently back in World War II three Canadian student airmen and their instructors died in a bomber crash somewhere in the area, and somebody was unveiling a memorial to them today, of all days! A couple of fields farther down we ran into a group of people gathered around the back of a truck. They were volunteers who were rebuilding a stone wall which had fallen into disrepair over the years, so we stopped and talked with them for a while.

On we went, down into Broadway. This is a picture postcard Cotswold town, with period buildings all along the high street. At the far end we reached the village green, where we stopped for lunch. It was pleasant sitting on the bench in the sunshine and watching all the people.

After lunch we headed out of the valley and up to the escarpment again, along paths and tracks through farm fields and small woods. The views were really good in all directions so the walk was very pleasant. It wasn’t long before we reached the top of Shenberrow Hill with its isolated farm and started down into Stanton. The descent down to Stanton was quite steep in places, but nothing too bad. We knew that our B&B was “first house on the left” and sure enough, as soon as we reached the paved road, there it was. At first we were unsure if we had the right place because there was no B&B sigh, but the name was correct. Coming out to greet us was a Jack Russell terrier whose name was Master Pip, and following him were our hosts who assured us that we were at the right place.

We had reserved a spot for dinner at 6:30 pm at the Mount Inn, which was just down the road and up the next road. It was the only pub in town, but nevertheless the food was excellent and the view was lovely.

Chipping Campden

June 1, 2013

This morning brought blue sky and sunshine, just like yesterday. Perhaps our weather luck was changing? That would be nice. Today’s festivities weren’t going to start until the afternoon, so after a very good breakfast we headed out. Neil had brought along a treasure hunt: there’s a company which produces cards with a series of directions to follow, features to find, and clues to solve while walking around a particular place. This one was for Chipping Campden.

 

Our first direction was to go to the Tourist Information centre, and then the treasure hunt led us through the village, past some lovely thatched houses, out into the fields, then past the church and back to the High Street. Halfway through, the directions led us right past our B&B, so we stopped there for tea before carrying on with the second half. There were about 20 clues in all, which had us looking for things like dates on various buildings and names of people and houses. It was an interesting exercise because it led us to find obscure but interesting things. For example one clue led us to an old mill in which there were silversmiths working in a room full of silver-working tools of all kinds.

 

After lunch we went over to the High Street to watch the Scuttlebrook Wake festivities. We were just in time to see the new Queen of the May and her attendants arriving on a cart pulled by the Morris men. After the crowning of the new Queen she handed out the prizes to the winners of the competitions for fancy dress, parade floats and shop window displays. Then the entertainment began, starting with school children doing country dancing and continuing with other school children dancing around the maypole. They were mostly pretty good, but one little boy managed to mix up the coloured tapes on two separate occasions. Two ladies standing next to us commented that every generation makes the same mistakes. And finally there were the Morris men, who were adults who had obviously practiced a lot.

We walked up through the fun fair and bought some ice creams, then went over to the Court Barn museum. The museum was quite small, but it provided quite a bit of information about people who were influential in the Arts and Crafts movement in the Chipping Campden area. Finally we went down the High Street looking in the shops again, and Rosemary bought a dress for a wedding we’re invited to later in the year. They only had two of the dress in the shop, one an XL size and the other one on the mannequin in the window which surprisingly turned out to be her size.

Meanwhile Neil and Christine had made dinner reservations at the Red Lion, since the town was still quite busy, so we had no trouble getting a meal. The dinner there was very good.

Olimpick Games

May 31, 2013

Enough of the North, now we were off to the South. Neil and Christine had said they would pick us up between 9:30 and 10 am, but we had no sooner said goodbye to David and Alice than there they were in the car outside. Perfect timing by all. Neil loaded our bags into the car (his new car!) and then we were off down the M6. After crawling through the usual slow-downs near Birmingham we decided to just pull into a service centre and have lunch. The weather was quite warm so we sat on the grass verge of the car park with numerous cars and trucks driving by. Christine had packed food so we had a good selection: Melton Mowbray pork pie (very yummy), carrots and raisins, Neil’s homemade bread and tea.

 

Later, after turning off the M5, we stopped at a farm shop for tea and a snack, then went for a short drive through some Cotswold villages before arriving in Chipping Camden. Neil’s satnav had brought us to George Lane, but to the wrong part of it. However that was easily remedied by a phone call to our hostess Carole. Cornerways B&B was very close to High Street on the other part of George Lane. Our rooms were very spacious; in fact we had the whole second floor to ourselves, divided into two very large rooms. We settled in and then went out to look around.

 

The town was very crowded, but luckily the Eight Bells pub had a table, and they did a pretty good dinner. Then we went over to the town centre to get tickets for the games. We decided to pay £1 extra to take the shuttle bus up Dover Hill because we weren’t quite sure how far the walk would be, and also because Christine was still suffering from a broken toe. And luckily the next bus that was leaving had just four free spaces available.

 

By the time we went through the gates on Dover’s Hill things were in full swing. The first thing we came to was a raptor display, where you could have your photo taken with a Bald Eagle on your arm. We forgot to ask how it came to be in Britain. Then there was a group of women doing fancy riding tricks on an extremely large horse, and a brass band, and then there were Morris men dancing. Besides that there was the usual array of carnival stands selling hot dogs and candy floss and so on. We joined Neil and Christine to watch the field events from a very steep grass hill. Already there were people competing at events like tug-of-war, standing long jump, and caber-tossing.

 

Soon the main event, the shin-kicking competition, began. The competitors were required to hold onto each other’s shoulders and try to wrestle each other to the ground. The difference between this and ordinary wrestling is that kicking the opponent in the shins is permitted. Some of the early heats were decided very quickly but others went on for several minutes. The winner of the long-running heats was then in the final against the defending champion, who proceeded to win easily. All of these events were done very informally but it was very entertaining to watch.

 

By now it was getting dark, and it was time to light the Dover Games torch. This was a bale of hay in a large torch-shaped basket which burned for quite a while as the sky became darker. Then there was a surprisingly good fireworks display before the torchlight parade began. Almost everybody had bought torches to be set on fire, and it was a very festive walk down the hill led by the brass band. It was quite something to see the stream of hundreds of torches flowing down the country lane. Yes, they were real flaming torches in the hands of hundreds of people of all kinds, but as far as we could tell the evening concluded safely.

Carlisle

May 30, 2013

Having finished the Cumbria Way, we had scheduled a free day in Carlisle. So after breakfast we got directions to the nearest service laundry—there was only one left in the whole city—and headed over there with our dirty clothing. It was not that far away, over on Wigton Road, so we had to pass by the McVities biscuit factory on the way there.

Our host David told us that the plant had been sold, but the buyers couldn’t close it as they had originally planned. That was because the Carr’s Table Water biscuits are manufactured there. The buyers tried to replicate the biscuits elsewhere, but they couldn’t. Was it the table water? Or the brick oven? Or both, or something else? They couldn’t tell, so they had to keep the factory open. Today they were making chocolate biscuits, as we could tell by the delicious smell as we walked by.

The service laundry lady said she would wash, dry, and fold our clothes for £10, so we said yes and went off to do our sight-seeing. First stop was Carlisle Castle. Half of the castle is still actively used by the military, but the other, older, half is preserved as a museum. Since Carlisle was far from London and close to Scotland, there was a lot of raiding back and forth in the old days. And so a lot of the castle’s history is based on that. The rooms in the oldest part of the castle were cold stone boxes with huge fireplaces, and you could see that you needed a large fire to heat those rooms. Another part of the museum was about the Jacobite Rebellion and the bitter fighting and reprisals which took place in and around Carlisle. And finally there was a building devoted to the history of the regiments based in Carlisle, which was crammed full of interesting stuff but with too many cases of medals.

Our laundry would not be ready until after 1 pm, so we wandered around Carlisle doing some souvenir shopping. We were looking for something like place mats with pictures of the Lake District on them. But none were to be found; in fact Carlisle doesn’t have any souvenir shops whatsoever, at least not that we could find. We asked at the Tourist Information where the actual end of the Cumbria Way was supposed to be and the answer was: There isn’t a specific end point. Sometimes people end at the castle, sometimes at the market cross.

We collected our laundry and headed back to the B&B with it. After eating a small lunch we went back to the town centre to visit the cathedral. It is a lovely building with a stunning vaulted ceiling painted blue with gold stars. We had been there last year, but at that time half of it had been blocked off. So it was nice to visit again and look around the whole building.

We had decided to eat at Alexandros, the Greek restaurant, again. It was the closest restaurant to our B&B, but the food was also very good. Today was mid-week, so they had specials on the menu. Besides our main dishes we shared a starter and a dessert. As we were leaving the owner spoke with us briefly, and he seemed to remember our party of 6 from when we visited a year ago!

Caldbeck to Carlisle

May 29, 2013

Our last day on the Cumbria Way! After a very nice breakfast sitting by the patio doors watching the birds at the feeders, we organized our bags and went on our way. Today’s journey would be about the same length as yesterday’s, but it would be mainly flat, following the River Cardew to Carlisle.

Before leaving Caldbeck we found a footpath to The Howk, so we made a slight diversion to see the remains of the old bobbin mill ruins. The Whelpo Beck passes through a narrow limestone gorge here, so it was the perfect place to build factories in the 19^th century. Now they are all gone, with only the bobbin mill’s ruins left. The walk along the river was lovely, with the scent of wild garlic in the air.

Back in the village we found the waymarks and continued on. The weather was cloudy again, with the leaden sky we had become used to. We passed St. Kentigern’s church and then headed out of the village into Parsons Park. There was a variety of trails including dry forest trails, wet and muddy riverside trails, and sheep pastures. There was some climbing and descending, but really not much in the way of elevation. In one sheep pasture we got to the far side and there was no gate leading out. So we looked around. Higher up there was a path, but it led into trees and you had to crouch to go along it. So we backtracked and looked even higher—nope, only gorse bushes up there. After about 15 minutes of getting out the map and discussing the possibilities we turned around and there was a large gate which was impossible to miss! We had a good laugh about that, but it was the last drama of the day.

For the next few hours we followed the river through sheep and cattle pastures, watching our steps to dodge the splats. After some time we came upon a large limestone rock conveniently situated by the river, so we ate our lunch there. We looked back for a last view of the fells, but Blencathra and High Pike were still shrouded in cloud. Goodbye, Lake District!

We continued on with the river on one side, passing Rose Castle, which has been home to the Bishops of Carlisle since the 13^th century. Up to now we had only been going through sheep pastures, but now we were passing cattle. Whereas sheep bound out of your way, cows tend to stand and stare at you or even walk towards you. But they weren’t aggressive, only curious. At Dalston we had a few minutes of rain, but there were also public toilets which we ducked into. Here we met a couple of Americans from Missouri who were walking the Cumbria Way. As we passed through Dalston we noticed that they were having to stop and look for the right way to go at the same places we had to, but they were taking longer to arrive at the correct decision.

From Dalston the trail was a paved cycle way which was easy to follow, and we soon outdistanced the two Americans. We walked for two hours straight on the cycle way, which was fast and convenient but took its toll on our feet and legs. Approaching Carlisle we recognized the cathedral and the castle, and then we found some very new-looking waymarks for the Cumbria Way. We followed them past the castle and then down Castle Street, but then… nothing. No more waymarks, nothing to mark the end. Maybe tomorrow we’ll inquire at the tourist information centre.

We found our way easily to Cambro House, the same place we had stayed last year while walking Hadrian’s Wall, and were greeted by David. Our bags were waiting for us so we changed out of our somewhat muddy clothing and then headed up the road to Alexandros, the Greek restaurant that we had eaten at last year, for a very filling dinner.