Cotswold Way - Barrow Wake to Painswick

Saturday 9th October 2021

Four months had passed since I had last done a section of the Cotswold Way before I finally returned to Barrow Wake to continue my trek. Having to work on a Saturday prevented me from being able to do any lengthy walks throughout the summer and even into the autumn it seemed as if I had fallen out of the habit of doing a long walk on a Saturday. Eventually good weather roused me into making the effort to go for a walk despite still having to work. Once I had impatiently finished work I rushed off down the motorway to return to Barrow Wake, a vantage point on the Cotswold escarpment that looks out over the Vale of Gloucester, where I reached on my previous stage of the trail back in June. Leaving the car park I headed off along the Cotswold Way immediately enjoying the morning sunshine, but soon I disappeared under trees that would be the norm for much of this stage of the Cotswold Way. Wide tracks led my way throughout the woodland, which provided me with very relaxing, if slightly dull, walking as I strolled along the footpath, though there was a significant amount of undulation that meant I still had to put in quite a bit of effort.

Dappled sunlight coming through the trees produced some lovely scenes that made the walk a pleasure and carried me along, but it wasn’t too long before the trail turned westwards and sunk further below the top of the escarpment leaving me in shadow on the northern slopes of Witcombe Wood. However, thanks to the unseasonably warm weather and the undulating path I had soon stripped down to a tee shirt and was enjoying the walk as the miles slowly passed by until on reaching a road at the foot of Cooper’s Hill I came out of the woodland. Soon, I came off the road and onto a path that took me steeply up the hill to where the view north was revealed over Brockworth on the outskirts of Gloucester. This was a rare break in the tedium of endless woodland but was soon over as I plunged into Brockworth Wood and from there I continued into Upton Wood and Buckholt Wood, which is part of the vast Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods National Nature Reserve, which I would be seeing more of later in my walk.

When I eventually passed out of the Nature Reserve I came out of the trees and onto the open grassland of Painswick Golf Course. This was slightly annoying as it was not the first time on the Cotswold Way that I had encountered an open common where I should have had freedom to roam, but in practice I didn’t because it is a golf course where I had to be careful to ensure I wasn’t hit by a golf ball. Keeping to the waymarked path as much as possible I missed the top of Painswick Beacon and followed a track that took me onto the road that divides the course in half. The trail continues beyond there through woodland that lines the edge of the golf course and eventually brought me to the club house, but when I checked my map I discovered that I had missed a turning somewhere and was no longer on the Cotswold Way. After studying my map I decided to keep to the road heading from the club house, passing a cemetery on my right until the Cotswold Way merged with the road that I was already on and led me all the way into the town of Painswick where I had my lunch.

I was now almost half way along the Cotswold Way and I had reached the end of the trail for this day, so now I needed to find my own way back to Barrow Wake. Leaving the town I took a path down into the Painswick Valley where I found a pretty, little stream before climbing out of the valley onto a road that led me into the quaint little village of Sheepscombe. At the end of the road out of the village I plunged once more into woodland that is part of the Cotswold Commons and Beechwoods National Nature Reserve for a prolonged walk through the vast wood that must look spectacular if only a good vantage point could be found, but I never found one. With nothing to see except the trees, I made my way slowly along the bridleway gradually climbing higher into the valley until I eventually reached the top of the path out of Workman’s Wood and onto a road. At a pub I turned onto a bridlepath that took me down into the smaller Climberwell Wood, but not for long before continued north into Hazel Hanger Wood until eventually I reached the woodland at the top of the escarpment that I had passed through earlier.

A steep, slippery descent brought me back onto the Cotswold Way, which I followed retracing my steps all the way back to the car park. Due to the many undulations in the path, this was a very exhausting but satisfying walk. It was fantastic to get out again and do a long walk, enjoying the warm weather and a great relief to finally return to the Cotswold Way, which I had been putting off for too many months over the summer. Unfortunately, I was getting further and further away from my home so I was now on the edge of how far one can reasonably drive there and back in one day. Whenever I do return to the Cotswold Way I know I will enjoy it as this had so far been a pleasing series of walks and I look forward to continuing my trek along the western escarpment of the Cotswolds.

The Roaches and Lud's Church

Saturday 17th July 2021

After my walk in June last year on the Cotswold Way, I had to start working Saturday mornings, which reduced my available time for a walk. By the time I had finished working there wasn’t enough time left to drive all the way over to Gloucestershire and do the next stage of the Cotswold Way, so therefore my walking over the summer was reduced to short walks in Leicestershire. The only walk I did last summer outside of the county was in the Peak District when I visited the Roaches and Lud's Church. I did a lot of walking in the Peak District in 2020 when I was stuck at home and the only walking I could do was day trips and during those walks I did many of the best walks in the park. However, this was one place that I hadn’t returned to and was where I now ended up having been pushed into doing a walk by my colleague from work with whom I have done several walks including in 2017 up Scafell Pike. He was in favour of going up Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District, but I eventually changed it to the Roaches since it is a lot closer and wouldn’t take so long to get to, which was important given the shortened time available. Nevertheless, I got up extra early to get my work completed as soon as possible before my colleague picked me up to drive us to the Peak District.

I had previously done a walk over the Roaches in 2015 and this was a shortened version of that. We parked in the same place, below Hen Cloud and as we were putting on our packs my colleague realised that he had forgotten to bring any water. This was a big problem as it was going to be a very hot day with clear blue skies overhead, and even though he thought he’d be alright it wasn’t long before he realised he was going to have a problem. I had water to spare with me, but no container that he could drink from. Leaving that problem until later we set off up the track that goes to Roaches Hall and soon came off onto a narrow path that climbs steeply up the hillside towards Hen Cloud. This was an entertaining climb that tested both of us as we climbed up past rocks that are popular with rock climbers until eventually we reached the top of Hen Cloud where we were able to enjoy stunning views south towards Tittesworth Reservoir and north to the southern tip of the Roaches. After a while spent admiring the view and catching our breath, we set off north across the gap between Hen Cloud and the Roaches before taking the path that passes through the woodland below crags that were being climbed as we passed.

With hindsight, it may have been better if we had taken that route in descent, but soon we had climbed up onto the ridge where we stopped once more to admire the tremendous view west before slowly making our way along the ridge until eventually we reached the trig point that marks the highest point on the Roaches. A steady descent brought us down to a minor road where we found a discarded plastic bottle that we picked up thinking that it may help with our water problem. Continuing along the now broader, less dramatic ridge we eventually made our way to a junction where we turned right onto a gradually descending path that that was lined with bilberries. These were too tempting to ignore and my colleague eagerly ate loads perhaps thinking they would make up for his lack of water. Continuing along the path we entered Forest Wood and eventually reached the entrance to Lud’s Church, which is a chasm with sheer rock faces that were covered in ferns and mosses due to the damp conditions. We found there was a remarkable big temperature difference between the hot weather outside and inside the cold, sheltered chasm.

I was enthused by the surroundings and explored many of the side branches to see where they went leaving my colleague to take the regular path out at the far end while I clambered through a narrow opening into the woodland so when I eventually found my colleague he was surprised see me come from a completely different direction to the main outlet. As we resumed our walk along the footpath through the delightful woodland, my colleague decided that he really needed a drink so after washing out the plastic bottle that we had found I filled it up from my water bladder. Our route now turned uphill at a time when we really could have done without it as it was now getting very hot. The route I had devised was deeply flawed in that the Roaches had to be climbed twice including at the end of the walk when we were both tired, especially my colleague who was less used to walking. Slowly we climbed back up to the top of the ridge and even more slowly stumbled back up to the trig point. Beyond that the walking was much easier as the slow descent along the top of the Roaches took us back past the stunning cliff edges and their great views.

Near the southern end we ignored both the gentler path below the crags that we had taken earlier and the path that circles wide around the crags in order to tackle them direct. This would have been better done in ascent and not when we were tired, but although my colleague did slip at one point it was harmless and we both safely reached the bottom and we were able to make the final descent onto the road. The walk that I did in 2015 was much longer having been extended all the way along the valley to Danebridge, but in the hot weather and with my colleague’s lack of water it was better to cut the walk short. We had stunning views all day and it was great to enjoy the sunshine on a stunning ridge that was a joy to walk along, both ways.