Saturday 24th April 2021
Last Easter I started walking the Cotswold Way as a series of day walks and after two days I had reached the small market town of Winchcombe. I was eager to continue the trail, so it wasn’t long before I was back in Winchcombe enjoying fabulous blue skies although initially with a bit of a chill in the air as I set off out of the town on the route of the Cotswold Way climbing the hill out of the valley. On crossing a road I entered a wood and was immediately greeting by gorgeous woodland flowers including dog’s mercury, bluebells and celandines. I soon passed through this wood and continued to climb until the gradient thankfully eased and I was walking beside a delightful wood that was overflowing with wild flowers, especially bluebells that looked fabulous even though it was a little early in the season for them to be at their best. At the ancient burial mound of Bela Knap Long Barrow I turned right away from the wood and across the hilltop before turning right again and entering another wood. Turning right yet again, I descended steeply through Breakheart Plantation into the valley of the River Isbourne where I came across a field liberally decorated with cowslips that were a joy to behold.
After crossing the valley and passing the grand, old buildings of Postlip Hall I entered the open upland of Cleeve Common where I had superb views across the Severn Valley, but I was irritated to discovery that much of the common has been ruined by a golf course. Fortunately, the Cotswold Way manoeuvres around the Golf Club with many signposts that directed me away from danger as I slowly climbed the hill with improving views behind me until I eventually reached the trig point and viewfinder at the 317 metre top of Cleeve Hill, that is the highest point on the whole trail. The highest point in the Cotswolds is much further back across the common but the Cotswold Way does not reach it. Instead, it keeps to the western edge of Cleeve Common as the amazing views continued across the broad valley while I left Cleeve Common and entered Prestbury Hill Nature Reserve. Cowslips now littered the grassy slopes as I continued south on the Cotswold Way through stunning surroundings that entranced me until eventually on leaving the reserve the terrain deteriorated and I ended up on a road.
Two miles of dull walking followed until after passing Upper Colgate Farm I came to the edge of Dowdeswell Wood where the Cotswold Way just follows this edge of the wood steeply down to Dowdeswell Reservoir and ignores the wood itself. However, the delights on the narrow strip between the path and outside the wood more than made up for not entering the wood as here I found wild garlic carpeting the bank and lower down bluebells shone brightly in the sunshine. This absolute delight accompanied me all the way down to the reservoir and from there I made my way onto the busy A40 road and the lowest point on the Cotswold Way since I had left Winchcombe. I decided this would be a good place to leave the trail for the day so I headed down the road into the city of Cheltenham soon leaving the road to cross the River Chelt and join the route of the Cheltenham Circular Footpath.
This largely kept me away from the houses and took me on some interesting paths notably beside Ham Brook until I reached Noverton where I left the footpath and climbed back up the escarpment. It was gruelling having to do such a steep climb this late in the walk, but I had no choice as I had to get back over Cleeve Hill. The radio masts at the top of the hill seemed to be teasing me as I toiled away slowly climbing tedious grassy slopes that were waterlogged and with no sign of a path, which just made the climb even tougher. Eventually I found a way through and back into Prestbury Hill Nature Reserve where I was once more greeted by many cowslips, which enabled me to keep going all the way up to the road at the top with the radio masts not far away. My plan from there was to follow the Winchcombe Way back, but first I wanted to reach the highest point in the Cotswolds which was a short distance away beside a fence and is marked by a trig point, but the terrain is so flat at this point it hardly merits attention.
Crossing the broad plateau I joined the Winchcombe Way and following that down I was soon joined by the Cotswold Way crossing farmland back to Bela Knap Long Barrow. The Winchcombe Way later parted company with the Cotswold Way and I kept to the former past Wadfield Farm and all the way down the hill into Winchcombe. The steep climb up Cleeve Hill had drained all the energy out of me leaving me really tired for the long descent back into Winchcombe so I hardly noticed the passing scenery, but the best had already been seen on the way out. The weather was fabulous for this walk and it helped to make the many wildflowers that I saw look fabulous. It was great to be walking in such good weather and with far-reaching views across the Severn Valley I really enjoyed seeing all the wonderful woodland plants that never failed to delight me.
No comments:
Post a Comment