Cotswold Way - Winchcombe to Dowdeswell

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.

Where are the closest hills to me?

At the beginning of 2009 I wondered where the nearest hill above one thousand feet was to me and after a study of a road map I decided it was Alport Height in Derbyshire, so I did a walk to the hill that I found is adorned with many aerials. Last year during the darkest days of lockdown, I was wondering if with the aid of Bing Maps I might more accurately be able to determine the location of the nearest one thousand foot hill to me, so I calculated the distance from my house, just outside Leicester, to Alport Height and other contending hills. After much hunting I discovered that I had been right twelve years before as Alport Height is less than forty miles from my house whereas all the other possible hills were more than forty miles away. Having determined that, I started looking at hills that are the closest to other heights. Going metric, Alport Height is the closest hill above three hundred metres, so I started looking for a hill above four hundred metres. Eventually I found a ridge called Morridge on the southern edge of the Peak District whose southern end has a trig point at the height of 405 metres. This is less than fifty miles from my house, but it would not make for a good walk as a road runs along the top of the ridge.

Moving up to five hundred metres high I didn’t have to look far to discover the highest point on the Roaches is 505 metres and this is a brilliant place to walk having been several times over the years including both in 2015 and last year when I included a visit to the fabulous fissure called Lud’s Church that I remember visiting when I was a child. The six hundred metre height is easily satisfied by the highest point in the Peak District, Kinder Scout, which tops at 636 metres and is just over sixty miles from my house. I have been over Kinder Scout many times since my first ascent in 1998 during my first walking holiday and most recently, in 2020, I navigated across the Kinder plateau to the highest point on the vast moor that sits at the top of Kinder Scout. To find the nearest seven hundred metre height I had to look in a completely different direction and head west to the Brecon Beacons where the eastern ridge of the Black Mountains reaches its highest point of 703 metres on an unnamed spot south of Hay Bluff. I first passed over this point in 1999 on a walk that I have since considered to be my first mountain walk and I have been over it many times since including whenever I do that exact same walk again in honour of that first mountain walk. That ridge is about ninety miles from my house and you don't have to go far to find the nearest eight hundred metre height.

Towards the western edge of the Black Mountains is Waun Fach, the highest point in the Black Mountains, but it is a boggy lump with no redeeming qualities. Fortunately the much shapelier neighbouring peak of Pen y Gadair Fawr also tops at eight hundred metres and is slightly closer to my house at about ninety five miles away. This has a much smaller, better defined top with some rock outcrops and is a more satisfying target. I climbed this peak on a cold day in February 2005 while in 2019 I approached it from the south along the ridge above the Mynydd Du Forest. I love the Black Mountains and its status as being the closest mountains to Leicester is one of the reasons why it was where that I carried out much of my earliest mountain walking. The highest point in the Brecon Beacons is less than nine hundred metres high so for that height we need to look elsewhere, but still in Wales. The Berwyn range missed out on the eight hundred metre title by the smallest amount, but there is a range of hills not far away from there that tops nine hundred metres. Aran Fawddwy doesn't reach three thousand feet so is ignored by many walkers, but at 905 metres high it should not be ignored. I climbed the ridge from near the southern end of Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) in 2004 on a Bank Holiday Monday in excellent weather and I had a fabulous walk where I hardly saw another soul. It is a shame I have never been back as I have only good memories of this awesome walk.

The one thousand metre height is not crossed anywhere in England and only four mountains in Wales achieve that goal. There is not much difference in the distance from my house to these mountains as they are all about 125 miles away, but Carnedd Llewellyn edges it and is a fine mountain to climb. I have climbed it many times starting with my first ascent in 2003 through to my most recent in 2019 and thoroughly deserved to be singled out in my series on great mountains. To continue this search for the closest mountains to me I now have to head into Scotland and in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park is the nearest eleven hundred metre height upon Stob Binnein, though we have had to travel a long way to get there as it is almost three hundred miles away from Leicester. I climbed Stob Binnein in 2005 along with its slightly higher, though further north, neighbour, Ben More, in poor, windy weather. It was not the best weather to appreciate this pair of mountains, so a return visit in better weather is called for, though I would have enjoyed the walk more if I had done it in the opposite direction, anticlockwise around Coire Chaorach.

The closest twelve hundred metre mountain is not far from Stob Binnein, though it lies outside the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, and is Ben Lawers, which lies just over three hundred miles away. I climbed this mountain in 2007 in terrible weather coming from the east on a round of the hills north of Ben Lawers. The weather the day after was fabulous, so after walking along the Tarmachan ridge I climbed Ben Lawers again, this time from the west. Only two mountains in Britain are more than thirteen hundred metres high: Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui. They are both about 325 miles away from me, but it is the smaller of the two that takes the prize. I climbed Ben Macdui in 2005 enjoying great weather that I'm glad I took advantage of as on all subsequent visits bad weather kept me away until finally last year I managed to return to Ben Macdui and once again I was fortunate to have excellent weather for the ascent. It was fun calculating the nearest mountains to me, but during lockdown where I really wanted to be was at the top of those mountains. I missed hillwalking during lockdown so I was glad when last year I was finally able to climb these iconic mountains again. I hope I am able to do so again this year and to again experience the awesome feeling of being at the top of a great mountain with a view that stretches over many other mountains.