After our via Francigena walk ended in Rome Lisa went to Croatia to send a week with an old friend of hers there. I flew back to Gatwick then trained to the little town of Chipping Campden in the central UK where I started my seven day, 165 km walk on the Cotswold Way to Bath.
Overall I would recommend this walk. Not terribly difficult. Very pretty. Good accommodation.
Day 1 - Chipping Campden to Broadway 10 km
Spent last night in the Volunteer Inn (B&B with pub) and they also organizeday the baggage transfer. I decided to opt for this luxury because I was a little tired after the VF where we did carry our full packs and for the CW I had pretty long stretches each day. Except today because I was unable to get a room in the village of Stanton which is about 20 km down the road so only walking 10 km to Broadway. This will make the next day a long one. The upside is that Broadway is a larger village with an assortment of shops and cafes to check out.
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| The full english! |
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| Market hall in Chipping Campden |
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| Official starting point of Cotswold Way |
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| Fans |
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| Tea and Cake break |
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| My digs in Broadway |
Day 2 - Broadway to Cleeve Hill 26 km
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| Stanton |
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| Just cows |
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| Love these giant elms |
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| Golfers mixing it up with sheep on Cleeve Hill |
Day 3 - Cleeve Hill to Birdip 23 km
Day 4 - Birdip to King Stanley's 27 km
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| Roman Villa excavations |
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| Looking down the very steep cheese rolling competition hill |
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| Tea stop at Painswick |
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| Painswick |
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| Sid and Sue from Alaska |
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| Crossing the canal at Stroud |
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| Dinner at King Stanley's Inn |
Day 5 - King Stanley to Wotten-Under-Edge 24km
Started off the day blissfully walking into the variant of the CW and getting myself kms and a couple of hours off route. Retraced and with help from locals managed to get back on track
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| Trail food |
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| Inside the earthen walls of a massive iron age fort |
Day 7 - Tormarton to Bath - 24 km
The day after reaching bath I took the train to London where I met up with Lisa for four days of touristy things.
Cheers!