Cotswolds Day 1 – Cheltenham to Winchcombe 9/20/24

Friday, September 20, 2024

8 miles

After taking the train into Cheltenham Spa from London, we woke up the next morning and set off on our first day of hiking in the Cotswolds. We left the BnB and headed north through the town, following the app the tour company recommended. This was similar to what I use for the PCT, essentially following a GPS line and checking it every once in a while to make sure you are on the right path.

We started out going through a park with an old Pump House and then cut behind some houses, following the Public Footpath signs.

We soon found ourselves walking a trail next to the “Racetrack”, which is a huge horse racing track, but not how we think of them in America. Much more “equestrian” I guess, with jumps and such.

The trails are fairly well marked, but because there are so many intersecting ones, there are dozens of different blazes, depending on where you are. The official Cotswold Way blaze is an acorn, but we weren’t sticking strictly to the Cotswold Way; we had a mix of trails. GPS was essential, though many of the trails converged back with each other, so even if you got off track, you would mostly stay in the general direction you were aiming for.

After the Racetrack, we got back into a neighborhood before crossing a busy road and then started climbing through a verdant pasture. Up, up, up. One of the biggest and longest hills of the entire hike.

The climb was long and when we got to the top of the plateau (called Cleeve Common), the weather had taken a turn and we donned our rain gear, though it never got too bad. Just cold, windy, and foggy more than anything. We walked a flat trail among the sheep and blackberries for a mile or so until we started to head back down the other side, towards Winchcombe.

Towards the end of the hike, we came upon the Belas Knap Long Barrow, which is an ancient burial mound from over 5,000 years ago. England is old, but man, this is REALLY old.

We continued downwards through fields and orchards and reached the town of Winchcombe, just before the weather unleashed. We actually caught a taxi (no Uber here) to take us up to the town of Broadway to stay the night, but would return the next morning to Winchcombe to continue our hike.