Cotswold Way

Broadway → Winchcombe

Distance: 12.24 miles
Ascent: 505 metres
Duration: 4 hours 25 minutes

Back on the horse
« Not walked | Not walked »

We're back on the Cotswold Way after a couple of months' break. At one point we passed a man struggling to get back on his horse after passing through a gate; sometimes resuming a long walk feels like that.

Leaving Broadway behind us, we slowly ascended to the escarpment, a prominent feature that we'll keep company over the next few days. The Cotswold escarpment is marked with evidence of earlier settlers: the route passes the remains of the ramparts of Shenberrow Camp, one of several Neolithic Hill forts that made the most of the excellent defensive position offered by the limestone cliff. The same golden limestone features in many of the older Cotswold buildings, including tiny estate village of Stanway, with its grandiose gateway and hall.

A steep climb back up the escarpment from Wood Stanway, over increasingly muddy fields, gave us an exhilarating view of the Malvern hills across the Vale of Evesham, before we turned west to circle the outside of the Beckbury Camp earthworks. We enjoyed the birdsong filling the beech woods on the decent down to the ruined Hailes Abbey, before squelching over fields to meet the sunken lane into Winchcombe.