So did we or didn’t we?? I know that’s the question on everyones’ mind. Oh, did we or didn’t we what? Well, I mean – get that one last walk in before the year end, that seven mile stretch into Bath. What do you think? Of course we did!!! Now let me tell you all about it..
The final stretch of the Cotswold Way had been saved up to deliberately be the last walk of the year. We tried to persuade others to join us but in the end it seemed totally apt that it would be just me and Jane. We started this together on 1st Jan this year and by god we’d finish it together! As we know the weather here in the UK has been pretty shocking and so it was touch and go what we’d wake up to on Saturday, which was the day we planned to walk. All week Jane’s forecast thing on her phone had been saying there’d be cloud with a little sun peeking out. Could we really be that lucky? And the answer of course was yes. I’ve been so lucky all year why would this be any different?
We drove down to Bath through some rain but by the time we arrived at our start point we’d got through the heavy dark clouds and emerged into bright blue skies, fluffy white clouds and sunshine. We parked up where we’d last left off, up near the Lansdown monument, got dressed up and set off on our way. I say dressed up because we had been given some items we had to wear today. Firstly the nice Christmas t-shirts that Enid had bought us both, insisting that we wore them on our last walk and then also the matching bobble hats that Sian, my niece, had given us for Christmas too. Fetching aren’t they? Jane’s seems to sit nicely on her head but mine seems just a little bit pert because of my big Allen head!! No, we didn’t look quirky at all. At one point Jane wanted to get a picture of us displaying our t-shirts. This meant considerable stripping off for me and the poor woman walking passed as I was getting re-dressed must have wondered what I was up to. Nice one Enid.
The walk basically meanders around for a few miles at the top of the hill, going through a nice golf course and skirting the racecourse up here. I am sure we could have taken a short cut but of course we had to stick to the CW. There are some terrific views over Bristol especially from the point called Hanging Hill. As you get a bit further round the views change to those of Bath although today it was a little too sunny to see too much this way. I won’t complain though!!
The descent into Bath is very pleasant as you come down the grassy slopes to a part of the city called Weston. This is very popular dog walking territory and we saw more people on this stretch of the CW than we have seen anywhere else ( except when we bumped into the mad crowds doing the overnight forty mile challenge). At the end of the descent it became incredibly muddy and Jane struggled to stay on her feet. Even with our Leki’s and holding each other up, we struggled. As I said earlier, we didn’t look at all quirky!!
Eventually we did arrive at the bottom of the hill and back in civilisation as we entered the edges of the city. Now you might have thought it’d be all straight forward from here. You forget, however, that we’re talking the CW here and this means that if there’s a hill around, then the CW will search it out and make you climb it. So, of course we found ourselves going up again, steeply. I had omitted to spot this and tell Jane who I’d told we’d be going downhill all the way. Oops.
Essentially we were climbing up Sion Hill in Bath so that we could then edge our way into town via the grassy slopes up here. Then we came down through an avenue of chestnut and beech trees and entered into Victoria Park. This was a very busy spot especially as we then walked out below the Royal Crescent. There were loads of tourists lolling about and now we did look a bit out of place. Our bobble hats were removed…but we still stood out a bit. One nice lady smiled at us sympathetically and said “Well done!”. This cheered us up enormously although maybe she thought we’d walked the CW in a couple of days!!
From here we had to walk right into the City centre down some very popular shopping streets which were heaving with post Christmas shoppers. I hated it. There were so many people and even Jane said she wished she was back on the CW. We still were of course but not exactly as we know it. It was like reverse culture shock. Aaaargh, get me out of here!
We then walked the final few streets to Bath Abbey which is the official end (or start) of the CW. Again, it was crowded with people but I posed for some pics by the Abbey door. There was no sign of a plaque or anything marking the CW so we popped into the Tourist Information office to ask where it was. Kindly she told us that there was a large circular plaque on the ground in front of the Abbey. We went back and took some more photos.
So how did it feel then to finish the CW and to reach the end of my challenge? Well, if I’m honest I felt a bit flat. I felt that the crowds of tourists ought to be waving banners and clapping and cheering us. But no, nothing.
Never fear though I had a plan to cheer us up. We walked over to the Bath Thermae Spa. This is a very modern spa right in the heart of the city and I’d set my heart on finishing the walk with a dip in the pools here. Jane was slightly concerned that they’d turn their nose up at us in our muddy boots and dirty clothes but they didn’t care. We walked straight in and got changed into our swimming cosies and robes and found our way up to the open air, roof top pool. In we got and it was gorgeous. Hot, steaming and ever so floaty. Just what we needed to ease our aching muscles and feet. Oh and when the bubbles started it was even better. The only slight disappointment was that a) I’d imagined myself with a glass of something bubbly in my hand and that wasn’t allowed and b) no photography allowed either.
After a while we decided to go and explore the indoor pool which was nice but nowhere near as special as the roof top one. Then finally we went up to the Steam Rooms. These are four round glass rooms where each one has a different fragrance going on: sandalwood, menthol, lemongrass and ginger and franckincense. Oh they were ever so hot and we couldn’t bear to be in any of them for long! I’d highly recommend the menthol one if you have a cold though!
We could have had a nice light meal here in their cafe but we’d seen something else earlier on that caught our hungry eye rather more. Once we got dressed again we wandered back over to the pasty shop which claimed it sold ‘the best Cornish Pasties in the World’. Very popular with Indonesian tourists it turns out.
Now all we needed to do was catch a taxi back up to my car. No problem.
And that was it. We’d conquered the CW, completed the seven miles and I was all done. I think it will take a bit of time to sink in that I’ve finished so no time now for reflections. Those will have to follow. In the meantime Happy New Year everyone!
Walky Talky 
Many congratulations and all the best for. 2014 xx
Aha thanks Cracker! Glad you were able to be part of it all. Amazing memories of our trip to the IoW. Fab! Same again this coming Summer? Happy New Year to you all xx Julie and Jane
Well done and am touched that my tee shirts were present at the end!
Ex
Haha yes indeed Enid. They look a treat don’t they!!