So, yes Winter was back last weekend and the title of this post seemed most appropriate as, on Saturday, we’d been to see the said Shakespeare play at the RSC in Stratford. We all agreed it was a tale of two halves – bleak and dark in the first half (winter) and more fluffy, skipping about in the woods in the 2nd half (spring). Personally, I like my Shakespeare on the dark side!
Pete (my youngest brother) was up for the weekend to see the play and needed little persuasion to come out on a walk on Sunday. We got up nice and early so that we could set off by 9am. Crikey that’s a bit keen on a Sunday but we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time. Jane had another weekend off this week which was a good job as it was her turn to have the nasty cold. Poor thing and I felt rather guilty as she still had to go shopping….
I’d already done my planning with the aid of my new WalkJogRun app and had plotted the route on there so I knew that it was a good 6 miler today and not only that but we were choosing to do this stretch of the Cotswold Way the hard way ie going up most of the way! Not only that but where we were going, up to Cleeve Common, is the highest part of the CW.
Today’s walk would start where we last left the CW at Hailes Abbey, would pass through Winchcombe and then wend it’s way steeply up to Belas Knap. We hadn’t really seen Hailes Abbey last time we were here as if you remember we were in a hurry to find the ladies. Today, however, we still didn’t see much as the site isn’t open in the Winter so we just had a quick peek through the fence. It is a v popular place for people to visit in Summer but really it didn’t look v impressive -not like Fountains Abbey or even Furness Abbey near Barrow. However, it does seem to have had an interesting history involving holy blood, The Black Death, Henry Viii (again) -so maybe the visitor centre is worth a visit another time.
Onwards towards Winchcombe largely across fields and down narrow lanes including the wonderfully named Puck Pit Lane. It was good to be out so early as it was still so cold that the mud and puddles were icy which made the walking much better today. It was also good to take some time to walk through Winchcombe and looking at its variety of different buildings. It’s not a particular pretty village , unlike Broadway but again it’s full of history.
We spent this part of the walk catching up as usual and Pete told me all about the yoga classes he has been attending. It sounded very good and I particularly liked the idea of the meditation bit at the end. Pete is the only chap in his class and his teacher seems to think he maybe trying to push himself too far. This could be true as he is already contemplating upgrading to the Intermediate class but is worried he’ll get sent back down with a flea in his ear. We also talked about other forms of relaxation such as hynotherapy. I have been listening to Claire Balding’s series of walks on the radio called Ramblings. It’s very good and her theme this year is about walking for self improvement. The last one I listened to was about mindful walking ie no talking and just concentrating on placing every footstep on the ground etc. Jane and I tried this on the Pershore walk but frankly we’re just not good at being quiet! This weeks Rambling will feature Pershore’s most famous resident, funnily enough, Toyah Wilcox!
As we got through Winchcombe we turned off at Vineyard Street towards Sudeley Castle – this is famously where Liz Hurley got married. We didn’t visit here either today (closed for Winter) and anyway we are on a mission to start climbing! Somehow we found ourselves on a very straight piece of tarmac which later on I discovered wasn’t on our map as the route. We’d just been following the CW signs so it appears that the reason for the mismatch is that the route has recently been altered around here.
It was up here that we did some twitching ( no wonder we both need relaxation classes) and Pete was able to put his Pocket British Birds app on his phone to good use. On a big oak tree we found some tiny birds smaller than a blue tit creeping about the trunk and branches. The brilliant app helped us to narrow this down and we agreed that these were indeed tree creepers!! V satisfying. And a must for Jane to download for future walks – it even allows you to identify different bird song. How cool is that – when you’re nearly 50!
Next we left the track and continued on up through the fields towards the lane where we had left one of the cars. We had to pass through some rather frisky horses galloping about but they were just a bit nosey. You can see one of them enjoying the fabulous views from up here in the pics!
Oh but we didn’t just stop when we got back to the car. Oh no- we still had to find Belas Knap itself. I have always wanted to see what it was as I have often driven past the signs on my way to Cheltenham. Now the path gets really steep but the views continue and with a bit of effort we made it to the top where it then flattens out. We were joined by a Welsh couple at this point and we all walked along to the Neolithic burial mound which is Belas Knap together. Whilst they had a good look round the site, where 38 people were buried, Pete and I stopped for our coffee and hot cross buns. It was well deserved today!
After this we did have a good look round and it was only when we got back home that I read in the guide book that English Heritage request that people do not use this site as a picnic spot. Oops, perhaps that photo of me standing like a loon on top of the burial mound wasn’t very respectful…..
We also looked inside and it was very cold and damp which made me think ‘Cavemen- what’s that all about’. I think this highbrow level of intellectual pondering was a bit much for Pete as he snorted on his coffee.
Right, moving on…the last part of the walk was just to make this stretch a little round so we walked a little way towards Cleeve Common and then back down the lanes to the car. It really is a great spot up here and definitely worth another visit on a Summers day.
But for now that competes this Winters Tale. Join me next week for a wander around the dreaming spires of Oxford.
Walky Talky 
