Five like-minded people started in 2008 from the Cardingmill Valley in Shropshire and by walking three days a year finished at Start Bay on the South Devon Coast in May 2019.
The Delights of the Cotswolds: An Ancient Church, a Cottage Garden and More
Welcoming Two Guest Walkers
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| Gloucestershire |
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| Cotswold District |
Heather and Matthew, Francis and Alison’s offspring, joined us for the day. Matthew will be representing Great Britain in the world Orienteering Championships this summer, while Heather has run a half marathon or two, so we judged they should be able to keep up with an over 60s walking group – to be precise only 40% of us are over 60, but all must travel at the speed of the slowest (and oldest and heaviest).
Perrot's Book to Bagenden
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| Setting off from Perrott's Brook |
Some years ago when he was young, and indeed alive, we shared many walks with Dino, another member of the family. Dino would bound off to left and right of the route chasing any squirrel, rabbit or pheasant he saw, smelled or imagined. When he was not doing that he would run up ahead and then come galloping back. In the time we walked 10 miles, Dino would run 50. I had the feeling Heather and Matthew might have been capable of doing the same but, as human beings rather than a somewhat half-witted dog, they wisely chose not to.
A kilometre after the start we passed through the hamlet of Bagendon. One of the delights of the Cotswolds is the way the buildings are so much part of the landscape they seem to have grown organically from it. The tiny church at Bagendon was a perfect example, and also an embodiment of two thousand years of Cotswold history. It also features un the post Churches that Tell Stories.
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| Bagendon Church |
Although the earliest parts of the building are Saxon, Roman votive artefacts have been found in the churchyard suggesting the site was of religious significance in pre-Christian times. The tower is Norman, but the nave was rebuilt in the late fourteen hundreds. The enormous wealth brought to the Cotswolds by the wool trade at that time resulted in many churches receiving a Perpendicular Gothic makeover. Nineteenth century restorations and the addition of a porch in the 1960s were so sympathetic it is hard to tell what is new.
Daglingworth Quarry to the Pinbury Estate
Two kilometres later we passed Daglingworth quarry. Quarries are scars on the landscape, but if buildings are to be constructed from the beautiful Cotswold stone, there must be ugly Cotswold stone quarries.
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| Daglingworth Quarry |
Moving on through Duntisbourne Rouse ....
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| Through the churchyard at Duntisbourne Rouse |
...where we stopped for coffee by a field margin covered with bright red poppies....
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| A field margin full of poppies |
...before crossing part of the Bathurst estate and passing Pinbury Park, a Tudor house largely reconstructed in the 17th century for Earl Bathurst.
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| Pinbury Park |
Sapperton and the Thames and Severn Canal
We found ourselves again on the Macmillan Way and followed it into the village of Sapperton. Where the Macmillan way turns south, we turned west to the bottom of the valley and reached the Thames and Severn canal at the mouth of the Sapperton tunnel.
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| Cottage garden, Sapperton |
At 3817 yards, Sapperton Tunnel was the longest tunnel in England when it was opened in 1789. It is no longer navigable and the kilometre and a half of the canal we followed is dry and overgrown. The railways destroyed its commercial viability in the nineteenth century and although there are plans for restoration – part of the canal nearer the Thames has already reopened – a great deal of work would be required to restore this section.
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| The overgrown remains of a lock on the Severn Thames canal |
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| Stroud District |
A Plastic Chair with Evil Intent
It was my round, and I emerged from the bar to find three of my companions perched the ‘wrong way round’ at a picnic table, and the others sitting on the lawn facing them. With the bench full and not wanting to sit on the grass I picked up a chair and placed it beside the picnic table facing uphill. It was a flimsy plastic chair and I was aware the legs were buckling as I lowered my weight into it. Mike shouted, ‘No, David!’ which was sound advice and would have been useful, had gravity not already assumed control of the situation. The back legs collapsed and I was tipped out down the slope. Having little choice in the matter I completed the backward roll and landed nimbly back on my feet. I should, perhaps, point out that ‘nimbly’ when applied to a man of sixty weighing over 16 stone (100 kilos, 225 lbs) and falling out of a chair, does not quite have the same nuance as when it is applied to, say, an Olympic gymnast. One of the differences can be measured on the Richter scale.
Fortunately, I had placed my full glass on the picnic table before sitting down so I was saved a cold beery shower. Nothing was damaged except my dignity and I would like to thank Mike for attempting to help. Everybody else just laughed.
To Eastcome, Into and Out of The Toadsmoor Valley and on to Round Elm
We returned to the Severn Thames canal passing a bridge that was in much better repair than the canal,...
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| Eighteenth century bridge over a missing canal |
...before leaving the cut and turning north to climb through Oldhills Wood and re-emerge on the plateau north of France Lynch. A long straight path took us to Eastcombe, a substantial village where a brief ice cream halt was called.
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| Alison, Francis and Heather arrive at Eastcombe |
The descent into the Toadsmoor Valley was down a steep single-track road. The bridge at the bottom had originally been intended as the end of the day’s walk, but we had made a change, partly to shorten day twelve and partly because it looked a difficult place to find by car. It would also have been a difficult place to access, so the change was a good move.
From the bridge, we followed a zig-zag forestry track up through the wood. Above the trees it became a lane, and from Ferris Court Farm to the end of the walk at the Round Elm crossroads, where Lynne and Hilary were waiting for us, a single-track road.
There is a sign nailed to a tree at the crossroads. It says of the route we had just walked. ‘No Through Road. You cannot drive to Eastcombe this way, regardless of what your Sat Nav may say.’ Wise words.
Introduction
Day 1 to 3 (2008) Cardingmill Valley to Great Whitley
Day 4 to 6 (2009) Great Whitely to Upton-on-Severn via the Malvern Ridge
Day 7 to 9 (2010) Upton-on-Severn to Andoversford
Day 10 (2011) Andoversford to Perrott's Brook
Day 11 (2011) Perrott's Brook to the Round Elm Crossroads
Day 12 (2011) Walking Round Stroud
Day 13 (2012) Stroud to North Nibley
Day 14 (2012) North Nibley to Old Sodbury
Day 15 (2012) Old Sodbury to Swineford
Day 16 (2013) Along the Chew Valley
Day 17 (2013) Over the Mendips to Wells
Day 18 (2013) Wells to Glastonbury 'The Mountain Route'
Day 19 (2014) Glastonbury to Langport
Day 20 (2014) Along the Parrett and over the Tone
Day 21 (2014) Into the Quantocks
Day 22 (2015) From the Quantocks to the Sea
Day 23 (2015) Watchet, Dunster and Dunkery Hill
Day 24 (2015) Dunkery Beacon to Withypool
Day 25 (2016) Entering Devon and Leaving Exmoor
Day 26 (2016) Knowstone to Black Dog on the Two Moors Way
Day 27 (2016) Morchard Bishop to Copplestone
Day 28 (2017) Down St Mary to Drewsteignton
Day 29 (2017) Drewsteignton to Bennett's Cross
Day 30 (2017) Bennett's Cross to Lustleigh
Day 31 (2018) Southwest Across the Moor from Lustleigh
Day 32 (2018) South to Ugborough
Day 33 (2018) Ugborough to Ringmore
Day 34 (2019) Around the Avon Estuary to Hope Cove
Day 35 (2019): Hope Cove to Prawle Point
Day 36 (2019) Prawle Point to Start Bay: The End
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The Last Post
That's All Folks - The Odyssey is done.
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