The South West Odyssey was a long distance walk.
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.
Gloucestershire |
Stroud District |
After spending our final day last year walking in a
big circle round the town, this year started for Francis, Brian, Lynne and me
with a night in a Stroud B & B. We
dined at the Carpenter’s Arms in Westrip on a hill on the western edge of the
town. Viewed from above, surrounded by green hills bathed in evening sunshine, you
can be fooled into thinking Stroud is another Cotswold gem. And it was not just
Stroud that flattered to deceive; Wednesday evening’s sunshine would soon be
replaced by Thursday’s cold front.
Day 13 was a triumph of the meteorologist’s art. The
promised rain arrived before dawn and kept going with hardly a break until well
after dusk. Winds gusting to 60 mph were promised for the night and for Friday.
The first 11 days of the Odyssey had been walked in sunshine. Day 12, 'Walking round Stroud', had broken the spell and a year later it remained fragmented. Alison arrived on a bus and we met Mike outside the garage in Ryeford, in the ribbon development connecting
Stroud to Stonehouse, where we had finished last year. Lynne took a picture of
us standing in the rain, then drove off in a nice dry car.
Mike, Brian, Me, Alison & Francis at Ryeford |
Crossing the Stroudwater Canal and the A419 we had hardly
left the urban area when we reached Stanley Mills (a building not a bloke) on
the edge of Leonard Stanley (a village not a bloke) or was it King’s Stanley, two
settlements which seem to have difficulty telling themselves apart? Dark and satanic
may have been overstating it for Stanley Mills, but it was certainly the sort
of building we could have seen much further north.
Stanley Mills, husband of Gladys |
Through sodden vegetation |
.....and beside soaked fields to the village of Middleyard
where we started to climb the Cotswold escarpment.
and beside soaked fields to Middleyard |
Discussing the route in Pen Wood |
We passed an enclosure containing three of Gloucestershire's
more distinctive natives. The Gloucester Old Spot is one of the oldest recognised
breeds of pigs. Once ‘endangered’ their high quality meat has resulted in
growing popularity and the Rare Breeds Trust now classifies them only as
‘minority’. They are renowned for their intelligence, so the notice at the end
of the field offering half pigs for sale and quoting a price per kilo seemed insensitive.
What if one of the pigs can read?
Gloucester Old Spots |
Nympsfield Long Barrow |
Happy campers on Coaley Peak |
Coaley Wood |
Above Uley |
and
shortly turned onto a steep field path leading down to the church. The village now
has 1200 inhabitants, but was much bigger in the industrial revolution when it
was famed for its blue cloth. It was also renowned for its larger number of
pubs – 14 at one time – but now only the Old Crown survives.
The Old Crown, Uley |
Miserable gits, The Old Crown Uley |
Duly refreshed we made our way through the village and past
the old petrol pumps, now merely a decorative feature. We are all, sadly, old
enough to remember when pumps looked like this. I can even remember buying
petrol at 4/11d a gallon. (‘What’s 4/11d, Grandpa?’ About 25p you ignorant
youth. ‘So what’s a gallon Grandpa?’ An eighth of a bushel, tedious child.)
Petrol pumps, Uley |
Alison enjoys the rain on the edge of the woods |
Looking back at Uley |
In Cooper's Wood |
Folly Wood and Dursley Wood,
though where one wood became another is anybody’s guess and the caption on the
photographs is a best guess.
Folly Wood |
The Tyndale Monument above North Nibley |
Arriving in the village we located The Black Horse, but found ourselves locked out. Lynne, we discovered, was locked in and we stood in the rain while she searched for someone with a key.
The Black Horse North Nibley |
When we were finally admitted I would happily have appreciated
a shower and some dry clothes, but first I had to drive to Stroud to reunite
Brian and Mike with their cars and Alison with her bus stop, as she was
returning home to Cheltenham. Our walk had been up and down, but the route had
been fairly direct; driving back was anything but, the road taking us round the
end of Stinchcombe Hill and through Dursley before we were even back in Uley -
almost double the distance we had walked.
It was an equally long return to North Nibley, too, but preferable to sitting on a bus for fifty minutes in wet clothing, which was Alison’s lot. Once clean and dry no one ventured beyond the Black Horse that night. Outside the rain fell and the wind blew, while inside there was gammon steak and Bath Ales. Staying in seemed the sensible option.
The South West Odyssey (English Branch)
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
+
The Last Post
That's All Folks - The Odyssey is done.
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.
Our worst day of weather since climbing to the windfarm above Cemmaes on our 1999 Go West walk -or, since then (?), our walk to the Mainwaring Arms on Staffordshire Muck-spreading Day.
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