Proposed Route through the Cotswolds - Part 1

As I mentioned in my first post, we're heading to England in September and the first part of our trip is a ten-day walking holiday through the Cotswolds, an area west-northwest of London. We and our traveling partners, Blair and Marj, will arrive in the UK the morning of Thursday, September 6th and take the train to Cheltenham Spa where we'll spend the next two days at The Butlers Hotel. We decided to spend extra time in Cheltenham, as there is plenty to see and do in and around the city and we also plan on visiting relatives, Phil and Hannah, in Gloucester, just a few miles away.

We begin walking in earnest on Saturday morning when we leave Cheltenham and walk the short distance of 8 miles (13 kilometres) to the village of Winchcombe where we'll overnight at Jenny Cheshire's B & B at 1 Silk Mill Lane. Cotswold Walking Holidays will move our luggage from our hotel in Cheltenham to this B&B in Winchcombe and from here to each subsequent overnight stop. This portion of the walk will follow the Cotswold Way. Next morning, after one of those famous 'heart-stopper' English breakfasts, we head north-east to Broadway, a distance of 10 1/2 miles (17 km). Again we'll be following the Cotswold Way. Here we'll overnight at Dove Cottage. Next, it's on to Chipping Campden, the northern terminus of this national trail. This is a short 7 mile (11 km) stroll, so we should get into town early in the day as there appears to be lots to do in and around Chipping Campden. Our B&B here, Cornerways, looks quite comfortable!

On Tuesday morning we leave the Cotswold Trail temporarily and head south 8 miles (12 km) to Moreton-in-Marsh. We'd better get a good nights sleep at Fosseway Farm because our next leg is through such quintessentially English villages as Stow-on-the-Wold, Upper and Lower Slaughter and Bourton-on-the-Water, where we'll overnight at "The Lawns" B&B. This leg: twelve miles (19 km), with lots of side-trips!

We made several changes to our original route but finally, with the help of Cotswold Walking Holidays, decided we'd continue south from Bourton to Northleach, where we'll overnight at the Sherborne Arms. Our walking holiday is now half over. We should either be very sore, or very much in shape!

More later....