HIKE The Cotswold Way and Wild Camp - Part One (Bath to Little Sodbury via Cold Ashton & Tormarton)
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- A through hike of the Cotswold Way, 102 miles within five days with four nights of wild camping. This video is day one of a series, following the Cotswold Way from South to North starting in Bath and finishing in Chipping Campden.
We start the Cotswold Way journey outside the impressive Door entrance of Bath Abbey in Gloucestershire. In front of the abbey on the pavement is a circular slate stone that shows the national trail acorn but we note this is upside down for us as we are travelling in the opposite direction compared to most hikers. Due to the rain we are unable to read all the names of the places we will be passing through which is scripted on the circular slate pavement stone.
In Bath the route takes you through many of the street that shows Bath at it's best to visitors and tourist. These include 'The Circus' and 'The Royal Crescent". Eventually, we escape the urban landscape and spot our first Cotswold Way sign which also happens to be a bus stop!
We begin to gain hight and one of the first elements of the note is the Penn Hill Trig point. This provides a view over Bath and Weston which forms the outskirts of the city landscape.
We are truly in the countryside when we take the seat on Prospect Stile. This seat is dedicated 'In Loving Memory of Stewart Burgess Cotswold Voluntary Warden'. We enjoy the view which includes the city of Bristol and the Mendip Hills. At the top of this hill we amble pass the Bath Race Course which is very still in the sunshine that has finally joined us on the journey after the rain of Bath.
We skirt round Little Down Hill Fort and eventually come across the blue poles and orange metal flags that are planted in the countryside to mark the various places of significance for the Battle of Lansdown. it was durning this battle that Sir Bevill Grenville died and we therefore eventually view a monument in his memory and we note this is the oldest surviving war memorial which was erected in 1720.
We next visit Cold Ashton, here we see Cold Ashton Manor, the old wall Post Box which is stamped with the 'G&R' and VI letters denoting that the post box was installed durning the reign of King George 6th. Although his reign started in 1936 it was not until the summer of 1937 that new boxes began to be installed. In Cold Ashton we also visit the Holy Trinity Church, this has a tower from the 14th century and the remaining parts of the church were rebuilt in the 16th century.
Next we pass through the village of Pennsylvania and to ensure visitors appreciate which country they are in we note the Union Jack flying on the tree house.
Now we enter Dyrham Wood, which has a carpet of white flowers and about half way into the words we come to the 'message box' in the box is a plastic container with a notebook. Unfortunately, I do not have a pen to hand so miss the opportunity to leave a message for fellow travellers. it is in these woods that I meet three other hikers heading in the same direction. Coming out of the woods we then admire 'Dyrham House which was built in 1692 and is now Owen by the National Trust.
We now enter the village of Tormarton and close in on The Majors Retreat in the hope of refreshments. However, we are to be disappointed as it is closed at this point on Mondays and Tuesdays. We hatch an alternative plan and head towards Old Sudbury. We pass through the estate of Dodington Park to eventually arrive at The Dog Inn where we now partake in drink and refreshment.
One final push uphill and we stop at the view point which is outside of the church of St John's the Basptise. We then admire the vastness of Little Sodbury Hill Fort before finding an area for our overnight Wild Camp.
This completes Part One. For this walk I am using 'Walking the Cotswold Way' by Cicerone as my guide book. My reason for using this guide is that it provides a south to north route in addition to the more popular North to south route. Also, within the guide they do provide a 1:25,000 route map. However, I preferred to use the Cotswold Way A-Z for walkers. Although this is the same scale it is contained on larger pages which I found better suited to planning. It was particular useful for spotting wild camping spots.
In addition, I used the app Cotswold by GB Maps JOMO Solutions Ltd. The app can be used off line without connection which is particularly helpful when hiking as it helps to save phone battery.
Normal publish day is Tuesday at 16:00 (GMT) and occasionally, extra content is published on a Sunday at 4:00 (GMT)
thank you for posting a good video for us prospective walkers to enjoy, always nice to see a decent hikers video
Glad you enjoyed it John, thanks for watching
Totally loved this video.
Some amazing footage and commentary.
A joy to watch and many thanks for sharing 👍
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the comment.
Your videos are just wonderful! I have watched most of them. Some several times. I hike primarily in the Pacific Northwest but have hiked a few long distant trails in your beautiful country. Would love to do many more there. Thank you for making these videos.
Awesome, thank you! It really inspires me to do more when I receive comments like this. Thanks for taking the timeout to provide the comment and hopefully you well get chance soon to do more UK trails. Cheers
Lovely video! The Cotswold way is a stunning hike
Totally agree! Thanks for watching
The metal sculptures are really cool!
Yes they were a bit of a surprise and certainly different. Thanks for watching.
Excited to see the whole series!
There will be a new release for part two on Sunday 20th June, and Part Three will be Tuesday 22 June and the final part on Tuesday 29 June. Hope you enjoy the series, Thanks for watching.
A wonderful walk this , so much to see
Yes a wonderful part of the country. Thanks for watching
I'm planning on the North to South route. Any thoughts, after doing opposite? BTW - love people who 'do the opposite'!
For me, I think the getting away from the urban crowds at the start and heading out into the country was a better motivator than heading towards the city. The great thing about this trail is that it is equally signposted in either direction and the cicerone guide book has both directions, so compared to most trails 'opposite' is relatively easy and I certainly enjoyed the experience. As it happens currently planning an 'opposite ' for another trail (also CW - Cumbria Way), I like the opportunity to meet more hikers heading in the opposite direction and having a chat. Hope the planning goes well and you enjoy the rest of the series. Best of luck with the adventure, cheers.
James Dyson owns Dodington Manor!
Wow, thanks for the info.
Why did I find the people that I have encountered today in Chipping Camden especially Snobby?!
Shame you had a bad experience, hope you have better luck on your next travels. Thanks for sharing!