Sunday, 18 February 2018

Cotswold Way

Winchcombe → Dowdeswell

cheltenham-racecourse.jpg Distance: 11.69 miles
Ascent: 567 metres
Duration: 4 hours 27 minutes

A familiar but distant hill
« Not walked | Not walked »

For the fifteen years Greenbelt was held at Cheltenham Racecourse I looked up at the stony cliffs of Cleeve Hill and wondered what the view was like from there, looking back at the town. We finally found out. Today's walk has been a long zig-zag up and over the hill, finally dropping down to the A40 just east of Cheltenham.

landrovers.jpgThere's been plenty to see, including the magnificent ancient burial tumulus of Belas Knap, the impressive Jacobean opulence of Postlip Hall (now a cohousing community), and — audible for a good half mile before we reached them — a group of men (and it was mainly men) driving Landrovers around an improbable course in a disused quarry. We've also seen rather more mud than we'd have liked.

Notes for future walkers:

  • Since our guidebook was published the path has been re-routed east of Cleeve Hill. After passing Belas Knapp, instead of continuing on to Wontley Farm the path now turns right (north-west) at SP 011 250 along a field edge, then downhill through Breakheart Plantation to meet a road at SP 009 262. It then heads north-west again, turning left in front of Postlip Hall and picks up the bridleway around the left and back of the hall to SO 999 272 before running east to the clubhouse at Cleeve Hill.
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