Cotwolds - Winchcombe - Cleeve Hill

Yesterday we walked travelled outside of our usual territory, heading for Winchcombe (east of Cheltenham) for an 11 mile hike.

The party of 11 ramblers after a early start arrived at a small car park near the golf club near to the top of Cleeve Hill - would be more precise where we were but I don't have a detailed map of the area and I wasn't leading the walk that day. Just there to enjoy the walk, take a few photos, chat to friends and not have to worrying about the route. We were disappointed to find that the weather was not what had been forecast, it was cloudy with dark clouds scudding across the sky. We had been led to believe that we would have sunny periods weather all day.

As we set off on the walk we watched the approaching clouds coming towards wondering when the rain would fall on us. We could see the rain falling to the west of Cheltenham and also falling in places between us on Cleeve Hill and the Malvern Hills to the north of us.

There were a few golfers out on the course, as were made our carefully though course following the wooden stakes signifying the footpath heading for the trig point - our highest point for the day. On reaching the trig point I realised that the top of Cleeve Hill is in fact a very large common.

There were 2 men setting up the their wind boarding gear - I think that's what the equipment they had is called. Being dragged along on a large skateboard by an equally large kite.

After walking a large part of the common, in which some of us, naming no names donned their raincoats at the first hint of a raindrop causing the rest of us to briefly come to a standstill. Our luck was still holding out - no steady rain yet - as we headed to join the Cotswold way that lead us into a in a chalk valley.

Here we stopped for a break by an old sheep pool, which had been restored by volunteers. A nearby small pond feeds the sheep pool. While having a snack we watched Swallows either swooping to drink from the pond or picking flies off the surface of the water.

After our break the clouds broke and the sun was on our backs as we made our way to Winchcombe. At the impressive church in Winchcombe the party split into those who went for a pint and something to eat in a local pub while the abstentious amongst us walked to the playing fields behind the church to have our lunch in a largely cloudless sky. This is more like what the weather forecasters were predicting for today.

After a leisurely lunch we slowly made our way up hill to Bela Napa - a 2500BC Long Barrow burial chamber. When it was excavated they found 38 bodies. The chamber has a false entrance on its northern side with 2 real entrances on the east and 1 on the west and another at its southern entrance.

Leaving the long barrow we still had approx 4 miles to walk before we would be back at the car park. We were now walking through meadows with cornflowers growing at the side of the fields.

We headed back to Cleeve common and once we had reached there we had to find the bridal path that would take us to the end of the walk. We re-entered the golf course, which by now was much busier. More care needed as we walked - flying golf balls.

At this point I just wanted to finish the walk, as I was tired, not enough sleep the night before. It was decided that we would make our way back to Penarth via the A48 thus avoiding the toll on the Seven Bridge - longer in time but shorter in distance. Did the usual thing, falling asleep in the back of the car and wakeup with a stiff neck

It was a good walk.