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Chipping Campden High Street
Each of the towns along the way, and most of the villages en route, have places where it’s possible to buy food or meals. Check the Trek Planner at the front of this guidebook before you finalise your itinerary and decide whether or not to pack supplies for a day’s walking.
There are banks where you can top up your cash on the route at Chipping Campden, Broadway, Winchcombe, Dursley, Wotton-under-Edge and Bath.
Baggage transfer service
If the prospect of carrying a heavy rucksack the full length of the Cotswold Way is rather forbidding, there are a few companies who will transfer your baggage for you from one overnight accommodation stop to the next. See Appendix A for a selection of companies currently providing this service.
What to take
The top of the cheese-rolling slope on Cooper’s Hill is a splendid viewpoint
Take clothing and equipment appropriate for the season. Waterproofs should be carried at all times of the year. Choose comfortable, well-fitting boots. A first-aid kit to deal with minor injuries and blisters is recommended. Carry map, compass and guidebook.
The Cotswold Way Hall of Fame
Walkers who complete the Cotswold Way, whether in one unbroken journey or in stages, can now enter an online Hall of Fame on the Cotswold Way website.
To be included, obtain a card via the website and have it stamped at the start and finish of the trail, as well as at a number of locations in between. When the card has been completed and submitted, walkers will receive either a brass pin badge or an embroidered patch to mark the achievement, and have their names entered in the Hall of Fame. For full details go to www.nationaltrail.co.uk/cotswold-way/hall-of-fame.
PLANNING DAY BY DAY
Using this guide
Drystone walls like this one at the end of the Mile Drive (Stage 1 Southbound, Stage 13 Northbound) are a feature of the Cotswolds
At the beginning of the description of each stage of the route, you will find the distance quoted in miles and kilometres (metric equivalents are rounded to the nearest half). Details are given of specific map sheets available, and a note of where accommodation and refreshments may be found. Throughout the route text you will find features that appear on the overview maps highlighted in bold, to help you plot your way across the maps, and lots of information on points of historical, geological or general interest passed along the way.
The stage-by-stage route description in this guide is accompanied by overview maps at a scale of 1:100K (1 cm to 1 mile). A more detailed map of the Way is supplied in booklet form, at a scale of 1:25K, at the back of the book. For the majority of the route, waymarking and signposts should be sufficient to make detailed guidebook descriptions superfluous but should you find that the route described here varies from that on the ground, you are advised to follow the CW waymarked alternative. (You can check for any route changes on www.nationaltrail.co.uk/cotswold-way.) Notification of any major changes along the way will be borne in mind for future editions of this guidebook, and details of any variations, errors or anomalies, sent to the publisher (see ‘Updates to this guide’ at the beginning of this guide), will be greatly appreciated.
Full information about any accommodation providers mentioned in the text is listed in Appendix B.
Stanton High Street is lined with attractive houses
Grid references
Occasionally grid references are quoted to allow you to locate a given position on the OS map, which is divided by a series of vertical and horizontal lines to create a grid (the British National Grid). Each of these lines is allocated a number which is quoted at the top, bottom and either side of the map sheet. Numbers increase from left to right for vertical lines (eastings), and from bottom to top for horizontal lines (northings).
To identify an exact position on the map from a grid reference, take the first two digits from the six-figure number quoted – these refer to the ‘eastings’ line on the OS sheet. The third digit is calculated in tenths of the square moving from left to right. Next, take the fourth and fifth digits, which refer to the ‘northings’ line, and finally take the sixth and last digit to estimate the number of tenths in the northing square moving up the sheet.
Additional mapping
While the maps in this guide show each stage of the route at 1:100K, and the map booklet shows the whole route on 1:25K OS mapping, you may wish to carry or consult the 1:50K mapping in order to gain a wider picture of the landscape. Five Landranger sheets cover the length of the Cotswold Way: numbers 150, 151, 162, 163 and 172.
Waymarking
The National Trail acorn symbol adorns Cotswold Way waymarks and signposts
Waymarks follow the national conventions, using different coloured arrows: yellow for footpaths, blue for bridleways, white for public roads. What differentiates Cotswold Way arrows from other route directions is the black acorn symbol of a national trail (the original CW symbol was a white spot painted on or by the arrowhead, and some of these still exist).
Where the route goes through a town, waymarks may be seen on kerbstones, on the posts of traffic direction signs, or on walls. Where it crosses a golf course (on Cleeve Common, Stinchcombe Hill, and Painswick Hill, for example), low wooden waymark posts will be seen. (Note that the original metal signposts along the Cotswold Way give distances in kilometres, while the new National Trail posts give them in miles.)
Health, safety and emergencies
When walking the Cotswold Way you’re unlikely to encounter the natural hazards associated with trekking in a mountain region, but common-sense precautions should nonetheless be taken to ensure you remain safe and healthy throughout. Be especially careful when descending steep slopes during or after rain when paths can become slippery – a trekking pole (or two) can be a great help in this, as well as reducing the chance of knee strain.
Avoid high, open ground if caught out by a thunderstorm, and do not shelter from a storm beneath isolated trees.
If you’re walking with a dog, be especially careful if there are any cattle in a field through which the path takes you. Cows can be extremely inquisitive or nervous when they see dogs, which may cause them to react out of character. Keep your dog under close control, but should you be threatened by a cow or cows, let the dog run free and the cows will chase after it – not you.
Ticks can be a hazard, since these tiny blood-sucking insects inhabit long grass, bracken and shrubs from which they attach themselves to animals or human beings. Walkers wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts are especially vulnerable. Once attached, the insect buries its head beneath the skin in order to feed off your blood. Usually this is painless, because the tick injects a toxin which anaesthetises the bite area, but since it may be carrying
