Day 24: a sunny walk to Painswick

Distance: 17.1 miles
Yews: 99

As we left North Nibley, near to nine, it was nippy! There was frost on the grass. But the sun was shining, and within minutes we removed our jackets, and our gloves. By ten, I was walking in shorts and bear arms. The day was sunny, but not hot (maybe ten degrees), and with a light breeze. It could not have been a more beautiful day for a walk through the Cotswolds.


For the most part we followed the Cotswold Way, except for three diversions where we cut off some of the excessive wandering the Way puts you through so that you can take in every possible scenic vista. For example, instead of going up and over this hill, Cam Long Down, we just walked in front of it, saving a half mile of distance and a few hundred feet of climbing.


We did exactly the same detour in 2006 with our kids. Or daughter will remember that the bright green field above looked a little different then. It was covered in big piles of fresh manure - Erin, I thought you might never forgive me for dragging you through that. Here's Mom reenacting the part where Ian used a walking stick to fling manure through the sky. Ah, memories!



One of the vistas we did take in was Coaley Peak. In 2006, We remembered seeing gliders there, turning tight circles, chasing thermals. They were still there! This time there were also a couple of paragliders, launching from the steep hillside and catching lift off the 500 foot escarpment.


They launched from near the top, then quickly got up made another hundred feet, and seemed to mostly cruise around in a narrow band from the top of the hill to one or two hundred feet higher. Even though they weren't that high above us, it seemed safe; if they lost the lift they could just turn west where there were nice green pastures at the bottom, hundreds of feet down.


One of the paragliders ranged beyond the ridge and got into thermals and was up a few thousand feet with the sailplanes. One sailplane was a motor glider, we could hear his two stroke engine kick in from time to time. We saw another getting towed up by a Pawnee, though the landing strip was hidden behind trees. We spent a really pleasant half hour watching all the flying. It would have been easy to stay longer, but it was getting close to noon, and we were less than half way to Painswick, so we got ourselves moving.


By early afternoon, we were hungry, and running down, and worried that all pubs would be closed (on Monday many pubs close for lunch). But fortunately, the Kings Head in Kings Stanley was serving. Their board mentioned free wifi; the iPad told me I needed a password. I asked the barmaid for it, and she said, sneering, "personally, I don't care". After a beat she did offer to find out, but she'd already scared me off. The worst service we've had yet in the UK, but the sandwich and coffee was good, so I can live with that.


The afternoon was two more Cotswold Way shortcuts. But even skipping those vistas, there were plenty of exceptional views, all day long.


A few more hours of walking, and we finally had the Painswick steeple in sight. The day could not have been nicer, but after 15 miles and 3000 feet climbing, it was a pretty sight. The final couple of miles took us off of the escarpment and into town. Painswick is known by many for the 99 yew trees in its churchyard, cut to look like something from Super Mario World.


But for us, Painswick is the place where we discovered Banoffee Pie! Six year later, it's still on the specials board, and it still really hits the spot after a long walk.


Tomorrow the BBC is telling us that we'll have the same weather as today for our walk to Cheltenham. We've got ourselves lined up to stay at a super swanky inn - Beaumont House. Always fun to show up at these places with our packs!

Location:The Falcon, Painswick