Walking in the Cotswolds Cicerone Guidebook

by:Damian Hall
Walking in the Cotswolds describes 30 circular walks set throughout the idyllic Cotswolds. Fourteen of the walks include parts of the Cotswold Way National Trail. The Cotswolds AONB has hills, woodlands and secret valleys, with plenty of remoteness, wilderness and epic views that show there is real hill walking country to be found. Honey-colour villages nestling between gentle, rounded hills confirm the Cotswold clichés are true, but they don't tell the whole story. Get to know the area and you'll also find remote and wild places, as well as epic views from the Edge, the dramatic escarpment which marks its western boundary.

This book describes a range of day walks, from gentle strolls to thigh-burning workouts, passing dramatic hill forts, barrows and stone circles and exploring Jurassic grasslands, beech woods and high ridges by turn. All of the walks are circular, between 4 and 12 miles long and are estimated to take from three to six hours. Each walk has detailed route finding instructions and are illustrated with coloured OS 1:50,000 map extracts and colour photographs. There is lots of information about history, geology and wildlife along the routes.

The Cotswolds provide fantastic walking options all year-round: there are quieter routes included for summer; autumn sets the beech woods on fire; spring brings daffodils and bleating lambs and winter offers bigger views through denuded trees and quiet trails. Things not to miss are the wide views from the Edge - especially from the likes of the wildflower-dotted, Jurassic grasslands of Cleeve Common, Leckhampton Hill and Selsley Common, or from the dramatic hillforts of Uley Bury, Painswick Beacon and Crickley Hill; walks along the Cotswold Way; stone circles, atmospheric long barrows and remote-feeling valleys.

The walk locations are:
Chipping Campden, Broadway and Broadway Tower - 11 miles
Bredon Hill - 9 miles
Stanton, Stanway and Snowshill - 8 miles
Long Compton and the Rollright Stones - 9 miles
Winchcombe, Hailes Abbey and Sudeley Castle - 12 miles
Winchcombe, Cleeve Common and Belas Knap - 8 miles
Temple Guiting, Guiting Wood and Guiting Power - 7 miles
Bourton-on-the-Water, the Slaughters and Naunton - 10 miles
Leckhampton Hill and Crickley Hill - 10 miles
Chedworth, Withington and the Roman Villa - 8 miles
Cranham, Cooper's Hill and Painswick Beacon - 7 miles
Brimpsfield and Caudle Green - 5.5 miles
Painswick, Edge and Painswick Beacon - 7.5 miles
Miserden and Edgeworth - 4.5 miles
Laurie Lee's Slad Valley - 7 miles
Haresfield Beacon - 6 miles
Toadsmoor, Bisley and the Golden Valley - 8 miles
Leonard Stanley, Coaley Peak and Selsley Common - 9 miles
Sapperton, Pinbury Park and Edgeworth - 7 miles
Minchinhampton and Rodborough Commons - 9 miles
Nailsworth and Avening - 6 miles
Uley Bury, Dursley and Stinchcombe Hill - 10 miles
Kingscote, Ozleworth and Ozleworth Bottom - 7 miles
Wotton-under-Edge, Wortley and North Nibley - 9 miles
Dyrham Park and West Littleton - 6 miles
Swainswick Valley and Little Solsbury Hill - 11.5 miles
Box, Slaughterford and Colerne - 11 miles
Saltford, North Stoke, Weston - 9 miles
Bath Skyline - 6 miles
Bradford-on-Avon and Farleigh Hungerford Castle - 9 miles

ISBN 9781852848330 Pages 171 (2021) 172mm x 116mm