Week 4, part 1 – Cotswolds + OS maps

Early Friday morning (6/3), I left East Sussex. I was on the road at about 6:30 because I'd read that traffic could be very bad, particularly near London, due to the various Jubilee celebrations and the fact that it was a bank holiday (basically a national holiday). It turned out to be a very easy drive, though maybe it wouldn't have been a few hours later. 

It took about 2.5 hours to get to the Cotswolds, and I decided to stop first in Cirencester, a town Betsy and I visited a few years earlier and really liked. It was pretty quiet at 9 a.m., but that was fine with me. Here's a little video of a guy selling strawberries, enthusiastically.

I had a coffee and croissant, wandered around the central streets, then decided to drive north to Chedworth, the largest Roman villa site (partially excavated) in Britain—and a National Trust property, so free for me. Fascinating to see those well preserved tile floors from 1800 years ago. 

The rest of the day wasn't particularly eventful—I got settled in at the Airbnb coach house, which is really nice. Living room, bathroom and a small kitchen downstairs, just the bedroom upstairs. Perfectly fine for my needs. I walked around Cheltenham for a while, and it's a mixed bag: a bit shabby in the area where I'm staying, but certainly safe. And some decent-looking pubs. And, unexpectedly, this. 

On Saturday morning, I drove down to Uley to repeat a walk Betsy and I loved seven years ago. Here are a few pictures. The second one shows the hill I was about to walk up. It seemed pretty steep until I discovered Cooper's Hill the next day....

This (below) was at the top of Cam Long Down, a long plateau with views in every direction; to the west was the River Severn and beyond that, Wales.

This next picture is not interesting in the least, but I include it because it illustrates the thing that I love most about this country: the concept of public rights of way. The short stretch you see below went through the middle of a working farm, but I had every right to be there because it was part of a public footpath that connects the Cotswold Way (a 100-mile walking route from Bath up to Chipping Camden) to the town of Uley, where I'd parked. 

Here's a screenshot of the app I use for finding my way; it's produced by Ordnance Survey maps (which for decades were produced on paper, and which I used in the pre-smart phone era) and cost me £5 for a month. It's invaluable to me, and far superior to Google Maps because it shows all these public footpaths, represented here as some form of a dotted green line. When you're using the map, it shows you where you are via GPS, which is surprisingly handy. You can also map out routes in advance, which will tell you the (nearly exact) distance as well as elevation gain, the latter of which is a useful way to know ahead of time how strenuous the walk will be. On this day, I had three significant climbs, so even though I only walked about 8 miles altogether, it was a pretty demanding day. (My hip has been fine, though it was definitely a little sore the next day.)

The wavy red lines are topographical indications of the height of the ground; when they're very close together, it's a steep hill. The more they're spaced out, the more gradual the incline/descent. 

In the image above, you can see exactly where I was walking when I took the previous picture: right in the middle of Coldharbour Farm (left side of OS map). The route took me through two more farms on the way back to Uley (bottom right). You can also zoom in if you need to see exactly what your route options are.

And since I've gone into this much detail, I may as well continue and show you the map legend. Walkers can travel on any kind of path, but if you're on horseback (bridleway) or a bicycle, you'll want to see which paths you're allowed on.

Finally, the paths often go directly through fields, like this one that went diagonally through a wheat field. Farmers aren't required to cut/maintain this path, but many do, it seems. 

Many footpaths go through fields where cows, sheep, or horses are grazing. As most of my friends and family know, walking through a field with cows and calves is more than a little nerve-wracking. Walkers are killed every year by protective mother cows, though usually it's the result of people walking with unruly dogs.

I'd planned to include my Sunday trip in this post, but it's too long now, so that one (cheese rolling!) is up next.

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