The Cotswold Way is a 102-mile long-distance footpath, running along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills in England. Wikipedia
Long story short: My daughter and I are hiking – oops, I meant to say walking – the Cotswold Way in June. (Jenny assures me that if I say I’m hiking the CW I will be mercilessly ridiculed by our English cousins.)
Still, one does not simply hike/walk the 102-mile length of Cotswold Way cold. This is especially true when one possesses a 76-year old right knee that is possessed of no sense of humor whatsoever.)
No, one must gradually work oneself up the task before setting off on a 10 day hi…walk, in a distant land.
Which is why I’ve decided that, over the coming days and weeks, I will warm-up to CW by hiking (not cycling, gawd help me) some of the best trails in and around GNV.
To begin, I recently put my feet (not to mention my two hiking, um, walking sticks) down upon the sweet trails (no pun intended) in Sweetwater Preserve.
Sweetwater Preserve is smaller brother to the nearby, wildly more popular, Sweetwater Wetlands Park. Which makes for a much less crowded visit. Mostly you are likely to encounter dog walkers, solitary runners and, you know, hippies, nature freaks and such.
It commences where SW 16th Ave comes to an abrupt end just past Williston Road.
At the spot where Sweetwater Branch makes its final approach into Paynes Prairie before disappearing into Alachua Sink.
The last time I visited Sweetwater Preserve I arrived by bicycle and took what might charitably be called a leisurely stroll through the woods.
This time I booked it and managed just under four miles in just over an hour. (Laugh that one off, right knee!)
And, listen, I loved this hike!
The preserve’s trails wind their way through a respectably dense forest, and touches upon lovely Sweetwater Branch at several points.
It is a trail custom made for solitary, um, reflection.
And if you follow Sandy Trail far enough you will eventually leave the forest and enter into slash pine, palmetto scrub and sand hill flats territory. Talk about sensory overload.
It even connects with the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. (Riding the trail I often wondered why they put that funny looking serpentine bike rack where they did. Now I know.
They tell me I’ll be encountering a lot of sheep (and sheep droppings) on the CW. There is nary a Mary’s little lamb to be seen in the Sweetwater Preserve. But lots of other interesting critters are known to frequent the vicinity.
Including those celebrated local reptiles possessed of ferocious roar and sharp chompers.
If you haven’t already done so I highly recommend a walk (hike) through the Sweetwater Preserve. You can lose yourself in this pocket wilderness without actually, you know, get lost.
Stay tuned. I’ll report back on the next GNV-area trail taken on my crooked, wayward walk to Cotswold Way.
FreeGNV 