I’m just gonna say this and move on.
It was swell being way up there.
But we definitely paid the price of admission
On day three of our Cotswold Way adventure we hit the heights (as Bugs would sing).
Loony Tunes heights.
Our stats for today: 12.7 miles.
Listen, I’ve hiked the Rockies, the Smokies, Mt. Washington and even dabbled in the Alps. And so I know what it means to stand on the precipice and say “OMG!”
But I’m here to tell you that the view from the highest point on the Cotswold Way – and yes at a mere 1,083 feet – was awe inspiring. And on a 360 degree scale.
The city of Cheltenham was spread out below to one side.
A sprawling 18-hole golf course lay on the other.
In between was a thousand acres of abandoned quarries, nature preserves and well used footpaths that spread out in all directions.
This was the Cleeve Commons, and it was spectacular. Made even more so because, for the first time in our trek, the sun broke out of the clouds and showed us everything.
Everywhere.
All at once.
But I digress.
The point is that we had a spectacular day, broken up by a lot of steep climbs which were frequently interrupted by just as many steep descents.
But, honestly, the views from the top made all of the exertion worth it.
Oh, I’ll admit that we lucked out. As the official CW guidebook puts it…”this large upland plateau can be swept by mists; when this happens it can be a bleak and mysterious place, and route finding can be challenging.”
No challenges today folks.
Along the way e traversed a butterfly preserve called Happy Valley. I saw no butterflies, but I saw two horses who may very well have chomped or stepped on the odd butterfly while chewing up the landscape.
And I also happened upon a growth that looked an awful lot like the plant in “Little Shop of Horrors.” Oddly, I felt a kinship with the little fellow.
Which is not to say that our day did not have its challenges,
Five and a half miles into our journey we left the CW and proceeded to Dunkerson’s Cider Co.
In our own defense we only did so because the self-same official guide book said Dunkerson’s is “one of the great surprises” of the CW.
And you know me, friends and neighbors, I love a surprise.
It was fabulous. The cider was sublime. The pizza was awesome.
But the payback was hell.
The payback being that as soon as we got back on the trail it began climbing straight up.
And up.
And up.
Under a now crucifying sun.
Until the cider and pizza and the sun began to weigh on us like shackles on a death march through Purgatory.
But let us move on to more pleasant memories.
In due course, having shaken off our cider and pizza hangovers, we arrived at Leckhampton Hill.
Which proved to have vistas every bit as impressive and awe inspiring as Cleeve Hill.
Honestly, we are only one-third of our way through the Cotswold Way, But I do not expect too see sights like this again.
Oh, when we caught our ride into Leckhampton, Jenny reminded me that it was Sunday. And that Sunday roasts are a big tradition in merry old England,
So we took ourselves to The Old Courthouse, a restaurant that literally occupies a building that used to be the city’s courthouse.
It was swell.
But, listen, I’m not going to lie to you friends and neighbors.
After three days of very tough trekking, both Jenny and I are moving around like stiff jointed zombies. Finding it difficult to sit down/stand up, walk up or down stairs, and generally being unable to move about without considerable pain.
Jenny calls it the unanticipated consequence of being a city girl and taking on the Cotswold Way.
I call it being 76-years old.
Hah!
P.S. Jenny was a trooper today. She never gave up.
FreeGNV 