Day 56 - Hallowe'en On Broadway

Graeme Green's home in Chipping Campden

The day before had been glorious weather wise but, both Ange and I had spent the day working when deep down we wanted to go for a long hike. We figured today would provide us with another window of fine weather sometime between lunch and tea time. Soooooooo, after a morning of getting some work done and knowing we could finish things up later in the evening, we caught a bus to Chipping Camden to start our walk along the Cotswold Way to the town of Broadway. The Cotswold Way is a 100-mile walk that follows the Cotswold Escarpment from Chipping Camden in the North to Bath in the South.


Today we were going to do about 7 miles of the route and it began by walking out of Chipping Camden and up the hill to the top of the escarpment which at that point we would walk along it until we reached a significant landmark called the Broadway Tower. From time to time the path brings you to the edge of the escarpment and you can catch a glimpse into the Evesham Vale. This escarpment is the largest continuous landform feature in lowland England. Like our own Niagara Escarpment, it was formed by glaciers approximately 1.6 million years ago, although Niagara is much older. The Avon River runs through the vale on its way to the Severn River and the Severn Estuary (next to our Bay of Fundy, it has one of the highest tides in the world).

Eventually one comes to the Broadway Tower where it sits perched 230 meters above the town of Broadway. The tower is known as a folly tower in that it was built for Lady Coventry as she wondered if a beacon could be seen from her home in Worcester approximately 35 kilometers away. Since then it has housed a printing press and served as a retreat for artists. In the 1950s the tower was used to monitor nuclear fall-out in the air and a shelter was built underneath the tower, which still exists to this day.


As one can imagine, even on a hazy afternoon, the view takes in quite a large area (16 counties). While the map seemed to indicate a fairly steep descent into Broadway, it was actually quite a pleasant walk, with even the occasional sheep to chat with.
Broadway has been called the "Jewel of the Cotswolds" and its history can be dated back 5000 years making it one of the earliest partially settled spots in Britain.

It does have a broad expanse of boulevard in its centre. During the 17th century Broadway was a stagecoach stop for travellers between London and Worcester. J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, lived in Broadway as did many other writers.  There are numerous shops and restaurants and so Angela and I are looking forward to returning for some serious browsing. Today we were getting into the town late in the afternoon, with only enough time to get to the bus stop for our return journey.

 Happy Hallowe'en everyone!

Ale of the Day: Merchant's Merula Stout Ale, Hook Norton Brewery, Oxfordshire