Day 144 - Broadway to Stanton

One of the challenges we've given ourselves on this trip is to walk the 102 mile Cotswold Way. The problem we're facing is that to get to the various points along it is not always easy without a car. The Cotwolds is a place where a town right next to you may not be accessible by direct public transport. So, you may end up having to travel 3 or 4 hours by train and bus to make your way to a place that is less than 10 miles away.

It's just how it is. You keep expecting to hear, "You can't get there from here," when you ask how to get somewhere. LOL.

We've walked various sections of it over this and other trips. So far, while we've been here, we've walked the start at Chipping Campden down to Broadway. But that's only about 6 miles.

Today, we worked out a way to walk another stretch. It involved getting up early to the first bus out of Moreton in Marsh to Broadway. From there, Phil had worked out a path along the Cotswold Way to the village of Stanton, and then a loop back along other paths. There wasn't any other way we could get transport back in time ... and guarantee we would make it to the needed bus stop in time for the last bus.

The sun was beaming down upon us as we left the beautiful town of Broadway...which is fast becoming our favourite town in the area. It was nice to see it in all its glory before the streets became cluttered with people out enjoying the gorgeous day.

From Broadway we walked for about a mile up about 173m to the escarpment at Burhil (173m). The views back over the area and across to the Broadway Tower were spectacular.

The walk up took us through fields of sheep, completely oblivious to us. We know it is lambing season and are on the look out for these adorable animals, but none were in this field. However, we did see a few that looked like they were carrying twins and ready to give birth at any minute.

Looking back to Broadway from
the Cotswold Way.

The path was fairly even for a bit, before it began its steady climb for 1.5 miles up 278m to Shenberrow Hill, once the site of an iron-age settlement (about 700 BC).

Once up, you inevitably have to come down again, and in this case, the descent was rather sharp over 1.25 miles of muddy tracked path to the very pretty village of Stanton. In the late 700s AD, manors at Stanton and nearby Snowshill were ceded to the Benedictine abbey of St. Mary of Winchcombe. Stanton manor passed to Katherine Parr (Henry VIII's sixth and last wife) in her dowry.

The village of Stanton.

At Stanton, we broke away from the Cotswold way to make our way back toward Broadway. Rather than climb back up the hill we had just fallen  walked down, we took the Winchcombe Way which skirts across the slope of the escarpment.

This is very much equestrian country, and we passed many horse farms and riders on this fine day.

This part of the path took us path the village of Laverton and then into Buckland. On entering Buckland, we were treated to views of the stunning Buckland Manor, which dates to the 13th Century. Today it is a hotel with restaurant ... and looks like a romantic place to spend a day...or seven.

Buckland Manor next to the Church of St. Mary, Buckland. The village rectory is thought to be the oldest in the UK.

It was in Buckland that we took a bit of a rest on a bench across from the church. It was idyllic as we watched the locals walk by and chat with each other, and even enjoyed the clip-clop of a horse and rider go by.

Our walk had taken us about four hours up and down hills, so when we returned to Broadway, we enjoyed a lovely lunch of homemade carrot and butternut squash soup with half a tuna mayo sandwich...with a cup of tea, of course.

Then it was on the bus again, and back to Moreton in Marsh.  Time for a brief nap before we walked to the village of Bourton on the Hill for this month's Rural Cinema offering, Victoria and Abdul.  In all, this was our longest walking day so far, at 27 km...and yes, our feet were tired! The rest of the Cotswold Way will just have to wait.




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