After a great first day of walking, the expectations were set high for what would be a longer, more grueling journey than the previous. From Stanton to Cleeve Hill we were expecting 13.5 miles (before adding in a 1.5 mile roundtrip to Sudeley Castle just outside of Winchcombe).

With a fairly easy start, our pace was great. The English hills tend to deteriorate our pace as we go up them, and improve our pace as we go down them—imagine that, gravity is real—but this first stretch was fairly flat with the only real obstacle being a couple of other walkers that we kept struggling to pass. It was relatable to driving on the interstate in the vicinity of someone who is not using the cruise control—aggravating. Managing to pass them near Stanway thanks to a magnificent church that served as an irresistible photo-op, our pace was reset. Shortly after, we met a larger walking group and overheard their leader informing them that “this will be the first of three hills today.” Great! Maybe we shouldn’t have overheard that because by the time we made it to the top of that first hill spirits were…in question. I think the old saying “some things are better left unsaid” applies smashingly well in the case of overhearing the leader of that group.

Surviving the first hill, we made our way on to Winchcombe. There was a nice bakery for lunch and a convenience store to pick-up a few extra bottles of water. The road to Sudeley Castle led right out of the middle of Winchcombe and was an additional ¾ of a mile towards it and back. It was well worth the walk; a castle drenched in English history. There was not a lot of dallying there, however, as we still had the better half of the day ahead of us and the ominous two-hills remaining before Cleeve Hill and our B&B.

The second hill, well, it was straight up like Mount Crumpit rising from Whoville.  And the third hill, while less lengthy, was nearly worse as it came in the last hour of our nine hour journey. Below I’ve attached a profile of the first part of the Cotswold Way. We’ve been walking from right to left when you view the image below, and in the red box you will see the severity of the hills that rise out of Stanton, Winchcombe, and up onto Cleeve Hill.

We arrived at our B&B nine hours on-the-dot from the time we left our B&B in Stanton. 15 miles later, and still feeling every rock, rut and stretch of mud wearing on the muscles in my legs, it was dinner time. Our B&B owner, Barry, recommended a pub down the street. It was great—filled with interesting people and plenty of conversation to overhear.

We turned down for bed shortly after dinner and I took a few moments to post some photos from the day. https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A159UlCqG86vcI

Tomorrow’s route will be a 15.5 mile walk to Birdlip with all hope that there will be less extravagant hills than those encountered on the walk to Cleeve Hill.

As planned, we started today off with a scrumptious full English breakfast. I’m not the world’s biggest egg eater, but that was a delicious egg that I knew I needed the nutrition from for the walk we were about to set out on. We left Cornerways Cottage at about 10 minutes until 9:00 and turned towards the north. While north is not the prominent direction that the Cotswold Way progresses, it was the way that led us out of Chipping Campden, up through the neatest hedge, and past the place where the annual Cotswolds Olimpicks are held.

Let’s back up about 100m and 45 minutes before we passed the Olimpick site, however. While the Cotswold Way is all in all a relatively well marked national trail, when you’re doing something for the first time, it is understandable to get a little confused. As we approached the top of the first major hill we came up for the day out of Chipping, some pretty cute sheep got us distracted and we ended up on a “Cotswold Circular Path” rather than the Cotswold National Trail… To make a long story short, the trail guidebook quickly came out to save us from any more unnecessary excursions—excursions that cost us about 45 minutes and a hike down then back up the largest hill I’ve ever seen.

With the trail guide in hand, we were back on the straight and narrow and making good time on our way to Broadway—the half way point for today’s walk. There’s not a lot to say about the actual walking itself. Some of it was muddy; some on gravel; some through fields; some on roadways. Before making it all the way to Broadway, we came upon Broadway Tower. For £4.90 we were able to climb to the top for a view that stretched over 13 counties.

Just down the hill from the tower was the town of Broadway. For lunch we found a café and for dessert had an ice cream cone with a flake from a street vendor. Broadway was a neat town, buzzing with townsmen and their families enjoying the very mild Sunday afternoon.

Spending just enough time in Broadway to grab a bite to eat and catch our breath, we headed out and rejoined the trail. The last half of the walk for today was a bit more of an endurance test than the first half. Much hillier, muddier, and did I say hillier? Wow it was hilly! I hope the photos I took today will be able to capture the true essence of the landscapes we encountered. We walked (nearly rolled actually due to the steepness of the descent) into Stanton in the best part of the afternoon and found our B&B (The Old Post House) sitting quietly on the side of the main street in town. Another gorgeous home and another lovely family, we made ourselves at home in our room and took some time off our feet.

Out B&B owner made us a 7:00 reservation for dinner at the only pub in town—The Mount Inn. Cleverly named as it is the highest building around, the dinner was absolutely fantastic. I had a veggie burger that was completely contrary to our idea of veggie burgers in the States. This had vegetables on it. Fried, sliced and stacked into a hamburger sized portion.

This evening I posted photos from Day 2 to the Photo Stream and typed up a full post of what happened on Day 2. Tomorrow’s walk will take us to Cleeve Hill and it has the potential to be a wet day. Fingers crossed for another day of sun and stripping off layers to beat the heat.

The block quote below is my original post from day two—a true testament of how tired I was. Even further below that is the transcript of how my day progressing from London to Chipping Campden went down.

Jet lag is hurting right about now. More about Day 2 is going  to have to come at a later time when I can keep my eyes open and not doze off in between every other word.  Heading to bed at 21:30 has not felt this good in quite some time.  Up bright and early tomorrow for the 6 mile walk to Broadway, then 6 more to Stanton.

Even after a slight delay getting off the ground in Chicago, we managed to land on time at London Heathrow right around 6:50 in the morning. We passed through Border Control and gathered our bags, then made haste to the Heathrow Express. The plan was to catch the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station in time to transfer to the 8:20 train that would take us out to Moreton-in-Marsh. With literally 3 minutes to spare, we were seated on the train and headed for the countryside.

Moreton-in-Marsh was a neat town. Small, quiet and quaint. Though that could have been partly because we arrived around 10:00 on a Saturday morning. The English seem to enjoy taking it easy on the weekends. Just across from the train station was the bus stop where we caught a 10:43 transfer to Chipping Campden. What would have been an easy two-minute walk with our bags from the Chipping Campden bus stop to our Bed and Breakfast turned into a 20 minute haul from the outskirts of town. Thanks entirely to the annual Dover games, the bus was not able to make it into town, lending to quite a bit of twisting and turning through all the carnival equipment and rides that lined High Street.

Nevertheless, we made our way to the B&B—a first for me. Greeted upon arrival by a very nice couple and shown to our room, a quick nap was in order. Our B&B owner recommended that we make our way over to High Street around 2:00 to see the festivities. Taking her advice, we ventured over to see what the people of Chipping Campden were capable of, and I must say, it was quite the celebration. Complete with the crowning of a new May queen, a marching band and even some parade floats, Chipping Campden killed it!

For lunch/dinner, we found a pub that most certainly served fish and chips. This meal might possibly be the largest portion of fish I have ever eaten at one time—it was the length of my forearm. :O
After the meal we just moseyed around town and enjoyed a nice, cloud free evening that had presented itself. I continued taking photos of nearly everything, which I am now paying for with approximately 400 photos I’ll need to sort through from the first day. Decided to call it an early night around 7:30 and I do believe I was asleep within two hours of being back in the room. #jetlag

Tomorrow’s plan is to start the walk off right with a full English breakfast and aim to be in the Cotswold Way by 9:00. 12 miles to Stanton (the town where our next B&B is booked) and no telling how much beautiful English countryside to see on the way!

Made it to Chicago a little later than expected thanks to a fantastic Traffic Management Program that held us at OKC. It’s all good though—just less time to sit and wait.

About to board this Boeing 777 (Flight: AA 86) and set off for London. Bon voyage? 🙂

#passbook