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Leg16. Chipping Sodbury to Doynton

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  On Sunday 9 th July,   7 intrepid walkers set out on the 16 th leg of our Monarch’s Way walk, from Chipping Sodbury to Doynton. The forecast promised changeable weather. We were hoping that we didn’t get caught in a downpour, but brought raincoats and applied suntan lotion so that we were ready for all eventualities.   The first part of the walk took us out of the town, and into fields which afforded the first opportunity for a group photo.   Shortly we reached a common, where we managed to skirt the frisky bullocks. The Monarch’s Way book warns us that it is easy to go in the wrong direction on the common. In fact, unlike some of the earlier walks, there wasn’t much signage on the whole of this walk. It was sometimes challenging to find where we were supposed to be going, but Rod did a marvellous job, guiding us. The path took us through fields of barley (or was it wheat?) and maize. Not the easiest walking. Eventually we came upon The Wishing Well pub – which had a garden w
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Leg 15: Hawkesbury Upton to Chipping Sodbury

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The weather was beautiful, sunny and warm, as we set off from Hawkesbury Upton for the 15th leg of our walk.  Lily was wearing her elegant Swamp Cooler vest to keep her cool as the temperature was predicted to rise to 20 C.  Di and Rod, Deborah and Lily the dog were joined by Ceris, Melanie, Jacky and Katharine (all repeat walkers having caught the Monarch's Way bug themselves!) We joined the Cotswold Way for a lot of this walk, so the route was familiar. We walked past the drovers' pool and up an stony old drovers' lane, through lush fields of wheat and oil seed rape. We followed the drovers' lane through fields for some time. There were beautiful views on both sides of us. To the West we could see the Severn Bridge and over into Wales - reminding us how far we have come on our walk from Stratford-upon-Avon to Bristol. To the East we could see over to the hills of the Ridgeway. Eventually we  reached a road, and immediately turned into some lovely shaded woods full of
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Leg 14: Leighterton to Hawkesbury Upton

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Eight walkers plus Lily the dog had been watching the weather forecast very carefully in the days before the walk. We were promised a warm, dry, sunny day, but this seemed unlikely as we gathered at Leighterton, in rather overcast conditions. The carefully worked out transport logistics were thrown into confusion at the start of the walk, because we hadn't realised that the Badminton Horse Trials were taking place just down the road, and the traffic was very heavy.  Eventually, we were all assembled at Leighterton, the sun came out, and we set off.  After about a mile along a lane, we passed the very handsome Boxwell Court. It is reputed that Charles II stayed the night here on his flight to France, although the King’s own account does not support this; we do know that the owners of the house at the time strongly supported the Royalist cause. We all agreed this walk was the best for scenery so far this year; we were soon treated to lovely views across Ozleworth Bottom, a deep but
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Leg 13 - Tetbury to Leighterton

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We left a car at the Royal Oak at Leighterton, and then eight walkers assembled at Tetbury for this Easter Monday walk. After the obligatory start line photo, we set off, out of Tetbury and past the very stately Elmestree House on our right, and the Highgrove Estate on our left. No Monarch to be seen on the Monarch's Way though.  The forecast was mainly dry, but we had a stiff headwind to battle against for the whole walk. Although not quite as muddy as on the last walk, the ground was soft underfoot, and walking against the strong wind was quite tiring.  Westonbirt Arboretum’s nice mossy wall provided a comfy lunch stop. Suitably revived, we pressed on. After the Arboretum, the path dropped down into a wooded valley which was sheltered from the wind, but very muddy.  But by now the sun was shining, and the scenery was beautiful, especially as we climbed out of the valley, across a flowery meadow and farmland, from where we could see our destination, the village of Leighterton. Deb
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Leg 12 - Rodmarton to Tetbury - Mud!

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  Nine of us assembled for this walk, starting at Rodmarton and finishing at Tetbury. The obligatory group photo was taken just outside Rodmarton. The regulars, Rod and Di, Alison and Deborah, and Lily the dog,   were joined on this walk by Carl and son Hudson, Katherine, Ceris and Steven. There had been a lot of rain in the previous few days, so we expected the way to be muddy in parts. Little did we know! Leaving Rodmarton we passed through a couple of ploughed, and muddy, fields. Hudson used his compass to navigate us safely on a course of 200 degrees to eventually reach a busy road which we crossed with care. We walked for about a mile along a lane until we reached the village of Ashley, population 50 (according to the Church website), where we stopped at the beautiful church of St James for our picnic.  The Church dates back to the 12 th century and was a beautiful and peaceful place to stop. We had expected the weather to be sunny by this time but we were out of luck, and as w
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Leg 11: Cirencester to Rodmarton - Tunnel Vision

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  Six of us gathered at Rodmarton for the first of our Monarchs Way walks for 2023. We left a couple of cars there, and drove to Cirencester to start the walk. The weather was nicer than we expected. The first half mile or so was along the A433, which was a bit noisier than in Charles II’s day, but very soon we diverted into the peaceful grounds of the Royal Agricultural College. We passed a Commemorative Plaque to the Monarch’s Way and soon found ourselves on a slightly muddy path across a number of fields. Before long we came to a bridge over the abandoned Thames and Severn Canal. Here we had the option to take a short diversion to see the source of the River Thames, but conscious of the fact that this was going to be the longest walk this year, we decided to forego this diversion, and instead we turned right, to follow the disused towpath West. This was the nicest part of the walk, along the disused canal, with overhanging trees, lush vegetation, and the glimpse of some deer in the
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Leg 10 - North Cerney to Cirencester - All downhill (almost)

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  We had a lovely sunny morning for our last Monarchs Way walk; a short, easy but triumphant stroll into Cirencester. There were six walkers (Deborah, Jacky, Andy, Chris, Rod & Di) plus of course Lily the dog to round us all up. A short uphill stretch out of North Cerney led us to a field where we admired a buzzard circling in a clear blue sky, before taking a straightforward, and gently downhill, walk across fields, and through some woodland, following the course of the River Churn.   We went under a massive flyover carrying the A417, and arrived in the village of Baunton. Three very convenient benches in the churchyard were ideal for our lunch stop,  and suitably fortified, we continued through Baunton, across a couple more fields, and into Cirencester.   We took a slight detour round Cirencester as some of our party had never visited the town, and arrived at Jack’s Tea Room for tea and cake to celebrate the half way point of our Monarch’s Way challenge. Some statistics ; over
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