Monarch's Way Walk 2022

  The walk from Bourton on the Water to Northleach was to have been our busiest to date, as twelve people had put their names down for this one. But a variety of circumstances beyond their control meant that several people had to drop out, and so Alison and Deborah’s nephew Carl was our only visitor. So Rod, Di, Alison and Deborah with Lily the dog left a car at The Old Prison at Northleach, and drove to Bourton, where we met up with Carl.  After the obligatory photo at the start  we set off across a number of fields until we came to a field with horses. Lily was put on the lead, but studiously ignored the horses, as we climbed the first of  today’s hills. We were glad of our waterproofs as a brief shower passed over,  but by the time we reached Clapton-on-the-Hill the rain had stopped. We decided not to explore Clapton and pressed on, past Goms Hole (apparently Gom may havebeen a hermit who lived nearby, or alternatively he was a sheep stealer who was hanged he...

We enjoyed glorious weather for this walk. There were six of us, and Lily the dog. The regulars, Di and Rod and Deborah and Ali were joined by Steven and Vanessa.  We started earlier as the weather was forecast to rise to 25 degrees mid-afternoon. Meeting at the Fox Inn in Broadwell, we climbed steadily on the road out of the village, passing the gates to some parkland on the left. At the top we took a cool tree-lined lane which ended in a tarmac access road.  Following this road brought us to two wells, the first one small, but the second a large rectangular structure, full of water. This Stow Well was built in Roman times - it's said it's never since failed to produce water. Lily didn't need any second invites, she was in like a shot cooling off. We continued up the access road into Stow-on-the-Wold where we walked down the busy A429 until we came to a footpath for Quarwood Cottage. We continued along a green lane, eventually crossing several fields until we reached t...

Steven, Louise, and Susannah joined the regulars this time, for five miles, Moreton-in-Marsh to Broadwell.  Di’s logistical planning worked well; having left Louise’s car at Broadwell, we all regrouped for the obligatory starting photo in Moreton and set off down green lanes and across a number of fields in warm sunshine.   Alison’s navigational skills were called for as the book instructed us to follow a course of 210 degrees to the farthest corner of a field. Fortunately, Alison had her compass (although we could actually see the stile we were aiming for…).  This walk did contain some pretty complicated stiles.....   We had planned to stop for a Sunday lunch at the Coach & Horses in Longborough,  but found out when trying to book that they weren’t serving food as the Landlord and Landlady had got married and were on their  honeymoon. But they were happy to sell us drinks to accompany our packed lunches in their garden. Rested and refreshed, w...

It is quite a feat to get nine people into a starting selfie, but more of an achievement to work out the logistics of getting all those people to the start of the walk at Broad Campden and home again from Moreton-in-Marsh. We have Di to thank for brilliantly sorting out the logistics. Having successfully arrived at the Bakers Arms, the regular crew and dog, along with Steven, Melanie, Ro, Janet and Julia set off in glorious sunshine. We walked up a gentle hill and before we turned left along the side of a field we looked back on the lovely view. We followed this track for a while, through a couple of hunter's gates and past a beautiful house, where a collection of 4 dogs greeted us enthusiastically from the garden. On we walked, admiring the beautiful views on the way. This walk had more hills than the earlier ones on the Monarch's Way, and at the top of a particularly steep climb,  we paused and were delighted to find that Di had baked some delicious biscuits for us all, whic...

  Hidcote to Broad Campden 4.5 miles The weather was in our favour as the heat of the last couple of days had dissipated leaving sunny but fresh conditions for our walk from Hidcote to Broad Campden. We had decided to make an earlier start and not take picnic lunches - we found our backpacks to be much lighter - as we could then lunch at leisure at the Baker’s Arms in Broad Campden. This turned out to be an excellent idea. There were seven of us today: Rod, Di, Alison, Deborah, Melanie, Stephen, and Gill with Lily and Maisie representing the canine contingent. We set off from the NT free car park walking past Hidcote Manor itself and then  into the tiny hamlet of Hidcote Bartrim. We crossed through a beautiful orchard with sheep and lambs and then through a field crossing ancient ridge and furrow to reach a quiet country road.  After a short distance we left the road to follow a track leading to Harvest Piece farm eventually reaching a sign and driveway to Mickleton H...

  Although it was unseasonably cold, little or no rain was forecast for our second walk. Deborah, Alison, Lily, Di, Rod and Steven left a car at Hidcote, and drove to the start at Long Marston. We stopped briefly to look at The Kings Lodge, where Charles II spent a night on his flight from the Parliamentarians in 1651. Ben & Julia, who had driven up from London, joined us, and we set off shortly after 11.30.   The route was slightly more complicated this time, and we had to negotiate a number of rickety stiles, one or two of which made little or no provision for dogs. Poor Lily had to be manhandled over a couple, which she found a little undignified. After a couple of miles we came to the village of Lower Quinton, and beyond that Upper Quinton where there is a lovely village green, with an inviting bench, just right for a lunch stop. The black cloud which had been coming closer finally caught up with us, but we only had rain for about five minutes, and then the sun came ...