Stage two - Stanton to Winchcombe

Welcome dear reader, back to our journey! As you may recall, I am writing this as an omnibus 'catch-up' edition of our Cotswold Way adventure and so, this stage of the walk is only a couple of days old in my mind and I should be more familiar with the events as they unfolded.

The weather in recent days and weeks has been very poor and to be honest, at the outset of the holiday season I for one had not really expected much by way of opportunity to progress our story onward. However, after Christmas and all the bustle was fading, such a day did offer itself and that day was Thursday 29th December 2022, the last suitable walking day of the year.

Once again Kyle had scheduled work, and once again he was unable to join us, so Lara, Elena and I set off on our merry way to pick up the route where we had left off, which was at Stanton. This time however, we were careful to note that buses would be running and we decided it was a more psychologically pleasing idea to park the car at our goal, catch a bus to our starting point and to walk from there back to the car.

So, with that all sorted and agreed, we set off to Winchcombe in the car, which we duly parked in a long stay and made our way first to a bakery/café and then to the bus stop. The 606 arrived bang on time and we were on our way. The 606 doesn't go right into Stanton, so we hopped off at the 'west turn', which is about a mile walk along a tarmac'd road from the centre of the village. We quickly found the point where we had left the trail on our previous trip and set off on our way. The route leads out through the village to the south and then east along the road, before taking a right turn onto a footpath through the fields and on toward the picturesque hamlet of Stanway. Along the path we saw plenty of sheep, but one lone grey chap was laying on the side of the path and didn't stir, even when I approached him and tickled his ear. He didn't look particularly well so, noting the fact we carried on our way, resolving to alert the first local inhabitant to the fact. As we entered Stanway and took a left leading up a shallow incline, I saw a guy just parking his car and enquired if he knew the owner of the cattle in those fields, which he did. He thanked me and informed me he would call the farmer and let him know. Good deed done, we carried on and up the slowly climbing hill to Upper Stanway farm and back out through open fields.




From here the route takes a bite south and east, before again heading west over higher ground. Here, since the wind was a fairly brisk >30mph in the gusts and chilly on the hills, we zipped up coats and donned hoods to protect our ears.




We stopped for a photo and a breather on the hilltop a couple of hundred metres from Cromwell's seat monument.



Time only for one more contrived 'multiple personality' panoramic, before we headed off again and back down toward Hailes Abbey, which being in the holiday season was unfortunately closed. The path leading down to here passes Hailes fruit farm and shooting area, from where we had been hearing gunshots for the past couple of hours, due no doubt to the prevailing wind direction. Now, as we passed by at our closest, it sounded just a little close for comfort. A quick look at the map shows that it is actually a very safe distance away and orientated so as to not intrude on any passing public still, in these weather conditions, it did give cause for some mild caution.

From the valley floor, the route now passed through more fields leading to Winchcombe, which we had been able to see from a little higher up. From the Abbey ruins, it was another easy 2.5 miles. Along this path we saw the Gloucestershire - Worcestershire Steam Railway engine puffing back and forward to and from Winchcombe station. 

Soon we were back in Winchcombe and went for a cool drink at the White Hart pub, before reuniting with the car for the ride home.

This time I had set the Strava, which recorded the mileage (with the walk in to Stanton) at about 8.5 miles. Not a massive distance, but certainly enough for my tired legs! Currently, we are contemplating the possibility of getting the next stage complete in the coming days, which should bring us into home territory, so to speak, in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham. A screen capture of today's route, along with a link to Strava for anybody who fancies a more analytical look at the route, are below.

Strava: CW - stage two 



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