08/03/14 - Perfect Day. Almost.

Distance - 6 Miles
Geocaches - 1 new find

Winchcombe at EveryTrail


Sometimes the planets align just enough to trick you into thinking that it is your day. 

I have been looking forward to a walk in Winchcombe since I read Bill Bryson's Book - "Notes from a Small Island".  He talked about leaving a quintessential English town on foot and making an amazing discovery.  I had already made that discovery, but his text made me want to come back.

Joy Number 1 - After taking the mickey out of Sonia because an article in the Times had her classed as "Chronically Angry", we miss our turn off the M5.  This works out fine, as we come in from Cheltenham and get the last parking space in the street outside the Corner Cupboard pub.  "She who must be enraged" research had suggested that this might be the only pub in this perfect part of Gloucestershire that would have the Albion on at 12.45.

A great place to start a walk

We head off.  Soon on familiar ground as we past Sudeley Castle.  I ask the question about which one of Henry VIII's wives spent her final years here.  Sonia was close with "Anne Parr", but it may have been a random guess.

Katherine Parr's former Home

This level of historical walking cannot fail to put a smile on my face.  The real reason I am here is even more historical. 

The only thing that surprises me is that I reviewed at least 10 walks from my collection of Country Walking and various books and not one of them takes me here.  Its like it is a secret that no-one wants you to know about.

The location itself is in strange contrast to the rest of the Cotswolds.  Instead of the gorgeous vistas and the honey stone buildings, we are in a damp wood, with very green ferns.  There is a ramshackle pile of bricks that could be an old farmhouse but is something more ancient.

Not your usual Cotswolds walk

There is a small building with a tin roof that hides away a tarpaulin held down with stones.  You are quite welcome to remove the cover and underneath is a 2000 year old mosaic from the floor of a former Roman villa.

Closest I will be to an archaeologist

Quite how it has survived the ravages of time and delinquents with nothing better to do is beyond me.  But it is a stunning stop off.

To further improve our mood, the sun come out just as we get to the top of the hill.  There are some caches around here but I have found them previously, apart from one.  Sonia asks me if there is any treasure and I comment on the missing one, just as we approach GZ.  I was here nearly five years ago and recorded a DNF.  Sonias exclaims that she can "Bloody well see it from the Path".  I can only blame ancient Sat Navs.

The clue is "Stump".  I am a poor cacher.

We now have downhill walking and can see Winchcombe in the distance.  Sonia is convinced it is Cheltenham as it looks a fair way away.  The walking could not be finer, as we pick up the Windrush Way.

This LDP leads us to an old Watermill that is in a state of gorgeous decrepitude.

Watermill

A look at my Sat Nav shows that we are 45 minutes from kick off so we get a wriggle on as fast as we can through the particularly gloopy Cotswold Mud to deliver us back to the castle.

Back at the Beginning

Joy Number 2 comes when we take a different way into the town.  There is always one walk a year when you know that we can say goodbye to Winter and say hello to Spring.  And today is that day.

First Lambs of 2014

I am positively beaming at this joyous discovery.  And to top it all, we are back in town at 12:30.  We degaiter and deboot but need to confirm that the Corner Cupboard has the football on.

Joy number 3 is displayed in the Window.

Either way, its a fine looking pub

Oh Yes - a Sign

Perfect.  We enter.  We ask if they have the game on.  They say yes.  We get a prime seat in front of a 50" inch HD TV.  They have Timothy Taylor Landlord.  They will do my Liver and Bacon with Chips. 

I think long and hard about investing in a lucky dip lottery ticket.

The Albion lose 0-3.