After 3 years cycling in the gentle rolling lanes of Suffolk, we fancied a new area for our Girl's cycling trip this year. (Gill, Jeanette, Daphne and me). The Cotswolds was suggested, and with a certain amount of hesitation due to elevation, I booked via a company called, wait for it..... Cotswold Journeys. They offer a 4 day break called "The Classic Cotswolds Cycling Tour".
"In four days cycling, you will see the prettiest villages, the finest scenery and the most interesting places in this incomparable corner of England. "
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| All sounds perfect! |
DAY 1 HONEYBOURNE TO WINCHCOMBE 26 miles, 2000 feet. ( that's not easy to gentle?!)
The official tour starts in Chipping Campden. But since we live just a couple of hours away, rather than pay for a hotel the first night, we set off early Wednesday morning, June 5th. I pre paid to park on a private drive (Just Park app), in the village of Honeybourne, 5 miles north of Chipping Camden. Dan from Cotwold Journeys met us there at 11, to collect our bags and take them to our first hotel stop in Winchcombe.
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| Dan collecting our luggage, and who also planned the routes for us. |
Within a couple of miles, we started a tough climb up to Chipping Campden.
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| This is why I pre-booked a parking space on a private drive weeks ago! Cars everywhere in Chipping Campden. |
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| Sunny start in Chipping Campden. Photo by Jeanette |
Since we drove down into Chipping Campden on our way to Honeybourne, we knew we had a steep climb to get out, as we made our way to the Broadway Tower.
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| Part way up our climb out of Chipping Campden. It went on and on, then we crossed over the main road, and thankfully flattened out! |
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| Broadway Tower. I was "talking to the camera" with a mic here, walking towards the ladies sheltering from the wind at the tower base. |
Taken by a tourist who chopped off the tower.
(I've got her on film.)
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| A long downhill followed from Broadway Tower, under tree cover, then opening out. |
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| Lovely views though this gate, where we turned right dropping into Snowshill |
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| Snowshill village where we did a loop, and then headed down a long hill (passing the NT Manor, which I thought was closed on Wednesdays.) We stopped to check google.... it's open! So back up the hill then. 😂 |
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Priority was the NTrust cafe. Walking to the Manor, about 500 mtres from the cafe. (Daphne arrived on a buggy) |
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Jackets on! It was cool.
Very interesting house, which was bought as a place to display the vast collection of Arts and Crafts objects collected by Charles Wade. They came from around the world, but were mostly bought from shops in the UK. The only connection was that they are all hand made.
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| Top of the house, was the old bike collection. |
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| Snowshill garden |
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| Big views... of hills! |
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| A miniature village also part of the garden. |
Back down the hill.... all the way this time, and we were told it was worth having a look at Broadway Village. On our way, we stopped off at Bury End Church, opposite this very unusual property.
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| Bury End Church |
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| I wonder who was first in? !😉😂 |
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| Modern Pews. |
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| Broadway. |
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| Hair being brushed before afternoon tea at 4.30!!!! |
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| Just in time before the shop closed. |
With 10 miles to go after Broadway, we passed through Stanton and Stanway.
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| Stanway House, in beautiful late afternoon sun. |
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| All nice and flat, but not for long! |
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| As I crossed this bridge, a rather large hill ahead! eek. |
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| No way!! I'm not stopping, and look at this pot hole! |
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| Jeanette now ahead as I stopped for some photos looking back. But by now we were all walking.  Looking back.  Looking back  Photo by Jeanette. After the cattle grid, you expect to be at the top.... but no, not yet! More to come before we were able to get back on our bikes, and then a massive downhill to our hotel in Winchcombe, passing the entrance to Sudley Castle on the way down. The road surface not the best near the bottom, infact by the time Gill reached the hotel she reported that her Banana was missing! 😂😂😂 (but at least she still had her apple to take out for a ride the next 3 days).😜 |
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| Yeah! We all made it. Here comes Jeanette. Daphne already had her shower, and started the G&T's. Day one done. DAY one summary (unable to add the other days in similar fomat for some reason)  DAY 2 WINCHCOMBE to BOURTON ON THE WATER 24 miles, 1916 feet. I went for a walk in the town pre Breakfast with my camera. Lots of cars lined the streets here too, so not easy to get photographs of the lovely buildings.      Before we left the hotel, Gill was the next "volunteer" to do her piece to camera for our holiday film.  As we set off, a few people had started gathering for the 80th anniversary of D-DAY in the town. We had dropped down a massive hill to arrive last night, so now we had to get up again. I walked only twice on this trip, and this was the second one. We all did pretty well, until we once more hit over 15% so walked a bit.  The climb continued, eventually crossing The Cotswold Way, where we a had brief rest, before it went up further.  Some beautiful scenery as the route eventually flattened out , with wild flowers everywhere, and eventually we passed the impressive Brockhampton House (private).         and where we stopped for Daphne to rescue a sheep. We passed through Hawling, continuing to Guiting Power, where we had a snack at The Village Post Office, sitting in the back garden. A gardener was strimming the village green during the entire time we were there....... so not exactly relaxing!      Following the Windrush River, we rode through Barton, Kineton, crossing the river at Temple Guiting. After a fair amount of climbing, we opted to NOT take the additional climb to Upper Slaughter, but instead enjoyed a big downhill into Lower Slaughter.             Inside the church.   Photo by Daphne of Gill and Jeanette.  Just a few miles to go after our late lunch to reach our destination of Bourton on the Water, where we had another late afternoon tea, before checking in at The Mousetrap Inn. A few anxious moments as they were not expecting any bikes..... long story.... but we got a solution. Very nice meal in the hotel that evening.    DAY 3 BOTWater loop to Bibury 33 miles 2,200 feet !! We started our day with Daphne doing her Piece to Camera in the village, which was empty before the day trippers arrived.  Joy of joys.... another BIG climb lasting 2 miles to get out of here this morning, as we climbed to Little Rissington and onto Great Rissington. The route then levelled out a bit, as we once more followed the Windrush River through Windrush Village.                with John and Linda on a ride.   the village. (she has a flat 😂) We had another tough climb out of the Windrush Valley, through a beautiful wooded area.   Once across the A40, we had several miles of easier downhill runs, passing a NT building called Lodge Park.   Nr Coln St Alwyns   Typical scene of walls and Oxide Daisies.      We had lunch at The Trout Fishery in Bibury sitting under the patio heaters!! Gill and I opted for a bowl of hot soup (Chowder), and the others had Trout 3 ways. (which I had last time I was here) All very good. As we left, it just started to drizzle, but thankfully came to nothing. We undulated crossing the River Coln first in Ablington, and then again at the pretty Winson Millhouse.     Coln St Dennis  Our next stop was Northleach for afternoon tea, where we sat indoors at The Ox House wine bar. A large group were gathering here during our visit, all attending a wedding we think, so it all got rather noisy. Then a quick visit to the impressive Northleach church.    The others were all sitting down, but one by one wandered over to say hello. 😂 After a climb nr Clapton "on the hill", we finally dropped back down into BOTWater. We walked into the village for dinner to a GreenKing pub. Daphne had a 20% off voucher which we used, but the pub had been recommended by an artist we had chatted to earlier in the day.   Unbelievable. 4 spoons! Gill and I had a stroll in town after dinner, where the light was lovely.      DAY 4. BOTWater to Chipping Campden and Honeybourne. 30 miles 1800 feet. (here we go again!) Our start today was, guess what? Uphill again to Little Rissington, then a branch off left to Upper Rissington. So a different 1.5 mile climb to yesterday, but also peaking over 15%. But now we can do this! 😇 Once it all flattened out, we had some stunning views again today, and set up for Jeanette to do our final "piece to camera".  It was VERY windy on the top today! The route was not nearly so hard, but still lots of undulations, as we passed through Oddington, Evenload and eventually to Morton in Marsh after 14 miles where we crossed the A44.         Morton in Marsh was not so impressive, and we quickly passed by the Railway Station, and once more joined quiet lanes. After a few miles, a very pretty village called Todenham.  After Ebrington, we drop down a massive hill into Chipping Campden, crossing a level crossing, then a steep uphill once more. When will it end? 😕  back to Honeybourrne to the van. Phew.  Do we look as knackered as we feel?  It has become a tradition that we visit a garden on the afternoon of our final day, so I suggested Hidcote which is just 10 mins from Chipping Campden. It was delightful, as ever.     There was also an Art Exhibition of some amazing pieces made from dried flowers. Very inventive. |