Cotswold Way: 8-Day Moderate Hike

DAY 1: Arrival in Cheltenham

From your point of arrival, use the public transport information we provide to make the journey to Cheltenham.

DAY 2: Leckhampton Hill to Painswick

Distance 20km • Approximate Walking Time 5 - 7 hours • Ascent (↑) 490m

Early in the day, you pass through Crickley Hill Country Park with wonderful views from the escarpment over the plains below. The quiet walker will have a good chance to spot some of the wild deer that roam the majestic beech tree forests close to Birdlip. The trail descends via a golf course into the picturesque little town of Painswick.

DAY 3: Painswick to Nympsfield

20/23km • 5 - 8 hours • (↑) 525/635m

Today, after walking through open countryside for the first few kilometres, the trail leads you through some of the wonderful wooded areas on the Cotswold Way. Stockend Wood and Standish Wood are two fine examples you will pass through on today’s walk.

DAY 4: Nympsfield to Wotton-Under-Edge

15/19km • 5 - 7 hours • (↑) 510m

A short, sharp climb to the summit of Cam Long Down offers splendid views of the surrounding countryside. Moving on to North Nibley, you pass a monument dedicated to the memory of William Tyndale - a local man responsible for the translation of the Holy Bible into English in the 16th Century.

DAY 5: Wotton-Under-Edge to Old Sodbury

21km • 5 - 7 hours • (↑) 450m

This walk is one of the more remote on the trail with a few tiny villages but mainly through countryside and along quiet paths and tracks. Later in the day, you pass two Iron Age forts (at Horton and Little Sodbury) - settlements dating back over 2,000 years.

DAY 6: Old Sodbury to Cold Ashton

14km • 4 - 5 hours • (↑) 260m

Imagine how some of England’s wealthiest people live as you pass by the sprawling countryside estates of two wonderful old county homes at Dodington Park and Dyrham Park. The grounds are wonderful for walking and you may be lucky enough to spot deer, rabbit and even foxes on the trail.

DAY 7: Cold Ashton to Bath

17km • 4 - 6 hours • (↑) 310m

Today, your path takes you across a battlefield where, in 1643, hundreds of English soldiers died fighting one another during the English Civil War. From this beautiful, yet somehow eerie, site you descend into the majestic town of Bath. Your journey ends at the fittingly spectacular Bath Abbey next to the Roman Baths - a great end to a great walk!

DAY 8: Departure from Bath

There are regular bus & train services from Bath to London/Bristol and other destinations in the UK.