Ramble Reports for October 2020

A cold north-easterly was blowing up the Postlip Valley from Winchcombe as we set off punctually on our clockwise route across the Cotswold plateau. At the welcome gathering, Pam Simkin had introduced her friend, John Davies, a new member on his first walk. The first 2 km down to and around the walls of Postlip Hall was a gentle introduction, but the group had been warned that they wouldn’t have their coffee stop until they had scaled Breakheart Plantation, a 300m climb returning us to the top of the Cotswold plateau. Nobody complained; the group kept together and we made excellent time.

We detoured to visit Belas Knap, a beautifully shaped example of an early Stone Age long barrow. Retracing our steps, we passed the remains of the deserted Wontley Farm but pressed on for lunch to the West Down car park with the open fields running to the horizon in every direction. Rachel and Geoff established themselves in a comfy, sheltered ditch to eat their sandwiches, with the rest of us sitting on the grass.

On the afternoon’s walk, Peter stopped the group to tell them that they were crossing the 2° West Meridian; members were suitably unimpressed. Another kilometre further on and we came to the edge of the Cotswold scarp to find the town and racecourse of Cheltenham laid out below us. This was the high point of the walk, in fact at the nearby trig point the highest summit in Gloucestershire.

Cloud obscured the Welsh and Shropshire hills, but on the horizon we were able to identify Hay Bluff, May Hill and the Clees. Skirting below the triple radio masts, we followed the scarp northwards. On the edge of a small beech copse we spied a swing which Maggie, Pat and Geoff were brave enough to try. We crossed the walls of an Iron Age hill fort, half the age of Belas Knap, and checked the identifications of the distant hills using the topograph on Cleeve Cloud. Having managed to avoid being hit by any golf balls, fall into any bunkers or over the cliff, we arrived back at the car park exactly 5 hours since we had left it.

After a brief talk from Alan on the history of The Fleece and the ghostly connection between Bretforton’s famous Spot Loggins ice cream and an unfortunate 17th century drover, we set off on a bright, sunny morning (a relief after Saturday’s torrential rain), following good field tracks towards Willersey. We stopped for a coffee break on a sheltered bank close to the old GWR railway line before skirting Willersey itself to reach Saintbury Church, a superb vantage point for wonderful views towards Bredon, the Malvern Hills – and beyond. We contoured the side of the Cotswold ridge, passing through the Farncombe Estate before descending into Willersey for our lunchtime stop. Commandeering all the available benches by the duck pond and on the village green, together with the seating surrounding the Jubilee Tree, we had no problem social distancing!

Black clouds were building in the west as we left Willersey, this time walking along the old railway track which runs into Broadway. Leaving the shelter of the trees along the track, we headed north, following a stream that marks the boundary between Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, stopping briefly for several members to gather field mushrooms that were growing in abundance by the path. We were lucky to catch a glimpse of four or five deer crossing our track not more than 30 yards away and shortly after, our route took us past a majestic oak tree, resplendent in its autumn colours.