Day 1: Chipping Campden to Stanton

We woke very early this morning with excited anticipation for the beginning of another walk in England.  It seemed to take us a long time to get organised but I'm sure we will get into a routine quickly.  With bags packed, feet into boots, a hearty English breakfast consumed and photos taken we were off.  We've been enjoying the banter with many fellow walkers, all of whom seem amazed that we are walking the whole Cotswolds Way in one journey, but they all have wished us well.

   

   

The morning's walk was absolutely beautiful.  The English countryside is so green and the lovely constrast  of the honey coloured stone houses made our morning very enjoyable.  A great feature of this walk is how well signposted it is.  We didn't have any difficulty finding our way.

 We are also  carrying our trailblazer book which has very detailed directions so everything is working very well.

The beginning of the walk was a gradual climb which brought us to Dover's Hill, giving us a great view across the farmland.  The canola is in full flower, creating another contrast of colour.  We could see many villages dotted across the landscape, the first superb view of the walk, with many more to come.

  

   

Our next high point was Broadway Tower, a climb I was worried about but it turned out to be quite easy. As we approached  the tower we were dismayed at what we thought were  touristy food stalls  around the base.  There were people milling around and we could see movie cameras up on the top of the tower.  Turns out it was a TV crew filming an episode of Father Brown.  All the action was on the top of the tower but several times someone would call 'Action' and strategically placed monitors would call out 'Quiet, action happening’ but when Graham took a photo of Father Brown, a member of the crew suggested that he not do it again. A bit of low key excitement for us.  Movie stars seem to spend a lot of time hanging around.

 

We left the tower and walked down the hill and into Broadway. This downhill walk was a killer on the toes, making us very grateful that we didn't have to come up via this approach. Broadway is a beautiful town where we enjoyed lunch and the conversation with our neighbouring table.

Leaving Broadway presented us with another climb and more superb views looking back to the town and the tower, with horses in the foreground.

As we proceeded to Stanton we realised we were entering horse country and they all look magnificent. Another steep walk down the hill brought us to Stanton and the end of our first day.

Stanton is beautiful, a bit different to the other towns in that the houses aren't all joined together. They sit separate with small gardens, with lots of roses climbing over the doorways. A last climb for the day took us to The Mount Inn where we enjoyed a fantastic meal.BlogThis!