Walk 7: Leckhampton Hill to Witcombe Woods (7 miles)

On today's walk we were joined by our good friend, Mags, who has accompanied us on previous walks. The weather couldn't have been more different from last week: low cloud/mist on Leckhampton Hill, and grey overcast skies for most of the rest of the walk. However the rain held off, and the temperature was ideal for walking.  Here's the usual pic of us at the start:

We made our way down past the Cotswold Hills Golf Course, past a beautiful field of barley

towards the National Star College, and after crossing the road, made our way up the gentle ascent towards Shurdington Hill. Here the path turned left, through woods and past a long barrow towards Crickley Hill. 

We found a picnic table at the busy cafe, and had our lunch.

The Wildlife Trust keep a record of sightings, including a barn owl seen flying below the scarp, and a blackbird imitating a police car! 

The Cotswold Way takes you up on to the spur of Crickley Hill, where there are stunning views over the Severn Valley. As we had been there many times before with the dog, we took a short cut down through the lovely beech woods to the Air Balloon, the roundabout where the A417 and A436 meet. This was the least pleasant part of the walk but we soon left the traffic noise behind and started a gentle ascent towards Barrow Wake viewpoint (a notorious dogging spot, but we saw nothing untoward) and the Peak with the land falling away from us steeply towards Gloucester and beyond.  There were beautiful views:

The path then winds through beech woodland just below the village of Birdlip, crosses a road, and then descends sharply down towards the valley floor. The last hour of the walk is a gentle undulating stroll in the peaceful Witcombe Woods. For some of the walk we were also walking along the Gustav Holst Way, as the composer was a resident of Cheltenham for many years. 

We saw a few people out for a walk, and some mountain bikers - these woods are popular for this sport.  There were some interesting cliffs with nesting holes

We spotted a Roman snail - a protected species and the largest species of snail in the UK. They are thought to have been introduced by the Romans. 

and beautiful views again

We left the Cotswold Way 

to climb up to the car park opposite Monk's Ditch. This was the longest walk we've done - about 7 miles. 

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