Walk 8: Witcombe Woods to Painswick (6 miles)

 An overcast Saturday morning, six of us met up at Witcombe Woods, where we had ended Walk 7. Our companions had all travelled from London to walk with us this week. Again, it was such a pleasure to meet up with old friends whom we had not been able so see for so long.

These beech woods are very beautiful to walk through with a dense canopy of deep green

but occasionally the views open up over the Witcombe reservoirs and beyond. 

The walk was gentle and undulating. Eventually we reached a small hamlet at the foot of Coopers Hill, famous for the annual cheese rolling event. Each year in the spring, a group of competitors race down the face of this nearly vertical hill after a 9lb round of Double Gloucester cheese. The first over the finish line wins the cheese. It is difficult to get a picture which gives a good impression of the steepness of the hill. Having looked incredulously from the bottom of the hill

we then toiled up the slightly less steep path up the side of the hill, and then admired it from the top

and congratulated ourselves for getting there.

.

Nature sightings this week were the feather of a Greater Spotted Woodpecker

as well as more common spotted orchids (seems to be a spotted theme going on here).

After walking through more beautiful woodland, we decided it was time to stop for our picnic.

After lunch the path wound slowly down through Brockworth, Upton and Buckholt Woods, to the road at Cranham, where we crossed the A46 at Cranham Corner.  The path is then fairly level, going through more woodlands until it opens out onto the golf course. 

From there the walk down into Painswick passed a lovely refreshment stand selling coffees, ice creams and cakes. The ice creams from Yoke House (www.yoke.house) were possibly the most delicious we have ever tasted.

It was an easy walk down into the picturesque Cotswold village of Painswick. 

where we searched in vain for a teashop, but oddly it did not have one, so we repaired to the one at the farm shop at Primrose Vale for a welcome cuppa.

This was a beautiful walk, and although walking up the side of Coopers Hill was a challenge, the rest of the walk was very gentle and most enjoyable. 

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