#14: Stroudwater Navigation Canal - Nympsfield Long Barrow

Old Style Stile - with a teepee on the horizon!

Himalayan Balsam

All Saints Church - Selsley

This stretch of the Cotswold way offers two alternative routes from Ryeford (where the Stroudwater Navigation Canal passes through) which split and rejoin, the western route being 1.5 miles whilst the eastern route is 3.5 miles making a 5 mile loop. As I'm walking The Way in both directions I chose to walk them both as a clockwise loop. The eastern route turns south off from the canal towpath and takes a route that leads into a field that eventually passes Ebley Mill. That field is one to take note of for two reasons. As I enetered the field I had my second bull encounter along the Cotswold Way. This time I saw it in plenty of time, saw that he had his six wives with him (and no calves), and I concluded that he was more interested in scratching his leg that chasing me. So I chanced it - and I was totally ignored - whew. At the far end of the field was an incredibly churned up thick gloopy muddy couple of hundred yards which had been liberally supplemented by the cattle and which I couldn't avoid. So, a lot of scraping and cleaning at the far side was called for.

I'd anticipated some interesting photography in All Saints Church at Selsley so I was very disappointed to find that it was under wraps for roof repair. Strictly no admittance whilst work was in progress. It is a church associated with the Arts & Crafts movement so I was hopeful of something a little different. I'll have to return.

I first became aware of Himalayan Balsam about 30 years ago when I saw a few plants alondside a local river. Now it grows profusely along so many of our river banks and damp boggy areas. It shows just how successful an invading species can be away from its home.

I'm looking forward to processing a couple of today's b&w images - one of a disused quarry whilst the other is a conventional landscape view - clouds and fields. I keep hoping that one day there'll be absolutely no breeze whilst I'm walking past a bank of hartstongue ferns. There have been a few banks of these beautifully photogenic ferns along the way, but they've always been swaying. And as they grow in very shaded areas a slow shutter speed is always needed.

#13: B&W Images: Shortwood Spur - Stroudwater Navigation Canal

Stroudwater Navigation Canal

Ryford Railway Bridge

Disused Lock Winch

#13: Shortwood Spur - Stroudwater Navigation Canal

Definitely Not Navigable

Cygnet Leads The Way

Loving the Duckweed

I planned a shorter walk today as the forecast was for heavy rain this afternoon - and unusually, the forecast was correct. I reached as far as the Stroudwater Navigation before turning back and it certainly was a spectacle with its blanket of bright green duckweed. The very large family of swans seemed to love to feed on it and were obviously thriving - there are seven cygnets! It is a disused canal and as such seems to be a haven for wildlife with its banksides being so overgrown. I found a couple of B&W pictures which I'm looking forward to seeing processed.

Halfway Musings ...

Shortly after setting out on my next stretch of the Cotswold Way I’ll pass through the halfway point - so, it seems like a good time to take stock and gather together some of my thoughts from along the way. You can tell I’m not a literary type. My thoughts here are bullet points rather than well connected and flowing prose!

• I’m enjoying it more than I expected – and I’m looking forward to what the next half will bring, particularly as I’m not at all familiar with what’s to come. Contrast that with the first half where I’ve had at least some knowledge of some the route.
• If I continue at the same rate I’ll have completed the walk before the end of the year – much sooner than I anticipated though I never had a specific target. Looking back I do recall thinking that I would have the opportunity to photograph throughout a year so availing myself of every season’s weather and light. So, I’m now thinking of starting again as soon as I finish so that I get to photograph the route in winter and spring as well as just the summer and autumn as looks likely with my current progress. I’m particularly keen to photograph in the beech woods in the springtime when the foliage is light and fresh. If I do this and complete it I will have walked ‘The Way’ four times – 408 miles in total. It sounds a lot but it’s only 8 miles a week for a year.
• B&W photographs don’t just spring up all the time begging to be taken. I knew that of course but at times I’m finding it frustrating. I often photograph in the countryside but I’m wondering whether the additional need to cover some distance each time is a slight distraction from the more important task of seeking pictures. There are times when I catch myself head down hiking rather than head up looking.
• The Cotswold countryside is beautiful. Not at all rugged and dramatic but rather it is quiet and understated. Whilst the occasional point along the way is busy, that is only so in relative terms. Most of the time I see no one for hours on end. Most walkers are friendly with a cheery ‘hello’ with only the occasional opportunity for a longer chat. My sampling suggest that there are very few people doing the full walk, most being out for a day or half day ramble.
• My mind covers a lot of topics whilst walking – many of them not at all to do with photography. One thing keeps coming to mind though is just how thankful I am that I have the freedom to enjoy the countryside here in this country. I’m prompted in those thoughts by my pondering on the daily reporting of world events that put into perspective the value of this and all of the other aspects of freedom that we enjoy. I could say that I’m lucky, but that would be to overlook the history of the path we’ve taken for us to now be able to enjoy our freedoms.
• I have three different pairs of walking boots which I have alternated to try to find the most comfortable. My conclusion – I need another pair! All are more or less ok, except that one pair is too heavy, on another the sole is too flimsy and the third are a fraction too tight on my toes, and they are no longer waterproof. So starts the quest for the perfect boot. And my other walking aids are walking poles. I bought a pair several years ago and used them on some rugged walking in Utah. But I then put them on one side and only rediscovered them soon after I started this walk. And I now find them invaluable and won’t now set off without them. My knees are pretty ropey (not at all pretty) so the support afforded by poles, especially when walking or scrambling down a slope is something I no longer wish to be without.
• Along the way there are many stiles, kissing gates, and other assorted obstacles to keep in the livestock whilst allowing passage to us walkers. Most are easy to negotiate however there is one form of kissing gate that is almost impossible to get through whilst wearing the Cotswold Way hiker's normal kit - a good sized backpack. There have been several examples of this tricky contraption so far. The space inside the gate is practically impossible to accommodate one average sized hiker plus backpack. The only thing to do is take off the backpack and heave it over the gate then shimmy through the gate and reload. You have to wonder whether it's designer ever tried it out.
• I had an email the other day from the Assistant Editor at Cotswold Life magazine who’d come across this blog. Resulting from that contact hopefully there will be a photo spread of my pictures taken along the Cotswold Way in a forthcoming issue of the magazine, possibly the October issue. No promises, but I’ve supplied them with a set of image files to consider. Fingers crossed.

Now, stop musing and start walking ...

#12: B&W Images: Painswick - Shortwood Spur

The Well House at Cliff

Ivy on Beech

The Cromwell Stone

#12: Painswick - Shortwood Spur

Almost Halfway There

Cut Off

Haresfield Beacon Topograph

Started at Shortwood Spur close to Haresfield Beacon and walked back to Painswick. A particularly good way to do this stretch as it gave me the oppoprtunity to lunch at Olivas again in Painswick - highly recommended. Along the way is a fascinating memorial known as the Cromwell Stone which commemorates the raising of the seige in Gloucester on 5th September 1643 by the troops of Charles I during the English Civil War. A little further on is the 1870 well house at Cliff, but sadly the well winch is no longer operable. Not too far from Painswick is the marker for Bath 55 miles, Chipping Campden 47 miles - so from my starting point this morning at Shorthill Spur I must be only a few yards from half way.

Today I enjoyed my first handfuls of blackberries of the year. Not too many ripe yet but the next few weeks looks promising.

#11: B&W Images: Cooper's Hill - Painswick

Painswick - Table Tombs

Painswick - Yew Path

[Yes - I removed a couple of TV aerials]

Painswick - Hairy Yew Pair

#10: B&W Images: The Air Balloon Pub - Cooper's Hill

The Way - Through Witcombe Wood

#9: B&W Images: Leckhampton Hill - The Air Balloon Pub

The Way - Through Barrow Piece Plantation

#11: Cooper's Hill - Painswick

The Bonaventure

Painswick Yews

The view from Painswick Beacon iron age hill fort - into which several holes of Painswick Golf Course are incorporated! - is breathtaking. Some of the panoramas so far along the Cotswold Way are very wide but this is a full 360° and well worth anyone's effort to walk there, as long as you can dodge the golf balls.

I spent a little time at both the start and end of the walk looking at Cooper's Hill; from both the bottom and from the top. And it's steep - it's very steep. No one sane would contemplate running down whilst chasing a rolling cheese! So just where do they find the large numbers of people every year who willingly hurl themselves down this preciptious slope in the interests of being first to the bottom so they get the cheese. I love cheese - but I know my limits. The annual filming of the event is perhaps the magnet which attacts the maddest. The filming could almost be for an episode of "I'm an idiot - stretcher me out of here".

Painswick is a beautiful village - aren't they all - but the churchyard with dozens of clippped yews has to be it's most notable attraction. But they're a real challenge to photograph well. There's a colour one above but I took several in b&w from which hopefully one or two will prove to be worth publishing. Inside the church there's a beautiful old model of one of Francis Drake's early vessels - the Bonaventure.

#10: The Air Ballon Pub - Cooper's Hill

Woodland Path

Hartstongue Ferns

A frustrating walk today. Started out in soft sun whilst I walked the 3 miles through Witcombe Woods from Cooper's Hill (site of the annnual lunacy of 'cheese rolling'). Emerging from the woods after having taken just one b&w shot but having earmarked a few more for the return journey I was reminded of my disappointment at the far point of my last walk. There is what is best described as an amphitheatre between Crickley Hill fort and the promontary known as The Peak - approaching 3 miles apart. The performance in the amphitheatre is the constant, unvarying heavy traffic on Birdlip Hill as it strains and grinds its way up about 250m and whose noise seems to be focused up to the top rim where the Cotswold Way meanders through yet more beautiful Cotswold countryside. Being a purist I had to complete the additional 2-mile round trip to the Air Balloon pub where I left off last week rather than just avoid it. Hopefully there are no more such intrusions along the way. Local roads and traffic are ok but this was too much.

I started the day with high expectations that the weather would be fine - so when the steady rain began just after the halfway point my spirits dropped. The rain was more than I was happy to cope with for the images I'd earmarked for the return - so I was scuppered. Two lessons learned today - although it's not as if I hadn't thought I'd learnt them before.

1. Don't defer taking a picture - do it there and then.
2. Don't trust the weather forecast.

But the walk itself was as always a pleasure, even in the rain - except for the traffic interlude.