Cleeve Hill to Leckhampton Hill
Walked by Sally and Richard, Saturday 26th March 2016
About 11.5 miles (4.75 hours of walking), 11 miles on the route of the Cotswold Way
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday was a glorious day and when we reached Cleeve Hill, photography was difficulty because the Sun was directly in front of us. Today the weather forecast was for an overcast morning, torrential rain in the afternoon, and some very strong winds. In fact the morning was somewhat wetter than I'd expected, with low cloud and drizzle making photography difficult...by lunchtime the weather was better, and we managed to avoid the afternoon's torrential rain entirely by making an early start. The most memorable feature was the wind; I started off wearing a fleece and gloves for warmth and a woolly hat to keep my hair in check (I'd forgotten both headband and buff) but I soon became grateful for the hat's ear-warming properties too!
We had an early breakfast in our room at the Gloucester (Little Whitcombe) Premier Inn and by 8.30am we had left one car near Leckhampton Hill (in a car park in a disused quarry, accessed from Hartley Lane - SO946177) and driven through Cheltenham and back to Cleeve Hill (where we parked in the same place as yesterday, on a minor road opposite the entrance to the golf course - SO998276). We walked back past the golf course car park and club house, and up onto Cleeve Common, and continued to climb. Cleeve Hill, especially in today's weather, is a slightly odd place - it felt quite wild, but every so often a bit of golf course appeared (though there were not many golfers about!) We followed around the edge of the escarpment then climbed up to a trig point, where we turned right and again followed the edge of the escarpment, now heading south. The views down, initially to Bishop's Cleeve and then to Cheltenham, would have been superb on a better day.
The signposting was a bit variable in places, but we found the route OK. We clambered over the earthworks of a promentory fort, then swung round to the left and headed downhill and around the edge of a little copse. At one stage we were heading towards the transmission masts at the summit of Cleeve Hill. The guidebook talks about the route entering the "Bill Smyllie Nature Reserve" - I didn't see that name on the ground (I think it was labelled the "Prestbury Nature Reserve") and the 30 species of butterfly, mentioned in both the guidebook and the sign at the entrance to the nature reserve, had sensibly decided to stay away. We walked through a valley and after some meandering through disused quarries, emerged on a path by a wood "the latter part of which seems like an arcade, its roof formed by the branches of the beech trees". Maybe, but it had turned quite wet! We turned left onto a road "still shaded by the branches" and stopped to don full wet weather gear.
After a kilometre or so of road walking we took a "green lane" (with fascinating wooden sculptured gate posts) and stopped for a snack. Another kilometre or so brought us to an attractive path through Downdeswell Wood. Downdeswell Reservoir was to our left; we didn't see it, but we did pass the overflow pipework.
We crossed the A40 and climbed steadily along the edge of Lineover Wood. We had passed under pylons; is this what "lineover" means, I wonder? The weather had improved, so we stopped to take off our waterproofs. On yesterday's route, the Cotswold Way Aurum Press guide had proved more accurate than our map, but today the 2012 Aurum Press guide was out of date, whilst the map [now Explorer Sheet 179] showed the correct route, climbing up close to the A436, then taking an attractive path through the wood. The route in the guidebook climbs up to a fingerpost and a seat on Wistley Hill. We approached the same point along an avenue by a coniferous wood, past some cows, having climbed previously. The seat is fun though, however you reach it - it's clearly meant for giants; my feet didn't touch the ground - and the view from here was lovely.
We skirted around the edge of the escarpment, with good views to Cheltenham, and ahead to Hartley Hill, where we were heading. First of all there was a rather noisy section of walking, close to the A436, then we crossed the road at the A436/A435 junction at Seven Springs, and took a minor road past Windmill Farm. We climbed onto the grassland of Hartley Hill, and followed the path round to Leckhampton Hill. We had some difficulty finding "The Devil's Chimney", a column left by quarrying - but we got there in the end! We soon reached Leckhampton Hill. We were tempted to descend a bit too soon, then we were tempted to descend to the near side of the quarry where we had left the car, but in fact, following the route of the Cotswold Way brought us down in exactly the right place.
After collecting the other car we returned to the Premier Inn and I did some work whilst Richard went out shopping and, later, to collect a Chinese takeaway. There was heavy rain in the late afternoon and evening, so it looks as if we did the right thing to do our walking in the morning.
