Cooper's Hill to Ryeford

The torrential overnight rain was forecast to be over by around 10 am, so we took our time in the morning. That was sensible in any case; breakfast at The Bear of Rodborough is too good to rush! After breakfast we drove the short distance through Stroud to an absolutely perfect little car park that Richard's careful research had found, right on the route of the Cotswold Way. The car park is at SO814045 and we shared it with the "Ryeford Kebab" van which seems a near permanent feature; to get to it we followed the A419 for about a mile to the west of Stroud, then turned left on the road towards King's Stanley, then immediately left again. We left one car here and drove the other back to the Cooper's Hill car park at SO887141, stopping at Sainsbury's in Stroud to buy snacks for lunch. It was around 10.30am when we arrived and the rain had stopped. Rain threatened a few times during the morning and it was damp underfoot; I kept my over-trousers on (the older I get, the more difficult I find it to put on over-trousers without somewhere comfortable to sit down!) but it was mostly a dry and sunny day.

The walking across Painswick Hill was delightful. We were crossing yet another golf course, but this didn't cause any difficulty, and the ramparts of the Iron Age fort of Painswick Beacon were up to our right. There were lots of other people about, but again this didn't feel like a problem. We almost missed our route down from Painswick Hill; the guidebook mentions an old quarry, but in fact you go right past what is now the works of Meister Masonry, with lumps of stone awaiting their attention and interestingly shaped plastic covered packages, presumably their finished products.

We descended through woodland, with occasional views to the valley to our left, passed above a cemetery, and reached Painswick's "walkers' car park"; I'm not sure why this is so-called - they can't check that it is only used by walkers(!) - presumably the issue is that you have to walk half a mile or so to the centre of the village, but the car park is free, so again worth remembering. We walked down to Painswick and stopped for lunch on one of the many benches near the Church.

Painswick is a historic wool town, and the wealth that wool brought is very obvious in the grand buildings built of local stone from the quarry on Painswick Hill. Then there is the timber framed building which until recently was the oldest building in England to house a post office (now closed...), and the churchyard, famous for its yew trees, carved table tombs and the village stocks. Local legend has it that there are 99 yew trees and should a 100th grow, the devil would pull it out; what seems less clear is whether there are actually 99, 100 or 103 yew trees in the churchyard. Painswick is also known for its Rococo Garden, back on the road past the Walkers' car park.

We didn't visit on this occasion but we have been before, when the snowdrops for which the garden is especially renowned were in flower.

We continued to climb, with views back to Painswick opening up behind us. We reached a minor road and turned right (this isn't clear in the guidebook), still climbing, up to the main A4173 at Edgemoor Inn. Across the road we took a path, now climbing steeply across a Edge Common. A group of runners overtook us and then collapsed onto the ground. The views were well worth the climb and eventually we reached the summit and passed through disused quarries to a minor road.

A track on the other side of the road brought us to a delightful section of relatively level walking through Beech woodland, and to a different vista - the Severn Valley. We passed a few houses (what a delightful place to live) and occasionally dropped down below the wood, but the walking was pleasant all the way along. We emerged onto what the guidebook describes as a 'quiet' road;

This time the path led us back to a little car park where a small child fell over just as we were passing. For two people who generally like to have the place to themselves when walking, our fellow human beings had provided remarkable entertainment in the last half hour!

We took a path into Standish Wood, through younger trees than previously (because the area had been cleared for a development which thankfully never happened). We were looking for somewhere to stop for a second lunch, and eventually reached a bench by a clearing with good views over the Severn Estuary.

Memorable parts included passing through the stile shown on page 92 of the guidebook and then some unusual metal stiles which Richard initially found difficult to negotiate with the rucsac on, until he realised that his rucsack would be above the stile if he stood on the metal bar at the base of the stile.

Eventually we took a path across what were probably vineyards, crossed the railway and emerged onto a road by Wycliffe College. We turned right onto the road and then left, which took us over the Stroudwater Canal.

I stopped to photograph the canal and Richard thought he'd lost me! Crossing the main road to the lay-by where we had left the car took ages, but thereafter the journey back to collect the other car and back to the Bear at Rodborough was straightforward. We had another lovely meal, but a rather eventful night - there was a troublesome noise in our room, so we moved out to the annexe in the middle of the night, though you can't fault the efficiency with which the night porter dealt with the problem.