Marshfield and Cold Ashton to Bath

Back on the route of the Cotswold Way, we walked through Cold Ashton and crossed the A46. On the other side, the road was very minor but we were passed by a number of cars. We couldn't quite work out why; it turned out to be a plant sale further up the road at Hill Farm. We were also passed by a horse rider and it started to hail again.

After passing Hill Farm the road became a path. We passed a reservoir and climbed steadily to the brow of a hill, with excellent views opening up behind us.

For the next 2-3 miles we followed paths and tracks close to the top of Lansdown Hill, with memorials in the form of metal standards marking sites from the Battle of Lansdown Hill in the English Civil War in 1643. We passed the Grenville Monument, commemorating Sir Bevil Grenville, who died in the battle.

The hail showers had continued all day, and the one that we had here left hailstones on the ground, even after the hail had stopped and the sun had come out again.

We continued through Bath's city centre, passing the Circus (which has many of the qualities of the Royal Crescent, but is - as the name suggests - a complete circle) and eventually reaching the Roman Baths and the Abbey, where the Cotswold Way ends. To be honest, my memory of this section is of too many tourists! We had some difficulty finding a cafe for a celebratory cup of tea - most were either too posh or too ordinary - but our eventual find of the Boston Tea Party was spot on.

We drank tea and ate cream scones.

We were booked into The Abbey Rectory, which is some distance out from the city centre, but relatively close to the Kennet and Avon Canal, along which we would be walking tomorrow. We walked out to the B&B by way of Pulteney Bridge and then along a street of Georgian houses, passing the Dukes Hotel where we stayed when in Bath for work some years ago; then we continued uphill, around the southern half of the 'hexagon' of main roads through Bathwick and along Warminster Road (the A36) until eventually we reached Trossachs Drive on the right.

Trossachs Drive is cul-de-sac of what appears to be modern houses, and we were prepared to be disappointed by The Abbey Rectory, however we were shown to a lovely room and discovered later that the basic shell of the building is old, with more recent additions, and the current owners have completely renovated it in the past few years.

As we walked out to the Abbey Rectory, we noticed rather ominous diversion signs for the canal towpath, and research on the Internet revealed that sections were indeed closed for renovation. In the evening we followed the diversion signs back on the road towards Bath but, on a whim, decided to follow the canal from the western end of the diversion (near the 'hexagon') into the city centre. There were plenty of cyclists and joggers about, so we knew we couldn't go far wrong! We passed through a couple of short tunnels, and then alongside a series of locks that descended to the point at which the Kennet and Avon Canal meets the River Avon. There are six locks in total, some of them very deep and I think we passed five of the locks before we emerged onto a main road (Pulteney Road) and the towpath appeared to disappear. We turned right along Pulteney Road, then left onto North Parade Road, which took us over the River Avon approximately half way between Pulteney Bridge and the point where the canal reaches the river.

So, after our little adventure, we eventually found ourselves back in the city centre. We had a superb Meal at the Peking Chinese Restaurant, then we walked back to the Abbey Rectory.

Click here for the first leg of our walk along the Kennet and Avon Canal.