From: Bishop’s Cleeve, UK
Started: 20081012
Finished: 20081123
This was my first experience of walking a long distance path. For some time I had been wondering what it would be like and eventually I had to find out. I picked a glorious and uncharacteristcally warm weekend in October to do the first leg from Chipping Campden to Cleeve Hill. The walking was super, the villages were even more special for being reached by foot rather than by car.
The nights were drawing in for the next leg of the walk towards Cranham, Painswick, Dursley and beyond. I would have liked to explore Wotton-under-Edge and the other villages on the route but I had to content myself with taking lots of photos and that was a good plan as I’m forever looking at them. My arrival in Bath in glorious sunshine was in stark contrast to an earlier overnight sleet storm whilst in my tent! It’s a very strange feeling finishing the walk – there is no one to say “well done” but that’s not what it’s about anyway. For me, it’s about the planning, it’s the people you meet along the route, it’s the wonderful English countryside and it’s the sense of achievement you get from such an adventure.