My wife and I did a Cotswold Walks Inc. self-guided trip over most of the Cotswold ring in the fall of 2023. We are Americans, in our late 60s, and relatively fit. We generally do one foreign vacation every year and spend most of that time doing museums, botanical gardens, short sight-seeing walking tours, and jazz clubs. We also take a short backpack trip in the Colorado Rockies. This year we decided to touch all these bases with a short trip to Oxford, walk through the Cotswolds, and another short trip to Stratford. The whole trip took 3 weeks.
Coltwold Walks Inc made planning the self-guided trip relatively easy. They took care of all the B&B reservations, helped us alter the route to match our abilities and time frame, provided great maps and directions, had a good payment system, and answered all our questions in a timely manner. The hiking poles we pre-ordered were at the first B&B when we arrived, and our luggage was reliably shuttled to the next B&B every day. By the time we arrived I felt like I knew the Cotswold Walks team and would have felt comfortable reaching out to them on the journey. As it turns out we never had to. We plan to use them again.
The 9 full day walk started in Morton-in-Marsh, continued through Stow-on-the-Wold (7.5 mi), Bourton-on-the-Water (4.5 mi), Kineton (7.5 mi), Winchcombe (7.5 mi), Stanton (6 mi), Broadway (3.25 mi), and ended at Chipping Campden (6 mi). We spent an extra day and night at Bourton-on-the-Water doing a short circular walk through the Slaughters and another extra day at Winchcombe touring Sudeley Castle. We highly recommend both diversions.
The trails took us through beautiful countryside and quaint villages as promised. We were often amazed at the size of trees and the age of the old churches still standing. There was a good balance between fields, meadows, and forest. The trails sometimes took us along busy roads and up steep inclines but that was rare.
We prepared by walking 2 miles a day for about a month before going. We often wore the hiking boots we would take on those walks. This preparation was adequate for 99% of the trail. The 1% where it was inadequate, such as to Broadway Tower, just required more rests but it was do-able.
We each packed our clothes and belongings into one 25-liter daypack and one 40-liter carry-on suitcase. We wore our hiking boots on the plane. We learned to travel this way some time ago by reading Rick Steves travel books, so it was not a hardship. The carry-on suitcase weight was much less than the 20 kilograms allowed by Cotswold Walks.
On a typical day we would wake at 8, pack so our luggage was at the hotel lobby by 9, eat the included breakfast, and be on the trail by 10. We generally were on the trail 6 hours. We never stopped at a restaurant for lunch. Instead, we laid a fiberglass emergency blanket on the ground and picnicked out of our daypacks. At 4 we would usually find our B&B, rest, clean up, and go out to a restaurant.
Accommodations were generally clean and well maintained. The beds were American queen size or larger. A few of the mattresses were at the end of their life. The hosts at the Manor Close B&B in Bourton stand out as very welcoming. We would have rather stayed in Guiting Power rather than Kineton but there were no accommodations available. The room at the Halfway at Kineton was clean and generously sized. However, it was above the restaurant and bar and so noisy until 11 when it closed.
Generous breakfasts were always provided at the B&Bs. Lunch was cheese, crackers, apples, grapes, and chocolate we picked up from stores along the way. We spent a significant amount of time eating blackberries from the hedges separating the fields. The only reservation for dinner we had was at Kineton. Cotswold Walks made the reservation for us because they knew the restaurant would be crowded and there were no other places to eat. Otherwise, we did OK just showing up at a restaurant.
The guidebooks provided by Cotswold Walks were invaluable. Rather than guidebooks I would call them step by step instructions as they were that detailed. There were a few times where the instructions were out of date but that was unusual. In general, the trail signs were prominent and easy to follow. Thanks to the instructions and trail signs we only got lost once but that was because the trail sign was out of sight in a deep ditch. I recommend carrying a small compass to orient the paper map in the instruction books. We purchased the Ordinance Survey map while planning for the trip but never had a need to use it during the trip. We also downloaded the Google map of the area. That map was useful for finding the B&B.
Cotswold Walks recommended using the Ride-GPS app in addition to the instruction book. The app was informative but often did not call out the turns at the right time. This happened more than once so we decided not to rely on the app. Those we met from other tour companies who were solely reliant on an app were complainin...
