Reflections on the Cotswold Way

After any adventure, it’s fun and constructive to reflect. The plan was not to write this up three months after we finished, but life got in the way. I am fortunate to have a blog which can remind me of our trip!

In summary, Janet and I walked the northern half of the Cotswold Way over five days. We used a “base camp” in Cheltenham and did not strictly finish each day where we started. We covered the majority of the Way from Chipping Campden to Painswick, with a few side trips, which totaled fifty-four miles (13.4+10.2+9.0+15.3+5.9). We were lucky with the weather and the logistics worked well, as the daily blogs recount. We decided 10 miles was a good daily target but did not enjoy going over 12 miles. The hiking was easier than the Coast to Coast as it was not as steep, though it likely gets muddy after rain. We were at the right time of year for wild blackberries.

There are two main points of reflection. The first is about how we did the hike. After completing the Coast to Coast last year, with pre-arranged accommodation for each night, we yearned for some flexibility. While there was a certain appeal over the eighteen days of knowing you had to get to a destination, we wanted to be able to change things. We met some hikers who stayed in one place for a few days, and shuttled back-and-forth to the trail, so we thought we’d try that in the Cotswolds. While it worked well enough, we did not like it as much for two reasons. First, the “flexibility” you get is not very helpful. You still have to plan each day, with the added complication of transport to-and-from the trail, which ended up being part of the fun. You still have to decide how much you are going to walk each day, and there are constraints. Second, you lose the feeling of walking from A to B when you shuttle to and from the trail. There is a real satisfaction in arriving at your destination on foot one day and leaving the next from the same location. Coupled with that, when you stay “on trail,” you live the vibe of the trail more than you get from an off-trail basecamp. None of this is to say that our basecamp experience was bad in any way, as it was really good. Sometimes, the logistics might force it. As it was a last-minute booking, I assumed I would not be able to find accommodation on the trail, though we hiked with someone who was staying on trail for a few nights and had only booked the week before.

Second, this was our first trip for twenty years without the kids. Organizing and doing things with just two is so much easier than with more. It was also fun to meet up with other friends and family for some hiking. Looking forward, I think we will want to mix it up. We love doing things with our (adult) kids, but we also love doing things without them! We love meeting up with friends and family and doing things together, and we also like doing things on our own. We want to do it all! I hope we find time to do many more hiking trips with lots of variety.

What next? Our imminent next trip is a couple of weeks in New Zealand with the four of us, and I know I have to have my blogging fingers ready. After that, Janet and I have a few busy months, but then things open up. We are already talking about RV trips, overseas city escapes, and some hiking.