Cotswold Way Bath to Old Sodbury

Google Blogger isn't working properly for blog posts with photos so I have moved my blog to my DaveButcher.co.uk and DarkroomDave.com websites.

Here's a link to my post on our walk from Bath to Old Sodbury along the Cotswold Way. https://www.darkroomdave.com/blog/cotswold-way-bath-to-old-sodbury/

Here are a few photos:

Cotswold Way Day 5

Al, Jan and I finished the first half of the Cotswold Way today by walking from Witcombe to Randwick.

Al was dropped off by his wife Carol as we are just a couple of miles from their house. We couldn't stay with them as they now have a dog and I'm allergic to dogs, cats, horses, sheep, giraffes, etc.

We left our hotel in Witcombe by 10.30am. It was an 11 mile day but relatively straightforward. Painswick Beacon was our first objective, reached in an hour or so. Should have been good views but the rain came in. We briefly watched lots of golfers getting wet as well as being entertained by a golfer chasing his runaway trolley down the hill. Fortunately for him it hit a divot and fell over just before a cliff, he was nowhere near catching it!

Lunch was in the Royal Oak in Painswick, a tasty home-cooked ham sandwich shared with Jan, washed down with an excellent pint of Exmoor Ale.

Next we headed for Randwick and the Vine Tree Inn, reaching it at 4pm, the end for this half of the Cotswold Way. I ended with a couple of pints of Hobgoblin before Al whisked us back to our hotel.

We walked 52 miles in 5 days managing about 14 miles to the gallon....... of beer!

I took 3 rolls of film in 5 days. Not the best return for a 5 day trip. I try not to take pictures on my film camera unless I think I can sell them so that's still pretty good. It will add a few shots to my Cotswolds collection. I didn't take any today, too wet or overcast.

Next year we hopefully finish the trek by walking the 50-odd miles from Randwick to Bath.

Painswick Beacon

Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling Hill from below

Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling Hill from the top

55 miles to go

Painswick Street

Painswick Church Yard Yew Trees

Painswick Church

Vine Tree Inn, Randwick

Cotswold Way Day 4

Today was our fourth day on the Cotswold Way. We drove back to 7 Springs this morning to resume our walk where we finished yesterday, well not exactly as the pub wasn't open!

It was 10 miles in total, starting in the rain but mostly dry with bits of sunshine here and there.

We walked a lot of high ground above Cheltenham, stopping for lunch at the Air Balloon pub, before coming down to our hotel near Gloucester.

I was able to take a few proper photographs too on my Mamiya 7 camera. I've now taken 30 proper black and white photographs in 4 days. I'm carrying just 3 or 4 rolls of Ilford 400 Delta a day but am still not using anywhere near that number.

All of the photos in my Cotswold Way blog posts were taken with a Motorola Moto-X phone. The ones posted in black and white I also took on my Mamiya so they will be available as proper darkroom prints at some stage, the others were just phone snapshots.

Dinner was interesting. We drove to the Royal William just a few minutes from our hotel. Timothy Taylor Landlord was a pleasant surprise so I tried it a couple of times to make sure it was in good form.

The menu had some unusual meats on it including Kangaroo, Buffalo, Ostritch and Wild Boar. I had something from the Specials board, Camel and chips. I've had Buffalo, Wild Boar, Horse, Donkey and Chamois, for example, but I've never seen Camel on the menu before (we lead a very sheltered life in the Peak District!). It tasted similar to beef steak but maybe a bit more chewy.

Tomorrow is our last day for this trip. We will have completed about half of the Cotswold Way.

Here are some shots from today.

Great Witcombe Church, near our hotel

Devils Chimney

Devils Chimney original

Cheltenham from Leckhampton Hill

Cotswold Way Day 3

After a very comfortable night at the Rising Sun in Cleeve Hill we had to don full waterproofs before we stepped out of the hotel door. It was wet and windy for an hour or so then dry and dull. Finally it was wet for the last 20 minutes before we reached the pub. Typical!

Not a good day for photos, I only took 2 shots on my proper camera, both of the same tree.

Fortunately, it was a short day, just 8.5 miles so we made it to the Seven Springs by 2.30pm. The Abbot was off so it had to be IPA to end the walking part of the day.

Tomorrow we walk to the hotel we are in tonight. That sounds a bit cock-eyed but we're here for 3 nights, using cars to ferry us between start and finish points each day.

View Above Cheltenham

Cheltenham from above

Cotswold Way Day 2

My day started, as usual, with an hour or so of stretches and exercises for my bad back before going down to breakfast at 9am. It was a jolly good full English breakfast at the Winchcombe Plaisterers Arms. Jan then drove us to Stanton to start the day's walk.

Before we started I took 3 shots of the church on my Mamiya 7 film camera, the light was better than yesterday afternoon.

From Stanton we walked back to Winchcombe. Sunny to start then jolly heavy rain for an hour or so before Winchcombe. Just about dried off before our lunch stop. We visited the Corner Cupboard Inn for a change and a very tasty light lunch and a pint.

From here it was quite a short walk to Cleeve Hill and down to the Rising Sun, our home for the night. Good views from the window of our very comfortable room.

Jan and Al collected our car from Stanton while I had a purely medicinal pint in the bar.

We've walked about 23 miles in 2 days, it will be about 50 miles by the time we finish on Saturday, our fifth day. Forecast is for showers for the rest of our walk. Hoping they're not too heavy!

Not a lot of photographs for my Mamiya 7 camera, just over 2 rolls so far - 21 shots in fact and only 4 today. I seem to be taking as many phone photos for my blog as proper photographs!

Winchcombe Corner Cupboard lunch stop

Hailes Abbey Ruins in the Rain

View from our Room at Cleeve Hill Rising Sun

Cotswold Way Day 1

Today, Tuesday 5th April, we started the Cotswold Way and it was a sunny day!

Jan and I met up with good friend Al from Gloucester, spending the night at the Red Lion in Chipping Campden. We also visited the 8 Bells for a couple of beers after dinner. What an excellent pub, so busy for a Monday night and friendly too.

The Cotswold Way is 100 miles from Chipping Campden to Bath. We are using our 2 cars to move our luggage between accommodation each day.

There seem to be 2 starting points, so we did them both. True to form Al had booked us as far from the starting point as possible!

We were up and away at the crack of 10.30am. It was about 1.5 miles to the church and back, the alternative start point. Then we walked to Broadway for lunch at the Crown and Trumpet. Good beer, nice snack lunch. Interesting walking too.

We finished in the small village of Stanton at about 4pm. Unfortunately, the only pub here closed at 3pm! Al's car was parked here so he dropped me off at the Pheasant Inn down the road while he went off with Jan to collect our car from Chipping Campden. After sorting out cars for tomorrow we checked in to the Plaisterers Arms in Winchcombe. Good beer, nice food.

Tomorrow we walk to Cleeve Hill.

Cotswold Way Official Start

Cotswold Way Alternative Start; the door of the church not the top of the tower!

Chipping Campden 400 year old Market Hall

Chipping Campden, edited to black and white

Chipping Campden Original

Jan and Al

Broadway Tower edited to black and white

Broadway Tower original

Broadway Tower

Stanton Church - days end

The Cotswolds in Black and White

I have added some Cotswolds black and white photos to the web. Places include Castle Combe, Bibury, Tewkesbury, Lower Slaughter and Painswick. There's also a few of Gloucester.

Painswick Church and Pyramid

Tewkesbury Abbey Mill and Weir

Lower Slaughter and River Eye

Gloucester Cathedral

Cotswold Photography

It was a good day in the Cotswolds for photographs today.

We were lucky and our old friends Carol and Al looked after us, with Al doing the driving.

The days photography started on Painswick Beacon with good views to the Forest of Dean but poor views to Gloucester and the Malverns. From here we went down into the village of Painswick to take the Yew trees in the churchyard. Had sunshine and heavy rain showers but managed a few shots down the rows of trees in the graveyard.

Then to the pretty little village of Minchinhampton and a few shots in the centre and around the church.

We had lunch in the busy village of Tetbury, in the Snooty Fox (good beer), but no pictures;j there were too many cars and people.

From Tetbury it was on to Malmesbury and some photos around the old streets and the very impressive Abbey, part of which was in ruins.

The next stop was Castle Combe. I can't remember ever visiting this pretty village and took shots down and up the main narrow street. I also wanted views back to the village from the river. The river bank with the best view was private so I jumped down into the river bed and waded along in the shallow water until I could see the shot I wanted. Thankfully I was wearing my walking boots, not the usual trainers, and managed to keep my feet dry. Nice clouds!

Then it was back to Painswick for better light on the Yew trees and church. I hadn't been able to take any shots of the church earlier because of the grey sky and poor light. Found a pyramid memorial in the graveyard to put in the shot with the spire. Haven't sold many graveyard shots so just an interesting shot to take!

The days photography ended back on Painswick Beacon. The clouds were spectacular so I switched from the dark yellow filter to an orange one to make the sky more dramatic. The only other filter I used today was a yellow-green one while taking the yew trees.

Quite a day. A total of 8 rolls of film (10 shots to a roll). The first Cotswold images for my picture library.

Busy Day and Cotswolds Weekend

Jolly busy today. Started with scanning a few local negs and editing for printing, then across to my dentist just under an hour away in Cheshire (a dentist is for life not just for Christmas)!

Followed this by calling in at the Ilford Lab Direct facility at the Harman Technology factory a couple of miles from dentist. This is where all of the Ilford black and white films and papers are made.

I had 8 new image files to drop off for printing onto silver gelatine paper and needed some others reprinting. Neil the manager offered to try and print Monday as I'm a little behind at the moment.

From Mobberley it was home to edit a new magazine advert needed for copy deadline of Monday.

Then I was picked up and driven to a committee meeting of the High Peak Artists Association who run the Gallery in the Gardens in Buxton where my work is sold. I'm the secretary of the committee.

This went on a bit longer than expected but fortunately Jan had dinner completely under control, as usual.

Thank goodness we have a relaxing weekend planned with friends in Upton St Leonards near Gloucester. Monday night I'm giving another lecture to Cotswold Monochrome who happen to hold their meetings within 200 yards of where our friends live.

Hope the weather is good. I still have almost no pictures of the Cotswolds. It should be great for black and white but you need the right light.

Wet Walk to Buxton Gallery in the Gardens

Another day in Buxton Pavilion Gardens Gallery. Walked here this morning in the wind and rain. It''s hardly stopped raining all day. Hope it will be dry on the return.

Visiting friends near Gloucester at weekend, I am giving a talk to Cotswold Monochrome Group on Monday and taking opportunity to catch up with old friends as well as add to my picture library for Gloucester and the Cotswolds.