Kings Stanley - Wotten Under-Edge Day 6

Monday 7th October

If I could only choose one section of the Cotswold Way to do again, it might be this day from Kings Stanley to Wotton Upon Edge. It was undoubtedly another hard stretch with a lot of climbing up and down, but I think it might have been the prettiest.

The rain last night had made everything shine, but now the sun was out and the sky was blue.

Our steps took us up the hill from Kings Stanley to rejoin the trail and climb through a wood to Coaley Peak.

As you near the top of the hill, there are old iron age forts left in the ground. Actually we saw loads of these on The Cotswold Way. There are lots of historical markers showing you where and how people lived ages and ages ago. It’s one of the draws of this trail.

As you walk the ridge, you can see where you’ve come from and where you are headed. There are several bigger towns that you never go through on The Cotswold Way, but that you can see from these hilltops.

You could see the little white specks of sheep in the fields below and as we looked at the map, I could see we would be circling the ridge, dropping down, and then climbing right back up again.

We stopped in the little village of Dursley where we stopped for a tea and had a quick chat to a couple of hikers from Montana and New Zealand. There are not many walkers on the trail at this time of year it seems.

The climbing was a little more gradual and spread out after the steep morning hills. For much of the afternoon, we could see the Tyndale Monument in the distance as it got closer and closer.

We climbed up through another forest after North Nimbley. When we emerged from the trees we were finally on the hill with the Tyndale Monument.

We had been watching it all day, so it only seemed fitting to climb to the top.

It was built in 1866 honor of William Tyndale, who did an early translation of the New Testament into English. He was born nearby.

We were rewarded with beautiful views of the surrounding valleys and villages. From the monument, we descended into Wotton-Under-Edge. Along the path we saw many squirrels out collecting grain from the nearby field where a crop had been harvested. We must have seen about 20 squirrels 🐿️ They were super cute

We we then made our way to our hotel, The Swan.Läs mer