Cold Ashton to Bath Day 9

Thursday 10th October

Our final day- a walk through pastoral England with wide views, ancient battlefields and a racecourse, before a final descent into an historic city, with it’s Roman Baths and the architectural splendour of the Crescent and Abbey.

Today we left Marshfield after a beautiful stay at the Catherine Wheel Hotel. We had a lift to Cold Ashton with Roo, where we resumed our walk.

Our first point of interest was the Battle of Landsdowne. The First English Civil War battle of Lansdowne, or Lansdown, was fought on 5 July 1643, at Lansdowne Hill, near Bath, Somerset, England. You can still see the stone walls and the trees where the soldiers took cover. The battle of Lansdown Hill took place on 5th July 1643 between the armies of King Charles I and the parliamentarians. They took up defences on each side of a field, bombarding each other with bloody results. But neither army could make much headway. At night the Parliamentarians retreated to Bath under cover of darkness, leaving the embers of their musket matches burning on the wall to fool the enemy as to their continued presence.

We came upon the Bath racecourse which looked quite posh with its big white permanent marquees. About 5 minutes down the hill and out of sight we heard a race being called and sure enough the races were on today!

We enjoyed our packed lunch in a grassy paddock with plenty of sheep 🐑 while looking down over Upper Weston, a small town below. It was our last opportunity to enjoy the true Cotswolds before heading in to Bath. You wouldn’t believe how sound carries through the valleys. We could still hear the race caller and the screams of children playing at a school in upper Westcott.

Having climbed half way up the slopes above the city of Bath, the Cotswold Way followed parks and avenues of beech trees down Sion Hill into Royal Victoria Park before the dramatic introduction of the Georgian splendour of the Royal Crescent quickly followed by the Circus.

Bath Abbey is the official end of the Cotswold Way.

The termini is marked by a stone set into the pavement. A sister to the one we had left in Chipping Campden 102 miles ago. This limestone disc was carved by local artist Iain Cotton. The outer verse on this one differs from that at the other end of the trail.

We had our photo taken by Clive another hiker on the trail who spotted us from a cafe and bolted over to take it! We joined him for a quick coffee before spotting another hiker, Helene. We then offered to take her photo as well. Helene was from Oxford so she shared a few tips for what to do during our one day stay in Bath.

We wondered off to find out accomodation crossing the River Avon along the way. We took photos of the rushing brown water and the weir.

We found The Apple Tree Guest House along a narrow street just past the Bath Cricket ground. We were greeted by our host, a Chinese lady named Ling.

After a big sort out of our laundry, we ventured off to downtown Bath where we had a celebratory ale & a sparkling at The Huntsman.

Across the street we noted a Moroccan 🇲🇦 restaurant which is where we enjoyed a beautiful tagine style dinner & a cab Sav from
Cassa Blanca 🍷. Perfect 👌Les mer