Cotswold Way, Day 3 Cleeve Hill to Birdlip

Day 3 of 8 of the Cotswold Way is complete.

While this was a long one clocking in at a final 27km and over 9hours on the trail (breaks, photos, and random wandering included), it was a fantastic day! I really liked the trail today except for the ‘valley of death drop’ – my name for the approx 1km on tiny sheep trails on the edge of a deep gully. I hate heights so my heart was racing big style to push through that part!

We started the day from The Rising Sun Hotel with a good breakfast and, you guessed it, a STEEP climb up out of Cleeve Hill to the highest point of the Way. At over 300m this is the highest point of the trail.

After a quick ‘spontaneous energizing dance party’, we walked and walked and walked – stopping around noon for our lunch spot and again at 2-ish our afternoon break when we found a great shady spot and when the dogs were barking (aka feet were starting to make themselves heard!)

We found an awesome spot for a cold drink just as the sun started to heat up mid-afternoon at a diner on the side of the road. The staff were less than friendly but the Fanta was delicious!

We wrapped up the day with our feet up and a wee dram of Honey Mead before showers and an awesome dinner and some drinks at the bar right in the Royal Oak Hotel where we were staying!