A lovely varied walk with two commons, far reaching views for the cotswolds, and lovely cotswold villages
Walk number 20 from the Cicerone Guide ‘Walking in the Cotswolds’, Map OS Explorer 168 (Stroud, Tetbury and Malmesbury). As with other walks from books, won’t give all the instructions here, will only comment on the features, experience, and any issues with directions for the purpose of clarity.
Start/End – other options would be from the parking on Rodborough Common. Could do this from Stroud train station, but would be a big hill.
Refreshments – NUMEROUS – Cicerone lists 9 options, of which the author only tested Winstones ice-cream, half way around the walk, which comes highly recommended. The Black Horse in Amberley looked nice, and had a garden with lovely views, but was rather early in the walk for me!
Walk starts with a not too strenuous ascent up through woods, until you reach minchinhampton common. Common was interesting, as walkers, golfers, and cows mingled freely, with all able to use the common land (using some common sense). Never seen shared use land to this extent before!
After descending from Amberley, long quiet section through well established woods. The instructions are confusing towards the end of this, mentioning a higher and lower path, and the map in the Cicerone guide does not match the OS map or the world (which match each other) with respect to the route to reach Bear Hill. On crossing Bear Hill (having emerged by a cattle grid), take the obvious path uphill, which ascends to the right until the top of the hill (again instructions confusing). Now lovely views up on Rodborough common, and this continues until reaching the fort, some distance away. You don’t need to stop for lunch on the first or second bench (as the author hungrily did), as there are benches every 100m, and the view gets better and better, until you can see the upper Severn estuary in the distance.
After rounding the fort, and then crossing and following the road, you reach the icecream shop. Stop. Or pause and continue walking with an icecream. What could be better?!
Walk largely clear for the next few km, follows a road, then re-enters the common, crosses a road and then another to follow the wall of minchinhampton. It is easier to follow the map of the walk than the instructions, as the instrucitons are not very clear as to the bearing, but the map is. Minchinhapton is pretty, and there are conveniences, shops, cafes and pubs (and even an estate agent to indulge in some lottery win based dreaming). Walk down through Box, and through a huge regenerated mill complex, back to the start at the pub.
A pleasant walk, with impressive views for the Cotswolds. Not too strenuous, but nicely varied