Day 3

 I’m not going to lie, today has been a tough slog. 

The third day of a multi-day hike tends to be like that. Your body says “What? Not this sh*t again! Bugger off”! 

Anyway, I slept fairly well again at Big Skies Cotswold Glamping. A lovely site which I can heartily recommend. 

On a Lay-by just a few hundred metres from the site is a butty wagon, so I stopped for a breakfast roll! It really filled the fuel tank and was well worth the £6. 

After that it was a climb up Leckhampton Hill with far reaching views looking north over Cheltenham. 
I then walked over to National Star College, which is a place for young people with disabilities to get assistance in working skills. They have an excellent cafe, so well worth a visit. 

I then walked over to Crickley Hill country park, where yet again there is a small cafe. I stopped and had an ice cream and chatted to other hikers. 


There were some more spectacular views from Crickley Hill looking down to the eastern side of Gloucester. 

The path then went to where the Air Balloon pub used to be, on the busy A417. There are roadworks there where they are building the ‘missing link’ between the M4 and M5. Eventually, there will be a purpose built footbridge for CW walkers, but for the time being it’s a bit of a hairy run across, when a gap in the traffic appears! 

The path then went into woodland for the next few miles. It was quite pleasant being shaded from the sun, but it reminded me of Culbone Woods on the SWCP, as there were lots of steep ascents and descents. There were some lovey bluebells and wild garlic patches. 


After a while, I reached the bottom of Coopers Hill, famous for the idiots chasing a cheese down. I couldn’t believe how steep it was! 
Luckily, I didn’t have to climb up the hill (or so I thought). The path went round to the side, but then turned left and went straight up in a tortuously steep ascents and brought me out at the top, where people jump after the cheese. 
That climb knocked the wind out of my sails, because I was shattered from that point onwards. There was more woodland walking to do until you reached Painswick Beacon golf course. 

By that stage my feet were aching like mad and I kept having to stop to rest them. The golf course seemed to go on forever, before eventually bring me out onto a road into Painswick at 5:15pm. I stopped for a quick pint at a pub but they were serving food. I decided to buy some supplies in the shop and head to my campsite, which was down a steep hill in the valley below Painswick. 

It was another 17 mile day today, with 1740 ft of climbing. 

I’ve decided to take it easier tomorrow. Not sure how far I’ll walk yet, but need a bit of a rest! 

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