Heart of England Way - Part 6 - Bidford to Chipping Campden

A fine day was forecast which is why it was a bit of a surprise when it started to rain not long after I got in the car to leave Coventry.  I decided to bring my collie dog with me this time.  Let's see what adventures that will bring.  Luckily the rain soon stopped as we headed south to my starting point of Bidford-on-Avon where there's a convenient free car park just north of the old bridge, the starting point for the day. 

Early morning mist on the Avon at Bidford

The sunlight and mist on the fields and river made it ideal for taking some photos but trying to juggle camera, backpack and dog on the narrow bridge wasn't easy.  The HoEW follows the Avon upstream for a while till it reaches the picturesque village of Barton. 


Latterbox Cottage in Barton

Leaving Barton the path follows a track for half a mile and then onto open farmland.  It's not long before we enter Collets Wood, another one of the areas planted with new trees thanks to Felix Dennis who I mentioned in the last blog.  As we exit the area the signage becomes confusing sending me off in a different direction as that indicated on the map and my GPX file on the GPS.  I can only assume that the Way has recently been rerouted to take walkers though some of the new Heart of England Forest.  It turns out to be a good diversion as it passes the final resting place of Felix Dennis, now adorned with a lovely sculpture of the of Dennis wearing a jacket engraved with some of his poems sculpted by the artist Andrew Sinclair. 

Sculpture of Felix Dennis

 

After going through Dorsington village the path continues south-east along the banks of Noleham Brook and is conveniently fenced off from the nearby fields full of sheep.  I entered the village of Long Marston via a narrow lane at the back some houses, crossed the main road which took me down a lane to cross the Stratford Greenway, an old railway line and now cycleway into Stratford.  Not far after this, my dog Shadow decided he didn't like the route.  We were approaching a firing range and he was getting spooked by the noise.  He lay down and refused to move any further.  This meant finding a different route.  We headed south across some fields and onto the road, a fortuitous diversion as we found a nice coffee shop that I otherwise wouldn't have discovered.

The chance discovery of Violetta's tearoom

 

The village of Lower Quinton appeared in the distance.  From the angle we had it was only modern housing so rather than continue on the road to join the HoEW there we took the footpaths SE over the fields to the attractive village of Upper Quinton and rejoined the Way there.  From here the path skirted the flanks of Meon Hill and also gained some height so offered good views over the Vale of Evesham.  The first couple of fields crossed were rutted, probably due to historical use, with peaks and troughs every three or four meters making for a strange walking experience.

Views over Meon Hill and a muddy path.  There was mud of every variety today - slushy, sticky, slippery.....

Walkers of the HoEW don't necessarily get to see the best views of the village of Mickleton, famed for being home of the Pudding Club.   The path enters the village down a ramshackled track, across a playing field and then exits again via someones back garden.  OK, I may have got a bit lost at this stage.  Things improve then a bit and a good view of the church is seen before a steep climb up onto the road at Barker's Hill.  Some passersby warned me of the upcoming muddy paths but it was no worse than I'd been on all day.    

Before I knew it I was back walking on country lanes with a more solid footing that ended up at the pretty Mickleton Hill's Farm and the first building seen with a real Cotswold look about them.  Stephen Cross's guidebook of the Heat of England Way also describes how the railway tunnel I crossed here was the last time the Riot Act was read in England in 1849 in a dispute between Brunel's company and one building the tunnel.

Soon after crossing the tunnel the path enters a giant dome-shaped arable field topped with derelict farm buildings and machinery giving the area a strange feel.  Descending from the field we enter the market town of Chipping Campden and there's no doubting now we have arrived in the Cotswolds.  The first thing you see is the large St James church which had a very Christmassy feel to it with the sound of the choir practising for the upcoming concert emanating from it.  

A restored banqueting house in Chipping Campden

Just as I was about to explore the East Banqueting House behind the church I bumped into my wife.  It's OK, we'd arranged to meet in the town so she could kindly give me a lift back to Bidford.  We had a pleasant hour wandering around the town. 

end of the day - Chipping Campden

 

 When we turned to come back poor Shadow had another sit down protest.  We think it's because he hadn't worked out that Margaret had her car in town and was thinking he was going to have to walk the 15 miles back to Bidford.  Fair play to him, he'd probably walked 30 miles already with all the running around he'd done.