The aim of this final blog in my Cotswold Way series of posts, is to provide a bunch of hints and tips that will help you have a great experience on this particular National Trail.
I wanted to put together all the little bits and bobs I learnt when hiking this trail that you might find useful – things about the route, the overnights, the food, what to wear, what to pack, and more. This will be a super-fast post to read, but I hope you find it helpful.
Thanks to Fiona, my hiking buddy for the Cotswold Way, for helping me compile this list. And please, if you’ve done the trail and have more tips, do comment below to share your wisdom – I look forward to reading your additions to my list.
Twenty Cotswold Way Hints and Tips
01 Hike Your Own Hike
We chose to walk the Cotswold Way in one six-day stint, but it is also an excellent option for those looking for either day hikes or a handful of one-night weekend adventures. National Trails are there for the taking – however you choose to hike them. Equally, those who hike the Cotswold Way carrying a bivvy bag and only a spare pair of pants, sleeping wherever the need takes you as you travel, versus those who book comfortable B&B accommodation ahead of time in places you can be certain of a good pub meal at night, are still hiking the same trail.
The key is – and my number one hint for the Cotswold Way – is to hike your own hike. Find a way of tackling the Cotswold Way that fits your liking, provides the level of challenge you are looking for, and ultimately fills you with joy.
02 Walk to Bath
Walking south to Bath makes a lot more sense than walking north to Chipping Campden. Bath provides a big and shiny highlight of an ending which is incredibly appropriate. Yes, Bath is a big city, so there is a low-key culture shock from being in the countryside for a week akin to landing in Fort William after the West Highland Way, but it works. A very fitting place to finish 100-miles of hiking.
03 Hike in Spring
The Cotswolds is oh so beautiful in springtime, especially the woodland sections. You’ll get bluebells, wild garlic, yellow gorse flowers, lush green views. And if you’re early enough, the summer haze which sits in the valley over the rivers won’t have settled yet so you’ll get clear views into Wales.
04 A Week is Good
A week – six to eight days – is an ideal length of time for this 102-mile hike (we walked 108). This allows you plenty of time to do the hike rather than having to rush the miles. The Cotswold Way is a beautiful route, so leave time to enjoy the scenery, try out the tea rooms, have plenty of boots-off stops, and chat with locals and other walkers along the way.
Unless you are going for a record, or get your kicks out of pushing the miles (remember tip one!), the last thing the Cotswold Way needs is to be rushed.
05 Get a Guidebook
Buy a guidebook and take it with you – it’s worth the weight. They are useful for routing, and even better for explaining the features, telling the history, and providing useful information along the way. I didn’t carry mine – this Cicerone one (which I would recommend) – and wish I had.
06 Learn the History
Guidebook or not, don’t just rush through the landscape – pay attention to the amazing number of historical features you are walking through. There are Iron Age settlements, hill forts, battle fields, monuments to historical figures, follies, manor houses and huge parks; each one has a story to go with it, and it’s worth stopping to learn a little about the people you might have met there in years gone by.
07 Book Ahead
Unlike other National Trails, along which it can be easy to decide where to spend the night as you tick off the miles, the Cotswold Way requires a bit of forward planning. This isn’t a hike that can be easily backpacked. There are few campsites, the pubs don’t advertise beer garden camping, and there are no hostels until Bath. Instead, most hikers rely on B&Bs – and as you’re competing with Cotswolds holidaymakers, these get booked up for weeks at a time.
If you hike the Cotswold Way in peak summer season, you may also want to book your evening meals in advance.
08 Take a Sit Mat
Take a sit mat – and make time to use it. Honestly, this trail really does benefit from time taken to sit down and enjoy the view. Have breakfast at your B&B, and then make time for mid-morning second breakfast featuring a flask of tea and a slice of something delicious at a suitably picturesque spot.
All our B&B hosts were more than happy to fill our flasks with tea or coffee at breakfast time, and we packed banana bread, Nanaimo bars, fruit and nuts for our snack breaks.
09 Stop for Coffee
If you’re having second breakfast on your sit mat on top of a hill, then your afternoon coffee should be enjoyed in one of the little independent coffee and cake places dotted along the route.
Fiona and I aren’t afraid to admit that our Cotswold Way experience was as much a food and drink tour as it was about the walking! Our favourites were, Boho Collective café, a short (signposted) diversion off the route just after King’s Stanley, The Edge Coffee Shop on the main street in Wotton-under-Edge, and The Western, which we landed in as two drowned rats on the very outskirts of Bath. And not a chain coffee in sight.
10 Carry Food and Water
While you will find some lovely tea rooms on the route, there are some significant stretches of the Cotswold Way where you won’t pass a café or shop. Places that look reasonably-sized on the map are often sans any food or drink options (looking at you, Stanton, Tomarton and Cold Ashton), and even some of the slightly larger places don’t have anything more than a pub which is closed until mid-afternoon. My advice is to check the map and guidebook, and carry food and water accordingly. Never do a long-distance hike without a snack bag!
11 Pack Light
Unless you are making use of a baggage transfer company, do your best to pack as light as you can. The lighter your pack, the more comfortable your hike will be (and the more room you’ll have for snacks!). Pack enough essentials to feel confident you are prepared, safe, and not slumming it, and leave anything else at home. You can see what I carried in this post.
12 It Will Rain
Make sure you are prepared with head-to-toe waterproof gear. This is the English countryside, you will be ridiculously fortunate if you don’t need at least a waterproof coat when hiking the Cotswold Way. Waterproof coat, over trousers, baseball cap (such a useful bit of kit), and pack cover are all well worth the space taken.
Most importantly, don’t wait until you’re already soaked through to put that stuff on… You know, do as I say, not as I do.
13 Do Some Hill Reps
The Cotswold Way follows the Cotswold Edge, an escarpment which rises out of the low and wide valley of the River Severn. You’ll be walking up and down that scarp face over and over again; some of those hills are quite steep, and come at you several at a time. They’re all over quickly (thankfully!), but don’t start the Cotswold Way thinking it’s going to be 100-miles of gently rolling hills.
14 Boots Aren’t Required
Even with the not-insignificant ascent and descent, hiking boots aren’t essential on the Cotswold Way. I wore mine, that’s my preference, but I could have easily gotten away with hiking shoes or trail runners instead. The terrain is decent, there’s no scrambling or scree to contend with, although be warned that it can be incredibly squelchy in places so be prepared to get grime inside your trainers!
15 Know Your Kit
This is a tip for a hike of any length, but it’s especially important for long-distance trails like the Cotswold Way. Wear tried and tested kit, especially your boots, socks, backpack, and waterproof coat. New gear is always nice (we all like a bit of new!), but try to get it a while before you go so you are familiar with it (where are the pockets, are the laces long enough) – and have established real trust in each item. The last thing you need is to be uncomfortable.
16 Prepare for Wild Wees
I recall passing three public toilets on the Cotswold Way, at the car park at Fish Hill on day one (free to use), one at Crickley Hill Country Park on day three (free), and another in Dursley on day four (I think we had to pay here). There may have been others (there are some off the route in Broadway and Winchcombe, for example), and there were customer toilets in the pubs and cafés we stopped in.
Anyway, my point is, make sure you know how to responsibly do your business in the wild, and be fully prepared to practice the principles of leave no trace.
17 Know Where You Are
The signage on the Cotswold Way is excellent, but make sure you are ready to navigate if needed. Carry a map (and your guidebook) and know how to use it to work out where you are and which way you should be heading. You never know what may happen; poor weather can make it hard to spot signposts, gates and bridges can get blocked or broken, you may want to avoid a field of cows or horses, or you may find you need to take another kind of diversion.
On diversions, be sure to check the National Trails website before you go, as this will note official diversions such as the one we took at Beacon Lane on the last day.
18 Consider Detours
Consider leaving extra time to explore the places you walk through and even taking small detours to some of the other beautiful places off the trail. Broadway Tower and Nuclear Bunker, Hailes Abbey, Cheltenham, Painswick’s Rococo Gardens, Stroud, Dyrham Park – there will be others. Detours add miles and time, but if you are making a slow journey of it, you can spread out the walking over more days and visit more places.
19 Leave Time for Bath
It seems time is my number one tip in this set of twenty – and that goes for the end of the hike too. Bath is a truly beautiful city, worth some of your time, even if you’ve been before. Try to make sure you’re not rushing the last three miles and don’t head straight to the train station before you’ve had chance to celebrate your Cotswold Way experience in this incredibly fitting end point.
20 Be Inspired to Hike Your Local Trail
The Cotswold Way was a local walk for me, and had been Fiona’s until recently, which definitely made it mean more to the both of us, an extra special feeling I’ve not felt on other long walks I’ve completed. There really is something unique about walking through your local patch on a long-distance hike – joining the dots between well-walked paths, and seeing where you live from a hiker’s point of view. Take this as your cue to find your local long-distance trail and aim to complete that.
Add your own Cotswold Way hints and tips in the comments below.
If you want the full story of my Cotswold Way hike, then it’s best to head over to my adventure journal series – a nice little adventure story told in a chapter-a-day style, worth your time I reckon.
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