8th August 2012 Naunton, Glos

Mike & Gaff

This was a Wednesday 'old folks' walk led by the very able bodied Mike plus Brian, Paul and myself. The walk was around Mike's favourite area around Naunton and included a mini tour of Upper Slaughter on the way. We drove from Cheltenham in Brian's lovely Merc and parked up at the Black 'Orse, donned our boots and off we went.


The Black Horse, Naunton

Paul, myself & Brian

We walked back through the village and turned left beside the old dovecote (see walk of 9th March 2011 with Mike). We continued up the hill past the dovecote until we reached the golf course, keeping to the well defined track before turning to the left, across fields towards the ford at the Windrush beside Lower Harford Farm. The first uphill slowed us down a little but the gentle flat terrain was welcome after that first shock.

Pit Stop

We crossed the field, heading across and uphill (oh dear...) until we reached tarmac, stopping for a quick coffee (and leaks) and then followed the road for some time past farm buildings and other typical Cotswold gaffs. Beside Manor Farm, we entered fields again recalling our last walk here where we met bus loads of rambler types having their picnics - after all it was a Sunday! We followed the wall on our left and continued into Upper Slaughter, passing the Lord of the Manor hotel and other pristine Cotswold stone houses, turning left in the village, following the road to another ford. We stopped at the picturesque bridge and (again) stopped for coffee. We admired the houses in the village, cursed the out-of-towners who use these houses so rarely and made our way across the ford and up to the track on our right.

We left the village along the track by the River Eye, stopping to admire another house (see picture above with Mike) through woodland until we met the road again - this time stopping to admire a handsome gate house for Eyford Park, before moving on for a short while before following the Wardens' Way track again. We passed a row of workers cottages before taking the track - I don't suppose these are for workers any more! The track at this stage is quite easy and we were making good time as the sun came out thank goodness. We followed the track in a zig-zag until we came to a farm where we began return to Naunton, albeit some distance off yet. We followed a field after a farm, crossed the tarmac and followed the track through fields with the most friendly horses. Passing Brockhill Farm we followed the track, turning left onto a gravel track and started the slow descent towards Naunton - first passing through patches of small trees and then onto open ground as we reached the village via more horses - and the Black Horse.

Paul & Friend

We arrived back into Naunton in the sunshine, changed tee shirts and enjoyed Donningtons BB beer at the pub for quite a while! The walk was 7 miles and took us 2 hours and 30 minutes, but more telling data from the GPS was the stopping time - 1 hour! That's old folks for you!

An OS view walk is below, courtesy of QUO digital mapping/OS