Cold Ashton to Bath

It was cool and grey when we left Cold Ashton on the last leg of the Cotswold Way. But it never rained.

The last leg was 10 miles, with the Way formally ending at Bath Abbey. The path went through  a couple of valleys before a last climb onto the plateu before Bath. It took us around the field whether Battle of Lansdown occurred 350 years ago. This was a significant battle in the English Civil War, fought between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians.   350 years later you can still see where some of the dry stone walls were pulled down to let cannons through, and later repaired.

Just before the Landsdown field, we were crossing some farmland when we saw the trail above us was being blocked by a whole phalanx of cows directly in our way, and who looked at us like they pretty much wanted to keep the trail to themselves. So we took the low road, and crossed below them while they  watched from above, chuckling at us the way cows do. I almost thought they were going to throw mud clots, or worse, down on us.

The trail followed along the ridge for a ways before dropping down into Bath, then passing through some parks, into the  old part of the city, ending at the Abbey.

Bath is a beautiful city, not very big. But it’s a bit of a culture shock to be out of the countryside and villages we’ve been in the middle of for the past week and a half.

There’s a huge feeling of accomplishment at the end of these long walks, and this one in particular. There‘s also a feeling that you‘ve really seen and experienced the country you‘ve been through. As we were were walking towards our hotel in Bath, we stopped at an intersection next to a tour bus that was driving around to see the sights in Bath. Then, according to the sign on the front, it was off to Stonehenge, and probably the “best of the Cotswolds“ as well.. Marty and I both felt sorry for the people staring out the windows, who in a couple of hours of sitting in air conditioned comfort were going to see the “best of” anything.  I‘m pretty confident we experienced the “best of“ doing it the way we did. .