Cotswold Way : Stage 4

Old Sodbury to Hawkesbury Upton – 26 November 2018

View towards Chipping Sodbury

Here we are (all four of us) on a train again, surprisingly empty for a Monday morning. The new “normal” train from Didcot Parkway (to give it its official title) to Bristol Parkway and then to Yate. Yes it was “new” being one of the bimodes (electric and diesel). All very nice, but hard seats and noisy when under diesel power. Anyhow let’s not get started about trains. 

We arrived in Yate just after 11am and caught a bus to Yate Bus Station. The driver thought we were on the wrong bus thinking that when we said “bus station” we wanted to go to Bristol. We changed buses and headed out to Old Sodbury opposite the Dog Inn where we left off last time.

St John's, Old Sodbury

Interesting bus fare charging system. N was charged over £2 for a journey of about 1.5 miles from Yate station to the bus station in Yate but about half of this for the further distance out to Old Sodbury. On the return later that day, Hawkesbury Upton to Yate station was less than £2 for a distance of at least 10 miles!

We headed off through a farm yard and followed the signs up the hill slope to Old Sodbury church. It was a fine day, sunny at times though a bit cool if you stayed still for too long. The clouds had lifted and there was a fine view out to the west. We debated what the far hills were, probably the Forest of Dean.

Our route for the day was to follow the Cotswold Way until Hawkesbury Upton. P had researched the buses and determined that we could make it there in time to catch the bus back.

Black sheep

Ramparts, Sodbury fort

The first point of interest was the remains of the iron-age hill fort of Sodbury, Grid Reference ST7606 8260. The guide book claims that this is one of the most impressive on the Cotswold Way. The ramparts were in good condition and the site would have commanded great views and protected quite a population of people and animals. These days the site is grazed by many sheep, a considerable number of them being of a black variety.

The path dropped down the scarp slope into the hamlet of Little Sodbury. As we have probably remarked before gaining altitude and then losing it shortly afterwards is the nature of the Cotswold Way.

St Adeline's church, Little Sodbury

Little Sodbury has a church with an interesting name, St Adeline (ST7574 8324). P who had been reading the guidebook in advance of today’s walk said that William Tyndale was chaplain here in 1521. Tyndale translated Erasmus’s writings and published the first English version of the Bible. More about him when we get to the Tyndale Monument next year (with any luck). Back to St Adeline, she was a great granddaughter of William the Conqueror and an Abbess of the Benedictine order who died in 1125. Apparently this is the only church in the United Kingdom named after St. Adeline.

It was time for lunch so we agreed to stop at the next convenient bench or sitting place. We found some old tree trunks near Horton reservoir (ST7606 8374) and had our various lunchtime snacks looking up a dry valley towards an "improved" farmhouse.

A grand prospect?

Discussions turned to the ever present, “Elephant in the Room”, topic of Brexit. In keeping with our rule “what is said on the walk stays on the walk” it would be remiss of your correspondent to report who said what etc. However, we agreed to only talk about Brexit in the future on uphill sections when the exertion would limit our ability to say much between gasps for breath!

Horton Fort

Up another steep hill (thankfully short) to the village of Horton and then a climb again past a restored dovecote (folly), (ST7645 8428). Our book comments that this restoration was a millennium project to encourage swallows and barn owls. At the top of the hill was another fort though this one was less impressive that the one earlier in the day.

Still great views out to the west. Guess what as we entered the woods above Horton Court (National Trust) we dropped down the slope and then had to slowly climb up through the woods again to the 200m contour.

Horton millennium folly

It was then an easy path towards Hawkesbury Upton passing the horse riders we had heard setting out from Horton earlier.

We reached the bus stop and decided to amble up to the Somerset monument (ST7723 8765) and have a look. This was erected in the memory of General Lord Somerset who served with Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo. It is here because his ancestral lands are at Badminton about 5 miles away.

Somerset monument

Back to the bus stop (ST7751 8735) and time to finish our lunchtime snacks and have a nip of Sloe Gin. Bus arrived just about on time and got us back to Yate station with a change at the bus station in time for the convenient train back home.

Splendid view towards Wales

 

Well that was another pleasant walk with some great views. Even shorter today at just 5.5 miles (8.8 km). We are now 24 miles from Bath. That wraps it up for 2018. We will look at local walks around Oxford and leave the Cotswold Way until the Spring when longer days return.