Its been a bit difficult to get out climbing recently but now the warm weather is coming back it was time to get back out there and get climbing, I have been running out of local hills to climb so it was now time to start travelling further afield, I had been planning this trip for a while and it would involve a stop over somewhere to make things easier.
My first destination on this trip was Cleeve hill, the highest point of Gloucestershire, it overlooks Cheltenham and is about a 2 hour drive from Portsmouth. I left home and drove along the M27 and up the M3, then following the A34, then along the M4, At Swindon I turned off and followed various roads into Cheltenham and eventually I saw Cleeve hill and headed towards it.
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| The first trig point |
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| The view west with my next climb in the far distance |
I parked in the village of Cleeve hill in a layby and got my kit ready for my climb to the top of the hill, there would actually be a series of hills for me visit here, so I headed off up the first hill, It didn’t take me too long to get to the top, it was pretty
steep but I was up there in about 20 mins, a lot of the area is a golf course
but it is open common land too so not a problem to walk around on as long as
you watch out for golf balls.
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| The High point of Gloucestershire |
At the top of the first hill was a trig point and a small
structure showing various sights to look out on the horizon, the view was
spectacular from here, down below me was the town of Cheltenham and I could
clearly see the world famous race course, I could also see Gloucester in the
distance. The other thing I could see was my next hill to climb but more about
that later on.
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| Relaxing at the high point |
I now walked to the next hill, down a small dip and along in
a straight line towards a trio of communication masts, this was about a half hour
walk from the last hill top but this one was the highest point of
Gloucestershire, There was a trig point marking the exact location at 330
meters, the views were good but not as spectacular as the last hill overlooking
Cheltenham. I stayed here and ate my lunch, it was nice sitting here with very
few people around.
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| West North East |
It was now time to head back to my car, I actually walked a
little towards the south and stopped off at another viewpoint, it was here I
saw the Lone tree, the highest tree in the Cotswolds, it is a very windswept
tree and it has a small wall around it which is used as a memorial, there were
more amazing views over Cheltenham from here.
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| The Lone Tree |
I now had to head back to the car, it was not far from here,
just 15 to 20 mins walk and I was back where I started, it was an awesome walk
with some amazing views for miles around.
I now headed west across the M5 and across the River Severn, arriving at
my campsite where I pitched my tent for the next 2 nights. It was a nice quiet
campsite, in a field next to a pub, I say quiet, the only other occupants were
the sheep in the field next door but that was fine, they kept me company for
the duration, that evening I had a lovely barbeque and then headed off to bed
ready for my next climb tomorrow.
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| Cheltenham with the Racecourse |
To be continued . . . . . . .
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