We took a Cotswold Walks Inc. self-guided trip over most of the Cotswold ring in late September of 2023. We are Americans in our late 60’s and relatively fit.
Cotswold Walks Inc made planning the self-guided trip easy. They made the B&B reservations, helped us alter the route to match our abilities and time, provided great maps and directions, rented us hiking poles, had a good payment system, and quickly answered all our questions. We plan to use them again for future walks.
The 9-full-day walk started in Morton-in-Marsh, continued through Stow-on-the-Wold (7.5 mi), Bourton-on-the-Water (4.5 mi), Kineton (7.5 mi), Winchcombe (7.5 mi), Stanton (6 mi), Broadway (3.25 mi), and Chipping Campden (6 mi). We spent an extra night at Bourton-on-the-Water visiting the Slaughters and an extra night at Winchcombe touring Sudeley Castle. We were glad we tailored our trip to have shorter walks – we tend to take our time, especially in towns. Some hikers using other companies seemed stressed by having to walk farther than they'd like every day.
We prepared by walking 2 miles a day in our hiking boots for about a month before going. We each packed a 25-liter daypack and a 40-liter carry-on. We wore our hiking boots on the plane.
We woke at 8, got our luggage to the lobby by 9, ate breakfast, and were on the trail by 10. We picnicked out of our daypacks and ate wild blackberries from the hedgerows.
Accommodations were generally clean and well maintained. The beds were American queen size or larger. The hosts at the Manor Close B&B in Bourton stand out as very welcoming.
The guidebooks provided by Cotswold Walks were invaluable. We would call them step-by-step instructions as they’re that detailed. Those we met from other tours were complaining about poor instructions and envied ours.
The trail signs were easy to follow and we carried a small compass to orient the paper map. We bought the Ordinance Survey map but never needed it. We preloaded the Google map, useful for finding the B&Bs.
The trails could be muddy, even though the weather was dry during the day (it rained at night a few times). There was slick mud any trail has after rain, and then there was the ankle-deep muck around the cattle gates. The worst was on the way to Bourton from Stow.
We added visits to Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon and used public buses and trains entirely.