My husband and I spent 19 days in England in June. It has been on my bucket list to walk the 102 mile Cotswold Way national trail. A 60th birthday trip was a great time to do this, and my flexible and intrepid husband agreed. On this trip report, I plan to share highlights and opinions rather than a day-by-day run through. The report will still be kind of long so feel free to skip. We had a fantastic time and met many wonderful people!
Itinerary, Logistics, Packing
Itinerary – We flew CVG-DTW-LHR, and spent a day and a half in London before traveling to Chipping Campden where the trail starts. After finishing the Cotswold Way in Bath, we explored that beautiful city. Our plan had been to then go to Portsmouth and Beachy Head, but after sitting by the side of the road for 4 ½ hours on the way to Stonehenge with a rental car issue, we pivoted and returned to visit London for the last few days of our trip.
Packing – We each packed 21” roller bags and took our hiking backpacks. I carried everything on, and my husband checked his bag as it had hiking sticks. I was happy with what I packed. What I forgot to do until the night before we left (rookie mistake!) was to pack all the Covid “extras” such as tests, possible meds, thermometer, work laptop, etc. That all took up way more space than I had planned. There were several times when it really worked to our favor to have carryon-sized luggage.
Our packing “stars” this trip were:
- My Tom Bihn Side Effect crossbody/sling bag – just big enough to keep our passports, wallet, phone and sunglasses without putting pressure on my shoulder/neck.
- My old Flip & Tumble Crossbody bag (I believe Lo had recommended this a long time ago) – it folds small but can hold jacket/umbrella, etc if needed.
- Foldable plastic hangers from Amazon – SO much better than our old inflatables. These were lifesavers for drying when we sink-washed.
- Smartwool shirts – my husband used these for hiking and had a Smartwool polo that looked dashing for dinner.
- Athleta Renew V-neck – these were my after-hiking shirts, can be dressed up and down, and dry in a flash.
Our “what were you thinking” packing items (all in my bag, unfortunately):
- Titanium mug – I had gotten it in my head I needed to bring this mug in case we had to quarantine. It’s a great camping mug but what a waste of space! Every single place we stayed had mugs in the room.
- Small massage ball – I brought this in case we were sore while walking but didn’t need it. It also amused the TSA agent as we were returning through Atlanta.
- Silicone collapsible diffuser – I brought an adjustable collapsible diffuser that fit up to 2” hair dryers and it DID NOT FIT any of the hotel hair dryers on our travels! They were all about 2.5”. I also had thrown in a hot sock diffuser that fortunately did work. My husband chuckled at that pink diffuser the entire trip.
Other logistics:
- Cash is NOT king – This is my husband’s number one advice. We barely ever needed cash, even at the smaller villages. Almost every place accepted contactless payment. We loaded both our AMX (primary card) and a Visa onto Apple Pay. About 70% of places took AMX; if not, we switched to Visa.
- Put on your patience hat – There was a labor shortage many places we went, especially in the smaller villages. The people working were working hard. Just know that it might take a little longer to get served, etc.
- Covid – As others have said, you will see very few masks or outward Covid precautions in England. The pollen levels were also high so we heard lots of coughing, sneezing and snuffling. Be prepared to take the precautions that work for you. No one gave us funny looks when we wore our masks. We ate outside when we could, but that was not always possible.