Cotswolds Way - Day 6

Another fine start this morning — Painswick looking postcard-perfect under yet more blue skies. The news says the UK is heading towards another heatwave, which is great news if it means this sort of weather sticks around for the rest of the walk.

Today’s goal: about 10 miles on the Cotswold Way proper, plus an extra mile to my accommodation in Stonehouse. Not ideal, but on the map it looked like a canal walk, so I figured it would be flat, easy, and scenic — and I do enjoy a stretch alongside water.

I took plenty of photos leaving Painswick, the kind of cosy Cotswold village shots you’d expect — stone cottages, narrow lanes, and a few Tudor-style originals. 

Then it was out across fields before heading, once again, into tree cover. I still can’t quite get used to just how much of the Cotswolds is forested. My pre-walk mental image was all rolling golden fields, but the escarpment spends a lot of time under canopy.

Along the ridge, I found a stone with a plaque marking Bath – 55 miles to go. Nice to know I’m making progress, though my legs instantly felt the weight of every remaining mile.

Around midday, I met two hikers coming the other way. I noticed a familiar flag on one of their backpacks and mentioned it — then showed off my own little Canadian flag. Turns out they were from Salt Spring Island, just off the coast of Vancouver. I’ve enjoyed more than a few Salt Spring Brewery beers over the years — their Heather Ale and Earl Grey IPA both highly recommended if you ever find yourself over that way. We said our goodbyes, and I powered off… in completely the wrong direction. Ten minutes later I passed them again, this time sheepishly admitting my navigational fail.

Not long after, I stumbled across an odd old stone with faded inscriptions. Later I found out it’s the Cromwell Stone — a local landmark tied to legend.

Cromwell Stone Factoid: The Cromwell Stone is said to be where Oliver Cromwell addressed his troops before the 1643 Battle of Lansdown during the English Civil War. Whether Cromwell was actually here is debatable, but the story has stuck for centuries, and the stone now sits quietly along the escarpment, a small but storied waypoint for walkers.

Further along, I passed a farmhouse with a strange sentinel in the upper window — a rather menacing-looking doll set just so to stare directly at hikers. Definitely deliberate, definitely unsettling, but it made me laugh.

The rest of the walk alternated between more tree cover and the occasional countryside view — just enough to warrant a quick panorama shot.

Finally, I reached the canal path into Stonehouse. Being a sunny Sunday, it was alive with walkers, cyclists, and families. 

My accommodation turned out to be right next to St Cyr’s Church, named after the youngest Christian saint — martyred at just three years old. An unexpected bit of history to end the day.

I was too early to check in, so I left my pack at reception and wandered into Stonehouse for a meal and a drink with the locals. A fine way to finish a day that had a bit of everything — history, humour, a navigational blip, and one very creepy doll.