Cotswold Way

Cotswold Way is England’s long-distance footpath running between Chipping Campden and Bath, following the Cotswold Edge escarpment through the Cotswolds. It’s a National Trail and totals about 102 miles (164 km).

The route is organized around the ridge: it stays close to the limestone scarp for long stretches, with regular drops into Cotswold villages and towns along the way—then back up to the escarpment again. The high points include Cleeve Hill, listed as the highest point at 1,083 ft (330 m).

Wayfinding is part of the trail’s identity: it was officially inaugurated as a National Trail on 24 May 2007, and it’s signed for long-distance navigation across the Cotswolds.

Major towns along the line include Old Sodbury, Wotton-under-Edge, Dursley, Stroud, Painswick, Cranham, Leckhampton, Cheltenham, Winchcombe, Stanway and Broadway, before reaching Chipping Campden at the north end and Bath at the south end. The route passes near Battle of Lansdowne and sights such as Sudeley Castle, Hailes Abbey, and Broadway Tower.

For planning on the ground, the trail is typically walked as a multi-day one-way trip with a week-long pace, because it crosses multiple settlements rather than one continuous wilderness corridor. As a rule of thumb, a full walk is done over about a week, with nights in villages and towns reached along the escarpment and its descents.

Besides walking, the Cotswold Way also runs annually as a relay in 10 stages (north to south) in late June or early July. There’s also a single-stage running event in September, run north to south with a Chipping Campden start and Bath finish outside Bath Abbey.

The southern terminus and end-marker area is Bath Abbey, which is used as the finish reference point for walkers completing the route. The path starts at Chipping Campden’s end point marker used for long-distance departures from the town.

More information: Wikipedia, Walking the Cotswold Way, Cotswold Way