Painswick to Slade via Harefield Beacon.
Our route. However, as
I'm no cartographer, some elevation detail may be
suspect.
N.B. From our starting point in Painswick we went
ant-clockwise.
However, we did not have time to linger. We
had a walk to do and soon we were on the Cotswold
Way, leaving the town behind, as we went westwards
towards Edge.
Initially it was easy going across fields and
through woodland, but, on reaching Edge, we had
some uphill work and with the sun beating down on
us this was certainly no easy morning stroll.
However, the ascent gave us some wonderful views
back towards Painswick and after passing some old
quarries walking became easier as our path went
downhill.
Larry and Mick
"posing" on the hillside above Edge.
The Cotswold Way continued westwards below the
north side of the wooded ridge that we followed
until we ascended onto the ridge at Harefield
Beacon. Surprisingly this ascent was not as
difficult as expected, and, on reaching the Beacon,
we were rewarded with good views, a sit down and a
late morning snack.
The views were not unlike those we had enjoyed from
Stinchcombe Hill on our Dursley walk, with the
River Severn glittering in the sun to the
west.
The view from
Harefield Beacon with the River Severn in the
distance
We then started eastwards on the south side of the
ridge, which was more exposed than the route we had
taken on the north side. Soon we were
approaching the topographer (GR SO 827083), located
just off the Cotswold Way near the Shortwood Car
Park. Here were magnificent views over the
Severn Valley. We could see for miles.
The topographer near
the Shortwoods Car Park and more views of the
Severn Valley.
Back on the Cotswold Way, we passed through the
Shortwood Car Park, and went into woodland, where
we missed the path we wanted that would have taken
us left. However, this was of no real concern
and shortly afterwards, having left the Cotswold
Way, we did a short stretch of road walking to the
junction of three lanes called "Bird in the Hand" (
GR SO 838081).
From here, we followed a track going close to
Harefield Farm that took us south east, and
downhill, to Pinchcombe.
Mick, leading the way
to Pinchcombe and the bottom of the Painswick
Valley
We were now at the bottom of the Painswick Valley
and although our objective, Slad, and the Woolpack
Inn, was not far away there was this great big hill
in between. I remember remarking to Mick and
Larry that almost all our walks in the Cotswolds
never seem to follow contour lines. We always
seem to be going up and down hillsides. Very
painful on knees, especially old ones. However, if
we were to enjoy a pint of best English bitter at
the Woolpack the hill had to be negotiated, and
this hill was a real toughie.
We left Pinchcombe, crossed the main Painswick to
Stroud Road, and followed a minor road that went
roughly south east. A right turn from this
road took us across fields to Hammonds Farm and,
after walking south east along the farm drive, we
started the “pull” towards the road that went over
Wickeridge Hill. Even Mick and Larry
thought it a tough ascent, and when they stopped
about 2/3rds of the way up, at a place called
Hawkwood, saying it was “so I could catch up”, I
think it was really because they wanted a
break themselves.
Larry in the lead on
the path from Wickeridge Hill to the Stroud to Slad
Road.
Soon after this stop the ascent became
easier. Once we reached the road at the top
of the hill we went north east along it for
slightly less than half a mile before we took a
path on our left and went downhill, on the edge of
woodland to the Stroud to Slad road. Once the
road was reached it was probably only ten minutes
before we were in the bar of the Woolpack drinking
pints of best English Bitter. Best English
Uley Bitter to be precise.
The Woolpack in
Slad.
Although we were tempted by the menu we still had
to get over the side of Wickeridge Hill to get back
to the car in Painswick. We therefore decided
to get the walk over first and stop at a favourite
“watering hole” the pub at Seven Springs and so we
made do with a bag of nuts each before continuing
our walk.
Almost opposite the Pub is the village church and
churchyard, which contains the grave of a favourite
author, Laurie Lee. Larry, Mick and I first
visited Slad with Peter, Ray and our friend Spike
back in May 1997. When we planned this earlier
excursion I had hoped that we might see Laurie,
famous for his book Cider with Rosie, in the
Woolpack – a favourite haunt. However, we
were too late. He died a few months before
our visit so here was at least an opportunity to
pay our respects at his graveside.
Having left the churchyard we continued uphill
(north) out of the village until the village war
memorial was reached. Here our path went left
up a very steep track and after less than a ¼ mile
we turned right onto the wooded slopes of the
hillside. Somewhere amongst the trees, we
missed a turning on the left – we seem to be making
a habit of missing paths in the woods - but we
weren’t too concerned as we soon found another
track and followed this uphill into Painswick.
Our first view of the
Church of St Mary's
seen as we approach Painswick near the end of our
walk.
By now we were getting hungry. Our walking
certainly gave us an appetite, so it was back to
the car and soon we were speeding on our way to the
Hungry Horse at Seven Springs for food and more
liquid refreshment. The total distance walked was
about 11 miles.