Seven Springs, Cotswolds Sunday Coach walk on 25 May

P LEASE NOTE THAT THE DURATION OF THIS EVENT SHOWN ABOVE IS ONLY APPROXIMATE AND CANNOT BE GUARANTEED; IT WILL DEPEND ON FACTORS SUCH AS THE WEATHER AND THE WALKING PACE OF THE GROUP.

Our Sunday rambles usually have three levels of walk, strenuous (A), moderate (B) or leisurely (C), led by Birmingham Ramblers group leaders. Join us and enjoy a great day of social walking with our friendly members.

Please note: Our walks are often on rough tracks and rights of way through fields, woodland and hills. Walkers should preferably wear walking boots and other clothing suitable for the weather. Unless otherwise described, please bring a packed lunch and refreshments for the day.

This Sunday walk has 3 levels of walk:

• A Walk: 12.5 miles, ~1850 ft total ascent.
• B Walk: 16.8 km / 10.5 miles, 456 m / 1,500 ft total ascent.
• C Walk: 7 miles, 2 hills- 200 ft over 0.8 miles, and 280 ft over 0.6 miles; 800 ft total elevation gain.

Walk leaders:

• A Walk: Peter Searle
• B Walk: Nora Veszpremi
• C Walk: Eva Hyde

Walk details:

• A Walk: Starting from a lay-by on the A436 at Seven Springs, we will follow the Cotswold Way over Wistley Hill, which provides extensive views over Cheltenham to the Malvern Hills. The route continues through the upper edge of Lineover Wood (Woodland Trust), then turns steeply down along the edge of the wood. We will meander to appreciate the ancient woodland, including a fine >600-year-old heritage beech tree. After crossing the A40 near the dam of the Dowdeswell Reservoir, the route climbs steeply up the side of Dowdeswell Wood Nature Reserve. Leaving the Cotswold Way, we continue all the way around the perimeter path in the woods, briefly retracing our earlier route to cross back across the A40. We then take a footpath which climbs SE mainly through fields, eventually reaching the Kilkenny Inn. From here we continue to Foxcote, where we join the Gloucestershire Way, which we will follow across fields, quiet lanes and tracks to a lane near Upper Coberley, where we turn NW along the lane then a track back to Seven Springs and the waiting coach. Leader: Peter Searle.
• B Walk: Starting at a layby on the A436 near the top of Wistley Hill, South-East of Cheltenham, we follow a track along the edge of Linover Wood, stopping to see its ancient beech trees. We then cross the wood, first following a path to the east, then turning right to walk up to the northernmost corner of the wood. Here, we cross the A40 and ascend along the Cotswold Way by the edge of Dowdeswell Wood for about 800m, then continue walking around the wood and by Dowdeswell Reservoir until we get back to where we had crossed the A40. We cross the road again, this time taking a path that leads southeast from Lineover Wood. Ascending across fields, we walk past Castle Barn Farm and join a minor road, which takes us around Upper Dowdeswell and its historic Manor House. Arriving at Kilkenny, we stop for a picnic lunch, with an option to visit the Kilkenny Inn. We then follow paths across fields to cross the A436 and reach Kilkenny nature reserve. This is a fine viewpoint with wildflowers and butterflies in summer. From here, we follow a path south, continuing along a short section of the Gloucestershire Way, then turning right to follow a path past Holly Wood, Pegglesworth Home Farm, and Fishpond Wood, up to the A436 near our starting point. We cross the road and ascend to take the Cotswold Way westwards onto Wistley Hill, which offers spectacular views across Cheltenham towards the Malvern Hills. Continuing downhill on the Cotswold Way, we arrive at the coach at Seven Springs.
• C Walk: Starting at a layby on the A436 near the top of Wistley Hill, South-East of Cheltenham, we follow a track past Fishpond Wood and Pegglesworth Home Farm, across fields to a minor road (1.2 miles) leading to Kilkenny nature reserve. This is grass and shrubland, with wildflowers and butterflies in summer, a fine viewpoint and picnic site (1.8 miles). We cross the main road and fields to a minor road around Upper Dowdeswell and its historic Manor House, partly built in 17th century, to arrive at the Kilkenny Inn (3 miles). From here, we cross a field to return to the minor road past Castle Barn farm and across further fields to Lineover Wood with its ancient beech trees, one of which is over 600 years old (4.2 miles). We wander through the woods, with a mixture of trees and flowers, going uphill to join the Cotswolds Way. This goes through the upper edge of Lineover Wood to Wistley Hill, the highest point of the walk, where there are fine views across Cheltenham towards the Malvern Hills (6 miles). Continuing downhill on the Cotswolds way we arrive at Seven Springs, the source of the river Churn which flows into the Thames, and the coach.

There are a limited number of total places for the walks, which is set by the capacity of the coach. Whilst we hope that everyone will be able to be accommodated on their walk of choice, the allocation of places for each walk will have to be done on the day. No-one will be expected to walk at a higher grade than they prefer - thus, for example, if you prefer the B walk you will not be asked to join the A walk but may be asked to join the C walk. The booking form allows you to specify your preferred walk.

Joining instructions

It will only be possible to join the walk by coach, which will be picking up at 09.00 at the layby at the side of St. Chad’s Cathedral, Queensway, Birmingham B4 6EU. Note that this is not the Cathedral car park in Shadwell Street, which has postcode B4 6EY.

The coach fare will be £20 with 3 options for payment:

• Cash on the day in an envelope with your name and the date of the walk. We are unable to give change for cash payments
• Cheque on the day, made payable to COBRA, in an envelope with your name and the date of the walk.
• Bank transfer in advance of the walk

For payment by bank transfer the walk coordinator will contact you about a week in advance of the walk with bank details. For payments on the day, please put the exact fare in an envelope with your name and date of the walk on it, which will be collected on the coach - unfortunately we are unable to give change for the coach fare.

Note that you cannot pay the coach fare through our Eventbrite account. Your booking for the walk will still show £0.00 but you do have to pay the £20 coach fare on or before the day of the walk

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If you have a confirmed ticket:

Shortly after bookings have closed the walk coordinator will contact you by email to confirm that you will still be joining us on this walk; this is needed since there are limited seats on the coach and we like to release any unused places to others who may be on a waiting list. The coordinator will also give you our bank details if you have chosen to pay the coach fare by bank transfer. Please check your email, including Spam and/or Junk folders, shortly after bookings have closed for this walk and reply to let us know whether or not you will be still joining the walk.

If you have a waiting list ticket:

The walk coordinator will contact you by email shortly before the walk date to let you know if we are able to offer you a place. Please check your email, including Spam and/or Junk folders, shortly before the walk date and, if we are able to offer you a place, reply to let us know whether or not you will be joining the walk.

If you find that you are unable to join us after booking a ticket it would be helpful if you let us know by sending an email to bhamramblersenquiries@gmail.com - this will be passed on to the walk leader and will prevent any delay to the start of the walk should the leader be waiting for you. Please note that some walks have a waiting list so tickets are NOT TRANSFERABLE; if you are unable to join us then please cancel your place to free it up for someone who may be on the waiting list rather than sending someone else in your place.

Bookings for this walk will close at 06.00 on Monday 19 May. If you would like to join this walk after the bookings have closed please email bhamramblersenquiries@gmail.com to enquire about any late availability for the walk.

General Information

This is one of several walks and activities offered by the Birmingham Ramblers. If you have found this page through a web search or other means and would like to find out more about the group then please visit the Birmingham Ramblers web site; new members are always welcome.