Bledington via Stow-On-The-Wold

See all the photos at flickr and see the route on an OS map at Social Hiking.

A lovely walk through which will take us through some lovely Costwold villages with some lovely views. Mainly good paths, tracks or roads, but the start may be a little bit muddy in the winter months. A nice walk for dogs, with plenty of time off the lead and only a couple of stiles, but not many streams or rivers so pack some water for your four legged friend. Tip: plan your walk so that arrive at Stow-on-the-Wold for lunch.

We start the walk from the pretty Bledington village, there’s plenty of parking in Chapel Lane and you may want to take note of the Kings Head Pub here for refreshment after the walk. For now we leave the village along the road and pick up the bridleway to Oddington. It may be muddy along this track but it does improve nearer to Bledington Heath, I promise.

The first of the villages on the walk is Oddington, divided into Lower Oddington and Upper Oddington. We pass the Church of Saint Nicholas on the outskirts of the village, this church was damaged by water when thieves stole the lead off the roof and it’s currently undergoing restoration, but you can still look inside it and perhaps leave a donation.

After the church, we continue along the Macmillan Way, to Upper Oddington. Here you will pass the Horse and Groom public house, they welcomes dogs, well behaved ones of course, in the lounge bar, but I don’t know how they feel about muddy boots!

After walking through the village we rejoin the Macmillan way and head up Martin’s Hill and pass through the sports field. The way marking here is poor, so just keep walking past the pitches to hidden gate in the very far corner just after the last pitch. Then follow the roped route through the paddocks. We will now reach the B4450, there is no proper footpath along the road, only the occasional grass verge, so take care!

At the end of the road we turn turn onto a very quiet lane that leads into Maugersbury. We skirt the edge of the village on the way up the hill to Stow-on-the-Wold, but we will come back into Maugersbury a bit later on.

At the top of the hill is Stow-on-the-Wold, a delightful market town and one of the most well known in Cotswolds. There are plenty of shops and places to eat here as well as public conveniences and a large church to explore. This is the half way point, so it's a good place to stop. There are several seats opposite the Porch house for those with packed lunches, or wait until we rejoin the Macmillan Way where there are more seats with some lovely views.

We leave Stow-on-the-Wold taking the narrow footpath alongside the busy A429 breathe in if you meet someone coming in the opposite direction. It’s a horrible road but we will turn off shortly and rejoin the Macmillan Way heading back to Maugersbury.

The best of views are on this second half of the walk and there are plenty to enjoy as we walk down the hill to Maugersbury village. Take a deep breath for the haul up Maugersbury Hill, see if you make it up without stopping. The view at the top of the hill will make the climb worthwhile, look back at the church tower in Stow and if you have your binoculars and it's a fine day you will be able to see Bliss Mill at Chipping Norton, just!.

A nice gentle downhill walk will then bring us to Icomb, a delightful Cotswold hamlet made up of stone cottages and the 13th century church, St Mary the Virgin. We will take the Oxfordfordshire Way for the final leg of the walk to bring us back to Bledington. Oh, and don’t forget that pub I mentioned at the start!