Contours Walking Holidays offers what appears to be the perfect self-guided walking tour for my purposes: A Cotswolds Village Trail tour. The benefits to this tour, as opposed to doing this myself, are clear maps and directions, and luggage transported to the next night's lodging. All of this is at a terrific price, compared to most of the other tour operators I've looked at. My goal is to see as many charming villages as possible, with some walks through lovely countryside (rolling hills, sheep, etc.). However, the six day walking itinerary, below, leaves out two of the towns I thought were "must sees," Burford and Bibury. Is this a good itinerary? Is there any way to work in Burford and Bibury? Is it safe for a 40-something single female to do this walk alone? Is the last week of August a good time of year for this walk?

Thanks for any input.

Moreton-in-Marsh
Sezincote House
Longborough
Broadwell
Stow-on-the Wold
Upper and Lower Slaughter
Bourton-on-the-Water
Clapton-on-the-Hill
Farmington
Eastingham
Northleach
Hampnett
Turkdean
Notgrove
Aylworth
Naunton
Guiting Power
Sudeley Castle
Winchecombe
Hailes Abbey
Beckbury Camp
Stanway
Stanton
Shenbarrow
Broadway
Broadway Tower
Chipping Campden
Broad Campden
Blockley
Moreton-in-Marsh

You'd be hitting some lovely villages along this route. I wouldn't worry about missing Burford or Bibury (can't do/see it all)

Burford does have a lovely wool church and is a lively village (or town, in case flanner sees this thread). And a very good base if you have a car. But being a "must see" - not really.

Bibury is a riverside village mainly noted for Arlington Row (a row of 14th century weaver's cottages) and the Swan Hotel. You are hitting so many other nice places you won't miss Bibury.

If it were me (just me personally) I'd base in a village for a week and use a car to drive to various parts of the Cotswolds each day for walks.

But for a walking tour w/ luggage transport - this is a good itinerary.

Our family has done several self-guided walks in England. The first walk we did (in 2002) was a circular walk in the Cotswolds, similar to what you have described. The tour operator we used was Cotswolds Walking Holidays http://www.cotswoldwalks.com/ owned by a husband/wife team who live in the Cotswolds.My coordination was with Ann, who was great to work with.

I think the itinerary is just fine. You will see so much that missing one or two villages is not a problem. Burford and Bibury are nice, but surely not musts. (We have been to the Cotswolds four times now.) The villages at some point kind of run together.

We love walking trips and experiencing the European countryside on foot. But I am thinking about doing this walk alone, and I'm a 50-year old woman who's an experienced European traveler and walker. We had a day of rain and mud. We got lost a couple of times-- mostly minor, but once way off the route. We crossed through a field with a big bull. I never felt there was a security issue at all-- I think you'd be very safe, but I don't know about doing it alone. On all our other walking trips, we've hooked up with other walkers on a similar route (and have made some wonderful friends), but not on the Cotswolds walk. You'd have to think about the possibility of being alone that whole time, which depends a lot on your personality.

As Janice said, you could base in a little cottage in one of the villages with a car and explore by car and by foot. There are some wonderful walks you could take. And you would see more with a car. (For example, I would definitely visit one of the lovely gardens like Hidcote.)

Or you could consider a guided tour... just a thought.

Kathy

There aren't any must sees round here: the very idea there's something you <b>have</b> to see is deeply alien to the Cotswold Way.

Unless there's something in either Burford or Bibury you really, really, <b>want</b> to see (and personally, I don't think there's a church in England to match Burford: not because it's particularly pretty, but because it's the ur-Cotswold church in its endless history of local self-made entrepreneurs pouring money back into their community) you're not missing anything by not seeing them: the proposed itinerary has a good mix of stout towns like Chipping Campden and small, (cloyingly in my view) twee villages and hamlets.

That said, I really can't see the point of paying someone to organise this, and for once I almost agree 100% with JanisJ. Britain's bookshops are groaning with books of Cotswold circular walks (we use the Jarrold Pathfinder nos 6 and 40 when off our home turf. I can't imagine Contours' instructions are any clearer. About &pound;10 each: details on the Ordnance Survey site)

Choose six or seven of these, get yourself a cottage (I'd recommend more or less in a smallish town, within half a mile of a decent pub) and a car. Drive out to each of the six, and you'll cover more ground, more of your choosing.

Single women of all ages are reasonably commonplace along paths round here, and would be as baffled as I am anyone would ask about safety. I assume you're referring to horned cattle in the fields you'll be crossing: they're always cows unless there's a sign saying different, but don't get between them and their calves.

Single women are also treated properly in pubs, which are the sensible place to eat both lunch and supper.

The last week in August(w/c Aug 27) follows the August bank holiday, and is a peak holiday week. That doesn't mean crowds (no such thing on the footpaths, except on New Year's Day), but it makes accommodation - both cottages and hotels etc - book up early and get a bit pricier.

As someone who has done just that now five times, I thought I'd provide an alternate point of view as to why someone would pay to have a company organize a self-guided walking tour.

Yes, you can buy a guidebook or go on the internet and figure it all out on your own. But when you are unfamiliar with the area-- and perhaps not an experienced walker, this is much harder to do. Many of the walking guidebooks and maps may not be as accessible in the USA-- where you can't browse them in a bookstore to pick the right one. You may be uncertain how far is really practical to walk in a day, or which accommodations would make sense. It is helpful to have an experienced resource handle all this.

Our family does like to have accommodations booked in advance vs. searching them out each night. Doing all this from afar is much more complicated-- sending e-mails, making deposits, perhaps phoning across time zones or dealing in a different language. It is much easier to pay one company and they handle all of that for you.

And the luggage transfer is important. When we have done our European walks, we have always been doing a more extended trip combined in Europe that required different clothes and more &quot;stuff&quot;. We could not possibly have carried our luggage on our backs.

And sometimes time is an issue. As with other aspects of travel (using a travel consultant, renting through an agency, going on a tour, you have to weigh the time/money/expertise issues, and sometimes it just makes sense to pay a premium to have someone else handle everything.

Now I am a much more seasoned walker in Europe (and have more time... and less money), I could see researching and organizing a long-distance walk more on my own. We are hoping to do the Santiago de Compostela (a major, major walk) in 2008, and we would do that on our own, carrying a minimum amount on our backs.

Kathy

&quot;<i>Our family does like to have accommodations booked in advance vs. searching them out each night. Doing all this from afar is much more complicated . . . . . And the luggage transfer is important.</i>&quot;

Those of us who recommended doing it independently didn't mean moving to a new B&amp;B every night and schlepping luggage along. We mentioned basing in a rented cottage (or in a village B&amp;B) and use it as a base for walking all over the region.

This would make things even easier since one wouldn't have to pack every morning before heading out.

i agree that it's good to consider a base location and using a car to do day walks.

however, i don't think it is worth debating which is better as they are two very different ways of walking. 'through walking' feels very different from day walks and if you wish to do a 'through walking' trip, i can understand why you might not want to substitute day walks. to each his own.

perhaps a suitable analogy would be hiring a sailboat and sailing down the dalmatian coast in croatia vs doing day sails from one base....two very different animals. sailing down the coast has additional complexities but has its own rewards that are not easily substituted by day sails.

still worth considering day walks but i don't see the point of debating which is better.

I wasn't really debating one was better - just clarifying that the recommendation to do it independently wasn't as complicated as KathyWood seemed to suggest.

No language problems (well not much anyway )
No packing and having to find new accomodations every night, and so on.

But as I mentioned originally - if gabriele wants a self guided walk then that itinerary is just fine.

I'm sorry! I did misunderstand one of the comments, thinking it was questioning the whole idea of using a company to organize a self-guided walk.

I've done several self-guided, village-to-village walks and have also based in one place and done several day hikes (never quite as many as I planned). Gabriele, if you want input on these two different approaches, let us know!

Kathy

Gabriele thinks she'd like to see Burford and Bibury.

She can't fit those two places into the itinerary Contours is offering. Buying a book like Jarrolds (and I can't imagins it's impossible to get them from Amazon) means she can see the places she wants, and not those that suit Contours.

ttt

Thank you so much to everyone for your input! Normally, I would rent a car and drive (which I have done during many of my previous 20-some trips Europe), but my first attempt to drive in England on the left side of the road did not go well. My mother and I rented a car at Gatwick and managed to get to Rye, but I was a complete nervous wreck by the time we got there due to my mother's shrieks, &quot;You're too close to the edge&quot; and &quot;you're going to kill us!&quot; I thought I was doing fine, but apparently not. That night, I got on the phone and cancelled the entire three week driving trip we had booked and that I had painstakingly researched for the better part of a year. We hopped on the first available plane for Germany, where the driving was much easier, to finish out our vacation in Germany, Switzerland and Italy. I had no difficulty with riding a scooter in Bermuda on the left side of the road, but don't want to take the chance of driving in England again. It's best to acknowledge one's limitations, especially where safety is concerned.

About five years ago we went to the Cotswolds in November -- took a train from London and met our hired driver -- but that option is too expensive. Since I would like to see the Cotswolds in summer, my only remaining options are public transport (which appears to be sparse), a tour (won't be as in-depth or offer the flexibility I want), or walking. I've never done a walking trip before, but this sounded reasonably simple. As to safety, I can assure you that in my part of the world (Wash DC) it is not a great idea for a woman to walk alone in the woods or on paths. Since I will be doing the walk alone (my choice), I wanted to be sure. And, yes, I did read the recent Cotswolds walking trip report where there was a bull in the field where the path was supposed to cross. I'm a city girl, and don't care for that kind of thing -- all the more reason for some guidance as to my route.

As for hiring a tour company to arrange the walks and accommodations, the total cost for this particular tour company (350 GBP) is about the same amount I would pay if I were to make my own B&amp;B arrangements, and they do all the work--maps, reservations, luggage transport. Of course, the downside is that the accommodations may not be up to par or to my taste. For that reason, I have spent a few hours today looking at cottages for rent. However, basing in one village would limit the number of villages that could be visited. But working out all of these details is much of the fun of going on vacation!

I don't see the problem - you won't have your shreiking mother along this time

(You probably were doing just fine and Mom was just a backseat driver/nag. From the passenger side it often does look awful if one isn't used to it. I always warn my passengers it may take a while for them to get used to being way over on the left side of the road)

Yes, our first day driving in England (from Gatwick to Rye), I accused my driver-husband of trying to scrape me off. He kept hitting the curkerb), hedge, or whatever was on the left. After another day or less, it was much better. When I took my turn, I ignored his complaints and just assumed if I stayed close to the center line, I wouldn't hit anything on either side -- and I didn't.