Transportation and Hiking in the Cotswolds
Mar 12th, 2007, 05:58 AM
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Transportation and Hiking in the Cotswolds
Hi travelplanner helpers 
I have been finding the info on these treads invaluable but now I am getting totally confused about planning a walking trip to the Cotswold area. And I look forward to everyones input.
We will be visiting for about 13 days. Coming over on Sun. May 27 and Flying home to USA on Fri May 8. Not nearly enough time to do all we want to.
We land at Healthrow on Sun. morning we do not really want to spend time in London (especially lugging our luggage around). Is there transportation to the Cotswolds and is it frequent on a Sunday morning? We start our hiking on a Tuesday and start from Burford so we were planning on taking the first day (Monday)slow. Where would be a good place to stay so that we are close to Burton on Tuesday. Maybe go to Bath on Monday and just take it easy for the first day there?
The other question:
and Flanneruk I look forward to your advice on this one-
We are doing a self-guided walking tour (our luggage will be taken care of while we walk). We can do a 4,6,8 day trip in the Cotswolds. My question is should we do just a 4 day walking trip in the Cotswolds and then attempt to do another 4 day trip say on the coast somewhere? Just so that we see a little more than the Cotswolds? Here are the other options - Pembrokshsire Coast, Seven Sisters and Rye, Devon and Dorset, Offa's Dyke path. I say these because this is where the Discerning Traveller self-guided tours goes to.
Would we be jumping around too much and should we just do an 8 day walk in the Cotswolds?
As always I look forward to any and all feedback.
6abc
I have been finding the info on these treads invaluable but now I am getting totally confused about planning a walking trip to the Cotswold area. And I look forward to everyones input.
We will be visiting for about 13 days. Coming over on Sun. May 27 and Flying home to USA on Fri May 8. Not nearly enough time to do all we want to.
We land at Healthrow on Sun. morning we do not really want to spend time in London (especially lugging our luggage around). Is there transportation to the Cotswolds and is it frequent on a Sunday morning? We start our hiking on a Tuesday and start from Burford so we were planning on taking the first day (Monday)slow. Where would be a good place to stay so that we are close to Burton on Tuesday. Maybe go to Bath on Monday and just take it easy for the first day there?
The other question:
and Flanneruk I look forward to your advice on this one-
We are doing a self-guided walking tour (our luggage will be taken care of while we walk). We can do a 4,6,8 day trip in the Cotswolds. My question is should we do just a 4 day walking trip in the Cotswolds and then attempt to do another 4 day trip say on the coast somewhere? Just so that we see a little more than the Cotswolds? Here are the other options - Pembrokshsire Coast, Seven Sisters and Rye, Devon and Dorset, Offa's Dyke path. I say these because this is where the Discerning Traveller self-guided tours goes to.
Would we be jumping around too much and should we just do an 8 day walk in the Cotswolds?
As always I look forward to any and all feedback.
6abc
Mar 12th, 2007, 06:27 AM
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Oops! I am sorry. The trip starts in Burford and we hike to Bourton on the Water the first day. So we need to be in Burford to start our hike. Thanks for catching that. It is so hard talking about towns and villages when you haven't been in them to really know them. When you read about them they all start to run together.
6abc
6abc
Mar 12th, 2007, 06:53 AM
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What I would do in your situation is take the bus on Sunday to Oxford, spend the night in Oxford and take the bus to Burford late Monday afternoon.
I have walked in all the locations that you are considering, except for Offa's Dike. Personally, I would choose two of the coastal walks, and not bother slogging through the mud in the Cotswolds at all. Amongst the coastal walks that you are considering, the best by far is the Pembrokeshire Coast, followed by the south Devon and Dorset coast. The Seven Sisters and Beachy Head has some charm also. For your purposes, I think the Pembrokeshire Coast will waste too much travel time, so I would suggest one of the other two.
Maybe to get into the mood for this holiday, you could stop calling what you are planning to do "hiking", and start using the British term "walking". On one of my guided walking holidays, there was a discussion with some Americans about the use of the word "hiking". The consensus seemed to be that hiking was something boy scouts might have done in the 1930s, but nobody from Britain has done since.
I have walked in all the locations that you are considering, except for Offa's Dike. Personally, I would choose two of the coastal walks, and not bother slogging through the mud in the Cotswolds at all. Amongst the coastal walks that you are considering, the best by far is the Pembrokeshire Coast, followed by the south Devon and Dorset coast. The Seven Sisters and Beachy Head has some charm also. For your purposes, I think the Pembrokeshire Coast will waste too much travel time, so I would suggest one of the other two.
Maybe to get into the mood for this holiday, you could stop calling what you are planning to do "hiking", and start using the British term "walking". On one of my guided walking holidays, there was a discussion with some Americans about the use of the word "hiking". The consensus seemed to be that hiking was something boy scouts might have done in the 1930s, but nobody from Britain has done since.
Mar 12th, 2007, 07:02 AM
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Getting to Burford by public transport's not easy. There are three buses a weekday and one on a Sunday from Oxford (www.swanbrook.co.uk/index.html). The Burford bus is a bloody nuisance of a walk: about half a mile from both the railway station and the Airline bus from Heathrow.
Alternatively, get a Charlbury taxi ([email protected] or [email protected]) to meet you either at Charlbury station (trains from Reading, which you get to by Airbus from LHR, roughly hourly: see www.nationalrail.co.uk), or at the Thornhill stop of the Airline bus from LHR (sort out the logistics and cost of that with Pete or Len by email).
This strikes me as a terrific argument for staying in Burford. Mooch round on the Sunday (there's a verger in the church does outstanding talks most Sunday afternoons), do a bus trip into Oxford or Gloucester (horrible town: glorious cathedral) on the Monday, or get in a gentle practice meander to Swinbrook (Mitford Central) and Widford churches (dreadful booklet on the medieval paintings, so google them beforehand).
Getting from wherever all this finishes to Pembroke, Rye or wherever is going to take up a day of pretty tedious exposure to the underbelly of our transport system. Personally, I'd do Pembrokeshire or Rye as a coastal contrast - but I'd stck up with books for the day's travelling.
Alternatively, get a Charlbury taxi ([email protected] or [email protected]) to meet you either at Charlbury station (trains from Reading, which you get to by Airbus from LHR, roughly hourly: see www.nationalrail.co.uk), or at the Thornhill stop of the Airline bus from LHR (sort out the logistics and cost of that with Pete or Len by email).
This strikes me as a terrific argument for staying in Burford. Mooch round on the Sunday (there's a verger in the church does outstanding talks most Sunday afternoons), do a bus trip into Oxford or Gloucester (horrible town: glorious cathedral) on the Monday, or get in a gentle practice meander to Swinbrook (Mitford Central) and Widford churches (dreadful booklet on the medieval paintings, so google them beforehand).
Getting from wherever all this finishes to Pembroke, Rye or wherever is going to take up a day of pretty tedious exposure to the underbelly of our transport system. Personally, I'd do Pembrokeshire or Rye as a coastal contrast - but I'd stck up with books for the day's travelling.
