I’ve been walking the Cotswold Way as a series of day trips. This is my guide to the Cotswold Way Stage 4, from Cleeve Hill to Leckhampton Hill.
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The Cotswold Way is a 102‑mile (164 km) National Trail in southwest England. It is one of many long-distance footpaths in the UK, and this one takes in some of the most beautiful English scenery in the Cotswolds.
I’ve been walking the Cotswold Way as a series of day trips. While many people do the whole route in 7-10 days with overnight stays, it’s also possible to walk this route as a series of day trips if you live nearby, or if you want to stay in just one place for the week.
If you want to read more about walking the Cotswold Way as a series of day trips, read my Ultimate Guide to Walking the Cotswold Way as a series of day trips. But this post will give details about the fourth section I did – from Cleeve Hill to Leckhampton Hill. If you missed Part 3, you can read about the Cotswold Way Stage 3 from Winchcombe to Cleeve Hill.
Stage 4: Cleeve Hill to Leckhampton Hill
- Total distance on the map: 11 miles/18km
- Total distance on my phone apps: 12 miles/19.5km
- Total time: approx 5 hours walking (7 hours with breaks)
My second day trip of walking the Cotswold Way followed the route from Cleeve Hill to Leckhampton Hill. It was actually 1.5 sections of the walk from my book. My book recommended the next section to be from Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell, and then Dowdeswell to Birdlip. But I decided the Cleeve Hill to Dowdeswell didn’t look far enough, so wanted to walk a bit further. But Birdlip was too far to get to. So Leckhampton Hill was a good halfway point to do 1.5 of the next sections of the Cotswold Way.
Park at Leckhampton Hill and get a taxi
Having stayed overnight near Cheltenham, I just had a short 10 minute drive this morning to the car park. I didn’t leave early – I wanted to make the most of the hotel breakfast before the long day of walking! But there was plenty of space to park at the Hartley Lane Car Park next to Leckhampton Hill.
I then got a taxi back to Cleeve Hill, where I’d finished the previous section of the walk. The bus wasn’t really an option for this route – it would have involved going into the centre of Cheltenham to change buses, and taken well over an hour. So I got an Uber instead, and it took about 15-20 minutes. You can book the Uber in advance, or just when you arrive – I only had to wait 8 minutes for one to get there. It was definitely much easier to get the Uber than the bus, and cost about £20.
Walking from Cleeve Hill to the highest point on the walk
The start of this section of the Cotswold Way involves a fairly steep climb. The footpath goes to the top of Cleeve Hill. At 317m, it’s the highest point on the Cotswold Way. There’s a trig point here, and also a map that shows you what you can see. You get a great view over to the Malvern Hills. It’s a great spot to stop for some photos.
Continue walking across Cleeve Hill Common and through the Nature Reserve
Continue walking across Cleeve Hill Common, with the stunning views on your right. There are quite a lot of paths here, but the Cotswold Way path is well signposted. But if you veer off the official path slightly, it’s easy to get back on track and find the official path again.
I found the views got even more dramatic along this section. You end up walking along the edge of quite a steep hill, with a sharp drop to your right. You can really see the limestone crags and rocks on the hill, and the views across to the Malvern Hills are stunning.
The path continues into Prestbury Hill Butterfly Reserve. To be honest, this names sounds nicer and more impressive than it actually was. I found this section of the Cotswold Way not the most inspiring, and a bit of a slog. There was just a long section of the path with not a lot of interest. It was a hot day, and the bushes on the sides of the path seemed to block any breeze, so it felt really hot walking through here. And there were no views, no wildlife, and not much else. There also weren’t any people on this section, despite Cleeve Hill being quite popular. So it felt a bit of a slog to walk this bit.
Maybe I was just hot and tired at this point and not fully into the walk. It felt a bit better once I got to a quiet road section and felt I could pick up the pace and start enjoying the views a bit more, and enjoy some welcome breeze and shade from the sun.
The woodland to Dowdeswell
As you get closer to Dowdeswell, you head into some woodland and the path goes quite steeply downhill. This section was pleasant, with the shade from the trees and the easy downhill walking. And then you get to the busy A40 road, and the end of what my book said was Section 5 of the Cotswold Way.
Dunkertons Organic Cider
Even though this was technically only about halfway through my planned walk for the day, I decided I deserved my end-of-walk treat here. There aren’t any facilities at Leckhampton Hill, so this is the best chance on this section of the walk to stop for something to eat and drink.
Just a few minutes walk along the A40 (along a path at the side of the road), you get to Dunkertons Organic Cider. It’s an incredibly busy and popular place that is seemingly almost in the middle of nowhere. It’s a collection of street food stalls and bars, with plenty of seating, and a DJ playing music. It was really popular on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and had a really cool vibe. I got a pint of one of their famous ciders, as well as a few snacks from the street food stalls. It was a nice place to sit with a drink and have a proper rest before tackling the next section of the walk.
Walking from Dowdeswell to Wistley Hill
This next section of the walk started with a fairly steep uphill climb from Dowdeswell. The climb was through woodland, and it was a pleasant path. But to be honest, I struggled to enjoy it. I think sitting down with a cider for an hour had made my body think that it was done walking for the day – I’d already done over 15,000 steps that day, so my body felt like it was done. So it was a bit of a shock to the system to suddenly have to get back into walking and climb a fairly steep section. I found this hill one of the hardest so far on the Cotswold Way – but that might have been because of the cider! If I’d been tackling it fresh in the morning, it probably wouldn’t have felt so hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
The views through the trees were pleasant, and the views at the top were nice as well. You didn’t spend long at the top, before it was time to follow the footpath downhill as it descended Wistley Hill to meet the road at Seven Springs.
Seven Springs to Leckhampton Hill
The path is well signposted as it crosses the main road at Seven Springs and starts to climb uphill again. But this uphill climb is really worth it. I was definitely getting tired by this point, but the views here were some of the best on the walk.
The path weaves in and out of gorse bushes, with stunning expansive views to the right. I was walking this section fairly late in the day – a combination of my late start after the hotel breakfast, and also spending a bit too long drinking cider. But this meant that the light was really beautiful. It was starting to cool down in the early evening, with a lovely pre-sunset golden glow.
Despite being tired, I loved the views here. It was also nice to see other people on the path again, after some fairly quiet sections of the footpath. Leckhampton Hill was clearly a popular place for people to do circular walks, so it was nice to be with some evening dog walkers.
You could walk to the trig point on Leckhampton Hill. But the views everywhere were just stunning.
There’s a landmark on the map here called Devil’s Chimney. I thought this would be a cool thing to see – but it’s actually not that obvious from the path. But it didn’t matter, because the views in the evening light were just stunning.
Even though I was really tired by this point, I loved this section of the walk along Leckhampton Hill. I think the golden evening light made it even more special. I was definitely pleased to get to my car at Hartley Lane car park after having walked around 30,000 steps that day. But it was another good day walking the Cotswold Way as a day trip.
Enjoying these parts of the Cotswolds without walking
If you don’t fancy walking, navigating driving or public transport in the Cotswolds, there are lots of ways to enjoy this beautiful area on a small group tour. On these, you’ll have a driver and guide, who will show you the best areas. I recommend this affordable private tour of the Cotswolds villages (affiliate), or you can take this Cotswolds small group tour instead (affiliate).
You can also look on these websites for specific activities in the Cotswolds to mix up your days of walking. Check out this Cotswold pub landlord experience (affiliate), or this Cotswold lunch with a chance to make your own butter (affiliate). Or swap walking for cycling with this electric bike tour of the Cotswolds (affiliate).
Hope you enjoyed my guide to walking the Cotswold Way Stage 4, from Cleeve Hill to Leckhampton Hill! For the next section, read my guide to the Cotswold Way Stage 5 from Leckhampton Hill to Painswick. Or you can read my full guide to walking the Cotswold Way as a series of day trips. Make sure you also check out my guides to nearby places to explore, including Cotswold Wildlife Park, an afternoon in Bibury village, and the top things to do in Oxford.
