A group of 26 that comprised of members, new and old from as far as Nottingham, Birmingham, Porthcawl and Northolt, assembled at the delightful Cotswold town of Winchcombe for this month’s South Mids gathering. Good weather too.

Winchcombe, Once a favoured royal town of the Mercian kings, a wealthy abbey town and site of Sudley Castle, a one time home of Katherine Parr (Henry VIII’s last and surviving wife)  and where Princess Elizabeth, (later Queen Elizabeth I) spent her formative years.  The area is also a centre for walking and hosts many walking events.

We followed the river Isbourne to the Grade 1 listed Post Lip Hall where there has been a Hall since Norman times, added to, over the centuries the most impressive being the 17th century a magnificent Jacobean frontage.

Onwards up a gentle sloping track onto Cleeve Common and the Golf Club.  Our first coffee break at the little takeout café where coffee and a slice of cake was on offer.  Cleeve Common is the highest point in Gloucestershire (1083ft) and commands grand views over the Severn valley onto the Forest of Dean.

From here we traversed to the top of the Common and lunch beneath the communication towers where, ironically, few of us had signals.

Onto Bells Knap, an impressive example of a Neolithic, chambered, Longbarrow, for a group shot.

We then followed the Winchcombe Way on a slip-slidy path and a few muddy backsides, back to our starting point.

For those that fancied a bevvie, refreshments where imbibed at the White Hart Inn. A lovely, social way to end a good day out on the beautiful Cotswold Hills.

John H