Cotswold Way · Stage 7
Walking time measured on the mapped line (TrailSplits time model, moving time; within 22 % on four in five test legs). Outside Switzerland our walking times often run short of the times route operators publish; treat them as optimistic. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights.
Where OpenStreetMap does not map the trail
To Birdlip: 5.6 miles (9.0 km), about 130 m up and down; 9.7 km on our line. From 3 July 2026, for at least six months, the A417 rebuild near the Air Balloon diverts the trail between about 2.7 and 7 km; the signed diversion adds about an hour. Where the trail crosses the A417, 161 m is not mapped on OpenStreetMap and is drawn dashed: follow the waymarks.
Best season: All year. The trail can be walked all year, National Trails says: winter gives the clearest views from the escarpment, late spring and early summer the woods and grassland at their best. Bluebells and wild garlic flower in April and May, and the beech woods colour from mid to late October. Places to stay fill quickly in the busy season. Before you go
Facts read from the guide's sources and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with your accommodation before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage start
Trailhead
The hilltop above Cheltenham: one listed lodge near the top, about 200 m off the trail; the other beds are in Cheltenham, about 4 km below.
Cheltenham View Lodge · Hotel
Season 2026: 2026 dates not published
The Cheltenham Town House · Hotel
Season 2026: 2026 dates not published
Stage end · overnight
Town
A village just off the trail with one listed stay, the Royal George Hotel.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Royal George Hotel (Birdlip) · Hotel
Season 2026: 2026 dates not published
No walking time is published for this leg. Measured on the mapped line, the stage takes about 2 h 32 of walking.
Make it your trip
Places to stay can fill quickly in the busy season, National Trails says, so book well ahead. There is no right to wild camp: ask the landowner, or use the campsites on National Trails' list. Several section ends are thin on beds: Birdlip and Hawkesbury Upton have one listed stay each, and we could not confirm that either is trading; Cold Ashton has none of its own, and Hill Farm is 1.8 km on. National Trails lists companies that carry your bags and book walking holidays.
Eleven days: two sections a day in the north, one a day from Painswick.
Plan this journeyThe northern escarpment to the trail's mid-point in four days.
Plan this journeyThe Stroud valleys and the southern Cotswolds to Bath in seven days.
Plan this journeyLoading the forecast for on the trail (257 m)…
Typical weather on this stage, around 220–293 m. Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed |
| Day / night | 6°/1° | 7°/1° | 9°/2° | 12°/4° | 16°/7° | 19°/10° | 21°/12° | 20°/12° | 17°/9° | 13°/7° | 9°/4° | 7°/2° |
| Rain, mm | 88 | 74 | 71 | 67 | 67 | 76 | 75 | 84 | 79 | 100 | 108 | 109 |
| Snow at high point | Possible | Frost | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Frost |
| Daylight | 8 h 15 | 9 h 55 | 11 h 46 | 13 h 49 | 15 h 37 | 16 h 40 | 16 h 17 | 14 h 43 | 12 h 45 | 10 h 46 | 8 h 53 | 7 h 49 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
From 3 July 2026, for at least six months, the A417 rebuild near the Air Balloon diverts the trail on section 7, between Leckhampton Hill and Birdlip. The diversion is signed and adds about an hour; it crosses a large construction site, so take care with works traffic and at the busy roads. Crickley Hill's car park, paths and café can still be reached from the trail. Our line and GPX keep the usual route there.
National Trails: diversion at A417 BirdlipNational Trails listed four diversions on 13 October 2026: at Birdlip (the A417 works); near Wortley on section 12 (an emergency closure, due to end in September 2026 but still listed); at North Nibley on section 11 (round old landslips, now signed as the official route); and near Tormarton (an optional route of the same length avoiding the Beacon Lane Plantation, with a difficult crossing of the A46). Check the list before you set off.
National Trails: Cotswold Way trail informationCleeve Hill, Dowdeswell and Leckhampton Hill end on the hills above Cheltenham, with few beds close by: Cheltenham, below the escarpment, is the usual base. Book Birdlip, Hawkesbury Upton and Cold Ashton early, as each has one listed stay.
National Trails: accommodation on the Cotswold WayGetting there
Travel around Leckhampton Hill to Birdlip.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
National Trails names Moreton-in-Marsh as the nearest main-line station; Honeybourne is another (both Great Western Railway). We could not confirm a bus from either to Chipping Campden: check Traveline, National Trails' recommended journey planner. Pulhams' 606 bus links Chipping Campden with Willersey, Winchcombe, Bishop's Cleeve and Cheltenham, and its 608 with Mickleton and Cheltenham; their timetables are PDFs on its site.
Pulhams: bus timetablesCheltenham Spa is the base for the hilltop sections, about 4 km below Leckhampton Hill. Stonehouse is about 0.8 km off the trail near the end of section 9, before King's Stanley, and Cam & Dursley about 3 km off section 10. Great Western Railway runs all three.
National Rail: Stonehouse stationThe trail ends at Bath Abbey; Bath Spa station (Great Western Railway) is about 0.5 km away, with trains all year.
National Rail: Bath Spa stationTake your trip with you
Prepare each section while you still have a connection: in the woods below the escarpment the signal can be weak.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
National Trails gives 102 miles (164 km) from Chipping Campden to Bath in fifteen sections, north to south, the direction its route description follows; the sections add up to 164.7 km. The trail is waymarked both ways. National Trails publishes no stage times, only each section's distance in miles and km and its climb, so the times here are measured on our line. The line here is the route on OpenStreetMap (relation 65239, from the planet of 11 October 2026): 165.1 km, cut at the fifteen section ends. Most sections are within 1 km of National Trails' figures. Birdlip to Painswick and Painswick to King's Stanley are not: 11.2 and 14.8 km on our line against National Trails' 13.9 and 12.6 km, though together they agree (26.0 against 26.5 km). Where the trail crosses the A417 near the Air Balloon, 161 m is not mapped on OpenStreetMap and is drawn dashed; while the A417 is rebuilt, National Trails diverts the trail there. Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so short steep banks are smoothed out.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
National Trails: the Cotswold WayMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation