North Nibley to Old Sodbury Black Horse to the Dog

Searching for more shortcuts?

Early in our planning this day got written down as 13 miles, but last night we read it is more than 15. We expected these days to be getting easier.
Not that we are really suffering, but we did go in a pharmacy and buy two kinds of topical analgesics that aren’t available in the US. And I’ll get through the whole tube before we leave. And right now we’re having a fifteen-minute talk about injuries and tapes.
Leaving the Black Horse we went straight uphill again, to “Tyndale Monument - Grade II* listed monument dating from 1866. Built in honour of William Tyndale, it's 34 m / 111 ft tall. Always unlocked, the climb to the top is 120 steps and provides outstanding views.” The 120 steps are a steep narrow circular stairway with nowhere to pass someone after the first 40 steps.

Tyndale Monument

Entrance to Tynedale Monument

That's me looking out

In Wotton-under-Edge we found bathrooms, a Coop shop to buy our lunch, but no Barclays Bank.
The trail to Hawkesbury Upton seemed to take a terrific curve out to the right just so it could go over a hill, so we felt justified in taking an alternative route that rejoined the Way near Alderly. But when we checked in Hawkesbury Upton, we had only saved about a mile.

Entering Hawkesbury Upton, we passed another tower, the Somerset Monument, not as big as the Tyndale and not meant to be climbed. “Designed by Lewis Vulliamy, it was constructed in 1846 as a memorial to Lord Edward Somerset, who led the British cavalry at the Battle of Waterloo. The first keeper of the monument was Shadrack Byfield, a one-armed veteran of the Anglo-American War of 1812, whose memoirs of that conflict have achieved a measure of fame.”

From Hawkesbury Upton on there were a series of hamlets: Horton, Little Sodbury, and Old Sodbury; all too far apart and none with a pub.

We had one more smaller tower, too: the Millennium Folly, built in 2000 to provide bird habitat.

We were happy to walk into the Dog, where Jan & Bruce’s room was named Banbury, ours Bibury. We had pints of Dog Best in the beer garden before dinner in the pub.

13.5 or 15.5? We ended at 14.5.

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