Читать книгу The Cotswold Way. NATIONAL TRAIL Two-way trail guide - Chipping Campden to Bath онлайн

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This is a route, like a number of others, that best repays an unhurried approach. There are so many places of interest nearby that no walker ought to resist the temptation to stray here and there in order to broaden his or her overall view of the region. ‘Intently haphazard’ is a term which admirably suits this attitude to walking the Cotswold Way.

Chipping Campden makes a worthy beginning, Bath a worthy end. Between the two the way follows a meandering course through woodlands, along the western rim of the escarpment for mile after mile, down into secretive coombes, along the banks of millstreams, over sunny belvederes, exploring one glorious village after another, and always seeking to reveal the very essence of the Cotswolds, the spirit of the region. And it works. It works supremely well.

Music drew me through twilit streets at the end of my first walking of the Cotswold Way. Rounding a corner I saw a busker in an old raincoat leaning against a wall, scraping Mozart from his violin. Directly ahead rose Bath Abbey. Deep in shadow below, bright in floodlight above, it rose out of the darkness into a shaft of white light as a symbol of peace and hope and beauty. Behind me stretched 100 miles and more of wandering through an enchanting, scenic part of Britain, and Bath Abbey represented its completion.