Day 2 of #EmmasArmy walking the Cotswold Way: Stanton to Cleeve Hill

Day 2 of the #EmmasArmy against Cancer walk, was TOUGH! Due to a slight miscalculation in the beginning, the route ended up being just over 13 miles… but due to talking too much, instead of reading the guide book, and getting lost – we ended up doing over 14 miles!

The weather was scorching hot sunshine with virtually no wind (apart from the wind being manufactured by Julie every now and then!). Walking in that heat, is really tiring and the route took on pretty much every kind of terrain imaginable, including many many hills. When I say hills (and this goes for the whole of the Cotswold Way), we are talking hills elevating up to as high as 300 metres. Some steep and some just utterly relentless. We met creatures of many kinds, including everything from interesting looking snails, to bulls and lambs and a vast array of plants, crops and flowers. During day two, we walked from the stunning, picturesque (and tiny) village of Stanton, to the equally stunning, but totally different, Cotswold village of Winchcombe. On arriving at Winchcombe, we all hit the wall. We didn’t want to take another step. Our legs hurt, we felt dehydrated (despite drinking litres of fluids), we were soaked with sweat and it felt like we had been walking for hours. We stopped for ice cream, more drinks, a knee support for Julie and our trail pass stamps from tourist information. It seemed impossible to believe we still had another 6 miles to go. But we did… we trudged on, past Sudeley Castle and on through the fields and up the hills. There was something really rewarding about seeing Sudeley castle get smaller and smaller in the distance. At the top of the hill (that felt like a mountain and induced swear words from all of us), we came to Belas Knap, a long barrow with a false entrance and a fascinating history. I think it was here that we smashed down that proverbial wall and restored our faith that we could really do this.

Day 2 was one hell of a challenge and there were so many times that it felt neverending. It’s really disheartening when you’ve been walking for hours and find out you have covered only a small distance. That was something we had to get used to, because the rough terrain and the immense and continuous hills slows you down a lot more than you realise.

I can’t tell you the relief we felt, on finishing day two. It’s not to late to sponsor us for this challenge. We have completed it, and I will be blogging the photos from all ten days, but every single pound goes to Cancer Research UK and helps save lives like mine and Julie’s.

Please click here to go to the teams sponsor page, and choose who you’d like to sponsor.
The walkers from day 2, were myself (Emma Day), Katie Larsen and Julie Saliba.