Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The national trail acorn symbol adorns Cotswold Way waymarks and signposts
The wolds form part of an extensive belt of oolitic limestone that runs
from Dorset in the south to Yorkshire in the north. The highest and broad-
est part of this belt is an undulating tableland, raised on its western side
and draining gently towards the east, down to the Thames Valley and
the Oxfordshire Plain. On its western side, where the Cotswold Way goes,
the scarp slope falls abruptly to the Severn Plain, revealing its most dra-
matic features. This sharp-edged tableland has long jutting prows and
spurs, time-moulded coombes and island-like outliers, plateaux fuzzed
with woodlands and a grid of drystone walls. Numerous mounds provide
evidence of a long history of occupation along the very rim of the escarp-
ment, from which early man scanned the broad views, alert to approaching
danger. Today the Cotswold wayfarer seeks those same vantage points as
highlights of the walk, places on which to sprawl in the grass and dream
among the flowers.
The Cotswold Way was developed by Gloucestershire County Council as
a recreational route following a suggestion made by the district commit-
tee of the Ramblers' Association as long ago as the early 1950s. As one of
the county council's major initiatives to mark European Conservation Year,
the route was eventually launched in May 1970 during National Footpath
Week. Five years later its full length was treated to a concentrated effort
of waymarking, mainly by volunteers from the RA and the Cotswold Vol-
untary Warden Service, and it subsequently became one of the most ef-
fectively waymarked long-distance walks in Britain.
Now at last it has been recognised as a national trail, and with that re-
cognition comes financial backing - the whole route has been surveyed,
evaluated, and in some places realigned. It has been re-signed and way-
marked with the acorn symbol, countless stiles have been replaced by
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