Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
order to reach the head of another narrow lane. Bear right through a gate
and continue on a rising track to a region of disused quarries above to
the right. Look for a waymark on a pole supporting overhead cables. This
points you half-left down a brief slope for a few paces, then through a
boundary on your right. A path now contours over a rough patch of hill-
side, weaving among gorse bushes as far as a four-way crossing. Bear left,
still among gorse, and you will come to a stile over which you enter a but-
terfly reserve (the Bill Smyllie Reserve). The way through this is clear and
easy, and you eventually leave it through a gate.
The way now skirts the lower edge of a beech wood, curves left, and
goes down a slope alongside a fence. At a path junction turn right and
begin the rising approach to Cleeve Common. This takes you through a
gateway, then climbs (quite steeply in places) among clumps of hawthorn
(waymarks guide you at junctions) and brings you to a gate leading onto
Cleeve Common
. Note the transmitter masts half-right ahead - they will
appear and disappear with annoying frequency over the ensuing miles,
and after making a lengthy tour of the common you will find yourself very
close to them again - having walked a 4 mile (6½km) circuit!
From the western scarp edge of Cleeve Common, it's possible to look down on Nut-
terswood
CLEEVE COMMON
Cleeve Common contains the highest point of the Cotswolds at 1083ft (330m). The
last expanse of unenclosed land in the region, it covers an area of about 3 square miles
(7½ sq km) and is designated a grade 1 site of special scientific interest, with vari-
