Cleeve Hill

Cleeve Hill is about 1½ miles northeast of Cheltenham and rises 800 feet above it. A road leads almost to the summit, so it's easy to park up and take in the magnificent views without too much effort. That's where we parked though (predictably) found a way to make it harder.  Read on.

To start with, here are a couple of view of Cheltenham; not as sharp as they should have been as (once again) I forgot to bring along my Canon camera with its lovely zoom lens. I conclude that the solution to this persistent forgetfulness is to keep the darned thing in my rucksack.

 I wonder whether this place gets extra-popular during the Cheltenham races? With a good pair of binoculars it's surely a good place to watch free of charge.

There are remains of a substantial Iron Age hill fort on Cleeve Common, together with lots of other interesting earthworks – evidence that this place has been occupied for thousands of years. I'd love to come back one day and explore them in more detail. This time, though, I contented myself by running down the grassy slopes and singing Over the hill came the swords of a thousand men. My friends in The Ukes of Azzard will understand why.

There are two trig points on the Common. The higher one is described as 'dull and uninteresting' on one website. Here I am, gracing the lower one. Behind me is Bishop's Cleeve.  Here's a better view from the ridge behind me...

What a view! If you click to enlarge it, you'll hopefully be able to make out the houses of Great Malvern, at the right hand end of the Malvern Hills, 19 miles away.

By now thoughts were turning to lunch. When the days are warmer we take a packed lunch, but feasting in a biting wind, whist wearing hats, coats and gloves to keep warm, can quickly lose its appeal. Consequently we headed for The Rising Sun, which meant descending 400ft, then climbing it again after lunch.

I can think of many an Inn with worse views that this, though on this day not even the smokers were braving the garden furniture.

Back on the Common, we followed a rough track past the golf club and down into the aptly named Watery Bottom. It was also a rather muddy bottom, but I wasn't complaining. It was just lovely to be sheltered from that cold wind.

Lastly, here's the view from above Watery Bottom, with Withington in the middle distance.