Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire

The weather forecast for the next three days, according to TV’s weather girl, was for rain, rain and more rain, none of this good news for The Tour Leader, yours truly. We juggled our schedule to suit the best possible scenarios, and set off westward, across the top of Gloucester and the River Severn, before heading south down the western shore of that wide river, then westward again into the Forest of Dean. Again we had travelled through this too a couple of years ago, although my memories of real forest were scant. However since then I have learned more about the definition of “Forest of” in this country, that they are traditional hunting grounds for the rich and powerful of old, and not necessarily an area of dense bush or trees. 

The Forest of Dean is an area covering 42.5 square miles of mixed woodlands in west Gloucestershire, on the eastern border between England and Wales, one of the surviving ancient woodlands in England interspersed with cultivated exotic forest which is still being milled today. Unsurprisingly it was reserved for royal hunting before the Norman Conquest of 1066, and remained as the second largest crown forest in England after the New Forest in the south east of the country.

We were interested to do walks in the area, and yesterday had been delighted when the young man in the Information Centre in Gloucester had printed off a pamphlet available on line. Quite frankly peering into the screen of a smartphone at a map or route description, and then only if one has internet reception, seemed beyond us, or rather, an unattractive proposition. There are still some sympathetic types out there in public roles, and for this we are most appreciative. 

So today we chose a couple of the twelve walks described  as “easy”, the first titled “Speech House” and the second, “Cannop Ponds”, each of about 2 ¼ miles in length. We walked through a variety of landscapes, through new forest and old, an Arboretum, along dry roads and tracks, along narrow muddy old tramways, frequently encountering other walkers, couples or families more often than not accompanied by their dogs, or packs of dogs. Truly the English are quite potty about their dogs, and oblivious to the fact that some people choose to be wary until they are familiar with their canine companions. 

We lunched near the Cannop Ponds, a popular spot for cyclists and walkers, the lower of these created in 1825 to supply water to a waterwheel at the Parkend Ironworks a little south of here, and the upper pond added in 1829 to supplement the unreliable flow. We walked up to an old mine, and saw the monument to the men who died in the Union Colliery disaster in 1902. Then later, soon after we drove north of these walks, I spotted a small herd of wild deer through the trees which did alleviate some of my disappointment of not having seen any other wildlife whilst out walking through the forest. In fairness to the wildlife, why would they dare to show themselves with so many dogs about? 

It was still only mid-afternoon when we returned to Cheltenham and found our way to one of the Tesco Superstores, the traffic heavy having been diverted away from the city centre as preparations are being made for the Half Marathon to be run tomorrow. And because of this event, we are not able to drive in or out of the racecourse between 8 am and 1 pm. We considered leaving the car outside the complex overnight to enable freedom of movement for the day, but have since decided we will stay put and venture out when the roads are reopened. It looks like Sunday will be a relaxing fudge-out day.