I am backpacking the CW starting in Bath on 13th May. I will be meeting up with 2 friends who are currently backpacking LEJOG (they should be in Minehead tonight)and walking up the CW with them. Schedule is:

Friday 13th - early train to Bath and after lunch walk to Bath campsite via CW as far as Weston and ROW's.
Saturday 14th - Bath campsite to Tormarton (14 miles), camping on lawn outside The Compass Inn or Noades House.
Sunday 15th - North Nibley (16 miles), camping at Nibley House
Monday 16th - Ebley (16 miles), camping at Croft Farm
Tuesday 17th - Coopers Hill (14 miles), camping at Haven Tea Garden
Wednesday 18th - Charlon Kings, nr. Dowdeswell Reservoir (14 miles), camping at California Farm
Thursday 19th - Hailes (16 miles), camping at Hayles Fruit Farm
Friday 20th - Chipping Campden (15 miles), camping at Mickleton Hills Farm (or B&B if available)

Saturday 21st - I will say goodbye to my friends and get bus to Stratford Upon Avon and train home from there.

Keeping the mileage to no more than 16 miles per day as this will be my first backpacking trip. All my kit excluding food and water currently weighing it at 9kg. I am aiming to lighten future loads by buying a lighter rucksack and sleeping bag for any future trips, can save about 1.1kg by doing this alone! Not going to spend that money though until I see how I get on with this trip and if I can sleep comfortably enough in my tent

Good luck with all this - sounds great. I've only done camping and walking once and found it OK but challenging. When walking the CW, I imagined where I'd like to camp - and the one thing I'd suggest that would be good to camp at would be on Dovers Hill above Chipping Campden (ie. about 1/2 mile before you get there). Not sure if you are allowed to camp there - but especially if the weather is OK - it'd be a spectacular place to camp and wake up at. I imagine that if you pitched late enough and left early enough, no one would even know you had been there.

Good luck Calluna, hope you enjoy your mainden backpack.
16 miles a day is a decent walk with a 20 pound pack but the delight of backpacking is you have a long day to do your mileage. I love starting nice and early in the summer, its the best time of day. Also, Im sure you'll be wonderfully comfortable in the Power Lizard, I've done many weeks in mine now and it's a real home from home (very quick and easy to pitch too).
Have fun
Les

Hi Bliss

Dovers Hill gives us another option if we need it, although it would mean walking back up the hill after going down into the village for meal that night. First option for me is B&B that night so I can get cleaned up - still embarrassed about how much I ponged on the train home from Windermere when I did the Dales Way a couple of years ago (got train straight from walk)

Les

I have been pitching the Lizzie in my garden to get my pitch time down, it is a cracking little tent and really looking forward to using it. I just hope my dicky shoulders do o.k. on my airbed and I can get a comfy nights sleep!

Now have the basweight down to 8.5kg, I am off to Slaidburn on Sunday with my walking club so will be walking with it for 9 miles to see how it feels. My friends will be surprised when I turn up with it - but i can make a brew at our lunch stop

Good luck Calluna, I'm sure you will enjoy the experience so long as the weather is kind to you.
Your sac weight is about the same as mine on the C2C, but then I threw in a spare pair of shoes and with water and food, it was brought up to around 11.5 kg.
Dave.

Had a lovely walk around Slaidburn area, got back to coach before the heavy showers started Stunning scenery at a beautiful time of year.

My back coped well with the load - but I have tender heels due to the extra weight. Had been suffering from Plantar Fasciitis over the Autumn/Winter but thought it had resolved itself - until I carried the 10.5kg backpack!
Not gonna stop me from starting the CW on Saturday, will just have to take extra painkillers.....have also managed to reduce pack to 9.7kg (including water and coffee making stuff, snacks). That is my absolute minimum limit without spending a fortune on a lighter backpack/sleeping bag a few other bits. I will invest in these gradually over the next year if all goes well. I think the best thing I can do long term is to get some weight of my body - going to aim for 10kg loss over the summer, this will be the equivalent of not carrying my backpack

I returned home on Saturday after completing most of the Cotswolds Way. Some observations about pithes etc below:

Saturday 14th - Bath campsite to Tormarton. Noades House no longer takes campers, luckily a near neighbour allowed us to pitch in their paddock - they were brilliant, offered us use of their shower and even asked if we needed extra blankets to help keep us warm *lol*
Sunday 15th - North Nibley. Got to pub at 6.45pm to find it stopped serving food at 6.00pm. No answer from Nibley House even though we had booked, finally managed to get owners son from cottage next door. Pitch ok, toilet ok, shower room filthy - we all decided no thanks on that one! Had ordered cooked breakfast which was ok but nothing special. They didn't charge my friends a pitch fee so they put this money into the charity pot. Note - the pub just outside of Cold Ashton has closed down (think it's called the White Hart) but there is a farm tea room (Folly End Farm) about 200yds up the road in opposite direction that is very good value.
Monday 16th - Ebley. Nice pitch in the garden at Croft Farm, clean toilet and pub/late shop within walking distance.
Tuesday 17th - Coopers Hill. Bad day for me, was very ill with a stomach bug, up most of the night and extremely washed out and tired at start of walk today. Manged to get as far as Painswick when I started to shake and shiver, was not going to make it up Coopers Hill so I took a taxi up to top and my friends joined me later. Pitch at Haven Tea garden (closed to the public) was interesting to say the least, a very surreal night. Took paracetomol and bedded down for night hoping it was just 24hr bug.
Wednesday 18th - Charlton Kings. Woke up feeling much better and absolutely starving, energy levels soon back up to norm after something to eat. Pitch at California Farm was the best of the walk. They were fantastic - let us pitch on the lawn, gave us coffee and biscuits on arrival, did a machine wash and dry of our dirty clothes, gave us a lift to pub for evening meal (we got a taxi back) and invited us to sit in the lounge for the evening. The breakfast in the morning was superb. They didn't charge us for the wash, and other bits only for the breakfast and reduced pitch rate (for my friends charity), we go back there someday with my husband for a couple of nights B&B, the house was gorgeous.
Thursday 19th - Hailes. Only place to get lunch on the way today is at Cleeve Hill golf club (open to all). The nature reserve on Cleeve Common had a fantastic selection of butterflies and moths. Pitch at fruit farm was pretty good, nice shower and toilet but no pot washing facilities which I expected of a proper campsite and paying £6.00!
Friday 20th - Chipping Campden. Fairly easy walking day, only really one ascent up to Broadway Tower. We had booked a B&B for tonight (Old Bakehouse) and it was my friends first night in a bed since leaving Lands End on April 19th - they had camped every night. If you like Indian food you have to go to the Maharaja - the best Indian curry I have had in many a year.

Overall impressions of walk was that they had a 70 mile route and decided 100 miles would sound better - so why not take them up/down every hill in the region, that will get us to the 100 mark! The southern section has the steepest ascents/descents and usually 2-3 hills per walking day, the northern section is a bit gentler and how I imagined the whole route would be.
I loved my tent, my stove and pans and the Neo Air was really comfy and warm. Not very impressed with my sleeping bag. Backpack was brilliant and very happy that I did it with a 38l, found it hard going up steep bits with the extra weight -will really try to lose the equivalent of what I carried (10kg) during the summer.
My 2 friends are hero's, when I saw the state of Baz's feet I was amazed he had kept going so far on their LEJOG journey. They are over the worst of it now and should be getting to Kingsbury Water Park tonight. If anyone would like to sponsor these amazing people have a look at http://www.justgiving.com/BazAndCaz-LEJOG
or if you just want to follow their progress:
http://www.bazandcaz-lejog.co.uk/?page_id=4

Heather

Well done Calluna - I stayed at California Farm and agree that they were lovely people. Also agree that Cotswolds Way is a bit in and out and up and down - but then that's because it tries to follow the escarpement and to do that it has to go in and out. I don't think the Cotswolds Way is the best walk in the country but its pleasant enough.

Sounds like it all worked out in the end. We are looking forward to walking the CW in September after our 3rd C2C and find all this information really useful, especially the bit about the curry. We have allowed ourselves 1 day to travel from RHB to Chipping Campden. Can we draw on local knowledge re the train system. Do we have to go to London or is there another way. Any info greatly appreciated. Thanks