Granna Lane, Gotherington
Excerpt from Cheltenham Examiner, 11th December 1907:
“…It was suggested that Granna Lane was an old Roman road leading from Cleeve Hill to Tewkesbury. Octogenarian John Jackson, formerly of Gotherington Manor Farm, had seen hundreds of cattle and thousands of sheep driven along the road. … it was a favourite route for the Welsh drovers who wished to “chase the pike” on their way to Andoversford… James Thompson’s grandfather said it was a 30-foot road…”
Neither of us had heard the phrase “chase the pike” – but of course it means “avoid the turnpike”.
So, off we set for Gotherington.
(Our bus journey there was memorable: two kind ladies, one with mobile in hand, told the bus driver exactly where the Lane branched off the road, and there he stopped the bus – aslant the road so no traffic could mow us down. What a man! What ladies! Eternal thanks to all because that road has no verges.)
The entrance to the lane, “Greenway Lane” on old maps (Ref. SO 977300) was wide and welcoming (#1) but it soon closed in on us (#2), then became a bit of a sweat. Thirty foot wide no longer. What made the uphill a bit more challenging was that the continuous rainfall of the earlier months had worn a channel in the mud. But with one foot each side, looking like old grandmas, we staggered, hobbled – call it what you will – towards the gentler slope nearer the top. We could see how wide the path was originally: the hawthorn-hedge boundary line was metres away. I was going to include a picture, but my effort didn't give a true impression of how wide it was. So all you've got is another one of the climb (#4).
Then, upright once more (or, at any rate, less grandma-ish) we enjoyed the beech cover and swifter progress to the summit (#4,5). But a totally different path and landscape awaited us on the top of Nottingham Hill. And a new acquaintance…
