Come in number 29, your time is up!

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          Cleeve Hill Gloucestershire 330m above sea level



A slow drive through the outskirts of Cheltenham following Sunday drivers saw us eventually arrive at the old quarry on Cleeve Hill which has the benefit of being free! We like free, it saves the stress of picking bits of strawberry laces off coins loose in the bottom of your bag for the parking machines.

Cleeve Hill is a very popular place and it was an absolutely gorgeous day, cold but crisp with a beautiful blue sky above.

Like Worcestershire Beacon this is not a walk you have to yourself but there's plenty of space, there's also the danger of a stray golf ball to consider.

We got to the trig point and toposcope which led one to believe that the highest point had been reached but there was definitely a tree a little further away that appeared higher.

I got my trusty attitude meter out. 12 meters short! I can't help think a lot of people have been duped!







There is no tree higher after this going east until you get to Germany!     

It was onwards and upwards to the aerials which appear to be higher still.

It was a beautiful day to be on top of the hill when it was eventually located. From here you could just make out Brown Clee, the highest peak in Shropshire and as I knew what I was looking for, a very faint glimpse of the Wrekin.

Worcestershire Beacon was easily spotted in the Malverns and although it was hard to tell 15 or 16 made an appearance looking west towards Wales, either Herefordshire or Monmouthshire.

So Cleeve Hill isn't massively high or difficult to climb although the summit is elusive, I pinned it down to 329m but it certainly marks a point I feel where the nature of the landscape changes between East and West.

I like to do my research after the fact and it turns out there is a road straight to the antennas so we could have saved ourselves the 8800 steps it took to reach it. But then there  would have been no sherry or roast lamb as a reward.

I also learned that I'm going to need some warmer clothes to get me through the winter walking and that means a spot of shopping woohoo!

3 down 59 to go, Devon and Somerset await next weekend.