{"id":12871,"date":"2013-11-26T17:31:28","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T17:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/?p=12871"},"modified":"2013-11-26T17:34:53","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T17:34:53","slug":"walk-shakespeares-shadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/walk-shakespeares-shadow\/","title":{"rendered":"Walk in Shakespeare’s footsteps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"walk<\/a>Mark the Bard’s 450th anniversary next year by walking the Shakespeare Way<\/h3>\n

To commemorate the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare\u2019s birth in 2014, walking holiday operator Celtic Trails is\u00a0introducing a series of self-guided walks along\u00a0Shakespeare\u2019s Way; the route from the Holy Trinity Church (pictured above) where Shakespeare was baptised and buried in his home town of Stratford-upon-Avon to\u00a0his Globe theatre on London\u2019s Bankside.<\/p>\n

And to add some interest\u00a0Celtic Trails will be giving each party of walkers a copy of\u00a0Shakespeare’s sonnets to read along the way.<\/p>\n

“Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,<\/em><\/p>\n

The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;<\/em><\/p>\n

But then begins a journey in my head,<\/em><\/p>\n

To work my mind, when body\u2019s work\u2019s expired”\u00a0 (<\/em>Sonnet 27: 1-4)<\/p>\n

\"Shakespeare's<\/a>The walk is a great way to celebrate\u00a0 Shakespeare contribution to the arts; his anniversary will be marked by\u00a0Shakespeare Week, 17-23 March 2014, which will be celebrated in museums, galleries, cinemas, libraries, schools and theatres throughout the UK.<\/p>\n

Walkers will travel between eight and 14 miles per day along footpaths, bridleways and tow paths, as well as some minor roads during this unchallenging long distance trail\u00a0\u2013\u00a0well known to\u00a0the playwright whose birthplace is pictured above left.<\/p>\n

You can choose between walking 146 miles over 14 days in one epic journey, or divide it into two fascinating trips, breaking the journey in Oxford, just as the young\u00a0Bard used to do.<\/p>\n

En route you can stay in Celtic Trails\u2019s hand-picked inns and let\u00a0your bags be transported ahead from one hotel to the next, making the going far lighter than it was in Shakespeare\u2019s day.<\/p>\n

\"VE15716\"<\/a>On your journey you will\u00a0pass quaint villages and country towns, like Shipston-on-Stour, Bladon, where Sir Winston Churchill was buried; the market town of Chipping Norton, and Cookham \u2013 home of the artist Stanley Spencer. The route links some of England\u2019s best loved locations including:<\/p>\n

Stratford-upon-Avon<\/strong> \u2013 Explore up to five historic houses and gardens all directly linked with Shakespeare and his family; see his Grammar School which still stands; and visit the home of the RSC, probably the most famous classical theatre company in the world.<\/p>\n

The Cotswolds<\/strong> \u2013 Enjoy the rolling landscape referred to in Richard II as \u201cthese high wild hills and rough uneven way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rollright Stones<\/strong> \u2013 Discover a mystical Bronze Age collection of standing stones that were said to have inspired, on a bleak winter\u2019s day, the witches\u2019 scene in \u2018the Scottish Play\u2019.<\/p>\n

Blenheim Park and Palace<\/strong> \u2013 Descend through a wooded valley into this UNESCO World Heritage Site \u2013 the backdrop to one of the most ambitious productions of Shakespeare ever filmed, Kenneth Branagh\u2019s Hamlet.<\/p>\n

Oxford<\/strong> \u2013 Wander amongst the City of Dreaming Spires \u2013 home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world\u00a0\u2013 where the Bard would break his journey, staying with his friend and innkeeper, John Davenant at the Crown Inn.<\/p>\n

Burnham Beeches<\/strong> \u2013 Explore this wonderful National Nature Reserve, one of the best examples of ancient woodland in Britain, famous for its beech and oak pollards \u2013 many of which are more than 400 years old.<\/p>\n

Grand Union Canal<\/strong> \u2013 Avoid the frenzy of the capital\u2019s traffic and take the slow tow path alternative, walking beside colourful narrowboats.<\/p>\n

\"Globe\"<\/a>The Thames in London<\/strong> \u2013 Stroll all the way up from Kew to Bankside, arriving at the open-air Globe \u2013 just 230 metres from the site of the Bard\u2019s original theatre \u2013 to enjoy one of its highly regarded productions, just as audiences did over 400 years ago.<\/p>\n

“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon\u00a0 the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of\u00a0 sound and fury, signifying nothing.” <\/em>Macbeth<\/p>\n

\"VE15731\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Celtic Trails (www.celtic-trails.com<\/a> 01291 689774) offers a 7-night \/ 6-day Shakespeare\u2019s Way walking holiday from Stratford to Oxford, over 58 miles, from \u00a3535pp based on two sharing including B&B accommodation, walking pack, book of Shakespeare Sonnets, and optional ticket for the Globe (extra cost).<\/p>\n

A 9-night \/ 8-day trip from Oxford to London over 88 miles costs from \u00a3775pp.<\/p>\n

Alternatively the 16-night \/ 14-day Complete Trail over 146 miles costs from \u00a31,195pp.<\/p>\n

There is a variety of trains back to Stratford-upon-Avon from London Marylebone, Euston or Paddington stations that take in excess of\u00a0two hours, costing from \u00a327.40.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(photographs courtesy of Visit England. Picture of the Globe Theatre taken by Pawel Libera)<\/em><\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark the Bard’s 450th anniversary next year by walking the Shakespeare Way To commemorate the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare\u2019s birth in 2014, walking holiday operator Celtic Trails is\u00a0introducing a series of self-guided walks along\u00a0Shakespeare\u2019s Way; the route from the Holy Trinity Church (pictured above) where Shakespeare was baptised and buried in his home town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[6151,6150,6154,6159,6158,6148,6152,4528,205,6149,6157,5159,6156,6155,6160,3635,257,6161,1383,6153],"class_list":["post-12871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 04:35:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12871"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12951,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12871\/revisions\/12951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12871"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newclone.retiremove.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}