Walk 61- Dark nights and hidden treasure

Geocacher

Rowena, Michael, me- nothing

Broadway High St

Glowing

Non muggles

The Lygon Arms

Grand entrance

Stile poser

Rowena, Michael, Jane

Crown and Trumpet

We found it!!!

Happy ending

The observant amongst you may have noticed that I have had a list of ideas for walks posted down the right hand side of this home page for a while now. Gradually during the year I have been ticking these off but there have been two that I just hadn’t been getting around to. So last Saturday night I decided to kill two birds with one stone. A walk in the dark and some geocaching.

I managed to persuade our neighbours Michael and Rowena to join in and although Jane really didn’t want to play, in the end I managed to do a deal. I’d go and do the weekly shop if Jane would come out on the walk with us! Fair play- she said she would.

We arranged to meet outside our front doors at 6pm by which time it was lovely and dark and also see-your-own-breath cold. Fabulous. Just what we needed for this little adventure. We were all wrapped up and had various torches with us to light our way. The plan was to walk into our village (Broadway), down the High Street and then out along the lane that leads to Snowshill. I did this walk back in January in the fresh snow and it was beautiful so it’d be interesting to see what it was like in the dark.

Geocaching then. I am thinking some of you won’t know what this is. Well, I discovered it by mistake online when I stumbled across someone’s blog describing their geocaching adventures in Crete. Then I found myself talking to my boss and colleague Jason about it. Phil was immediately hooked but although Jason and I talked a good talk , we still hadn’t actually done it. So what is it? Basically it’s like a kind of online treasure hunt. You can use GPS device or a mobile phone app to guide you to the hidden cache (or treasure). You get a description and little hints but as we found they don’t really describe what you are actually looking for. Check out Geocaching.Com for more information.

I’d paid £6.99 to download the App onto Jane’s phone despite the fact that she’d warned me that it might not work here because of our rubbish reception. You can imagine how impressed I was then when we walked out of the door and the App said ‘nah forget it , I’ve got not reception here.’ Oh great I felt an ‘I told you so’ coming my way as well as £6.99 down the drain. Luckily though, we walked on a little bit and the reception kicked in. Phew.

The supposed site of our first ever geocache, called ‘Broadway History- Flea Bank’ , led us to a seat opposite some pretty cottages on the Upper High Street. We got our torches out and felt about in the wet grass trying to find something that might be described as treasure. I think I’d expected to find perhaps a sandwich box sized thing hidden under the seat. Mind you the cache was described as a ‘magnetic nano’ so I also thought maybe we were looking for something smaller somehow attached to the seat magnetically. No matter how we rummaged we found nothing and in the end we gave up.

Off we went down the High Street which looked lovely in the dark. Broadway is always really magical at Christmas time as there are lots of lights in the trees. I love driving back home through the village when I’ve been to work – it just reminds me how lucky I am to live here. Anyway, the next geocache was called ‘Broadway Calling’ and we quickly worked out that it must be hidden in the two phone boxes. The hint warned us about ‘Muggles‘ and we realised that this must refer to people who weren’t geocachers. Presumably the idea is that you’re not meant to giveaway what your upto- especially to Muggles. Again no matter how we searched we couldn’t find anything. It was covered in cobwebs inside so I must admit I wasn’t exactly keen on examining it too closely. Again we gave up.

We decided to have a little break from our new hobby. I don’t think any of us were exactly enamoured with it. At the end of the village green we took the turning up the road to Snowshill. Now the streets and shop lights disappeared and this was our chance to do a walk in the real dark. Michael and I were both wearing head-torches and Jane and Rowena had their hand held devices. As we walked out of the village we tested just how dark it was by turning off our torches. Ooh yes that’s quite dark! Back on they went.

As we walked up the lane here I have to say I really started to enjoy walking in the dark. It felt as if I had discovered a bit of a secret. Who knew that this could be so much fun even in these cold conditions? I had thought it might be interesting to concentrate on what we could hear rather than what we could see but we were just a little bit too chatty for that!

After passing some lovely manor type houses with grand entrances we reached our destination -the church of St Eadburghs. This is a lovely little church but we decided not to go inside tonight. I posed about on top of the step-stile thinking about how civilised it would be to turn up here on a horse and then we turned back. As we walked back down the lane we were passed by some very rude drivers who failed to turn their full beams down and went past far too past. Road hogs.

Down this lane we came to the other reason why I’d been able to persuade Jane to come with us. Yes- you guessed it the pub. To be precise The Crown and Trumpet pub which is our local pub of choice. It’s a very traditional real ale pub and really we only ever come here when we have visitors. It was very busy on this Saturday night and we found ourselves a little table by the open fire. Jane and I ordered a real ale called ‘Codger’ which seemed to have the effect on us of making us behave like old codgers joining Michael and Rowena in a whinge about the youth of today and their lack of appreciation of the value of money. Their perspective came from their own daughter Lauren whereas ours came straight from the scripts of Les Dawson.

After a couple of these we decided we were ready now for another geocache. This one was called ‘Fire at Russell’s cottages’. We went back across the High Street and round the back of Budgen’s Supermarket, past the Russell’s Furniture Museum and then down Gordon Close where the really nice ‘new’ houses are. I know this route as I use it when I want to take the scenic route back home. The clue this time was a little more detailed and told us we were looking for a ‘disguised micro cache’. Oh goody. However, it also said exactly where it was – on a footpath and to the left of the 2nd step. Michael was straight in there and soon found the tiny, four inch twig that contained a plastic tube and the ‘log’ which I duly signed for us. We were so excited finding the cache and let out lots of cheers and high fives especially when I found a pen to sign the log. Goodness only knows what the poor people in the house next to the footpath thought. Muggles.

Well that was it. Our night was made and we decided to leave it there despite the fact that there are apparently many more treasures to be found nearby. We happily walked back home talking about our plans to go back out the next morning to find the caches we had missed. Clearly we needed to be looking for something a little smaller than we had been! But of course we wouldn’t really go out the next day….

So it was an entirely satisfying evening. Totally enlightening walking in the dark, geocaching – one out of three ain’t bad and another 3.5 miles under our belt. Cool.

Next stop….the Dolphin Walk …South Africa..see you there!

Walk 60- Barefoot is back.

Q and Jane gushing monument

Stylish

Info board

Happy folk

Dirty cow

Cold stream

Old door

Ancient gate

Leaves

Rubbish pub

Oh Quentin

Mustard spring?

Barefoot and me

Last Saturday we met up with Quentin again to do the 2nd to last stretch of the Cotswold Way. Jane and I set off from home with plenty of time to get back to Dyrham Park but there was a horrible accident on the M5 which caused us to be late.

Quentin meanwhile, who had travelled all the way down from Burton on Trent, was already there. We soon found him in this tiny, hidden away village and then off we went to our start point. This was up near Bath racecourse near the village of Lansdown. I decided that we should walk this stretch in reverse today to avoid two big climbs. We’d do these as steep downs instead and just have the one big climb. It was a good plan.

As we got out of the car to get ready for our walk, Jane and I wrapped up warm in fleeces and coats. Meanwhile Quentin got out in his bare feet. Jane and I had debated whether he’d be a barefoot walker again today and we honestly didn’t think he would. But here he was…oh my goodness! Apparently his measure of whether or not to go barefoot is whether you’d wear gloves. Logical. I decided however, that today I’d keep my boots on.

We set off in good spirits and to be honest we didn’t stop chatting the whole way. The weather wasn’t brilliant but it wasn’t exactly raining. It was a little bit more like walking through the middle of a cloud all day. Just a bit damp. But it was warm enough. A conditions report for barefoot walking today was: cold, wet grass, claggy mud and stony in parts with a light scattering of late Autumn leaves. You know you want to give it a go!

Next to where we parked was a monument to the Battle of Lansdown (1643) which was during the Civil War. There were some nice info boards and a splendid monument built to honour Royalist Sir Beville Grenvile. This had the most gushing words written on it about this chap by another who clearly admired him. It was just a little bit OTT. Still apparently he was a splendid fellow.

We made our way through some woods and then came out above a beautiful valley. We passed a mother and daughter walking who took our photo together. We’d meet them later on too coming back in the other direction. Odd business- covering the same stretch both ways. We commented later on the fact that these were really the only two people that we saw walking and this hadn’t been uncommon on the Cotswold Way. We are surprised at how quiet the walk has been, although we can see by the well trodden path that lots of other people do walk it. We just don’t know when. Quentin suggested maybe at night….

We had quite a steep descent to the bottom of the valley and it was very muddy and slippery. Quentin says that this is the major downside of barefoot walking. Not the mud- he doesn’t mind that. No- the slipping on the downhill bit. It was tricky but Jane and I had our Leki’s. At the bottom here we had to go through a farmyard and there were lots of cows hanging about. Quentin is very unsure of cows and so we took this cautiously. Luckily they seemed pretty pre-occupied with standing about in their own muck.

After passing a small fishing lake the path really started to climb. This was the ‘up bit’ and it was on a good Tarmac lane. We had several breathers as we made our way up and Quentin kept us in good spirits making us laugh. Mainly about my plans for next year. I have decided that my focus next year needs to be on ‘getting our house in order’. In other words decorating and dealing with snags. Q asked if I’d be writing a blog about it and I said I’d quite like to as it helps to give me focus and a sense of accomplishment. I don’t think he was too convinced as he commented:

February 16th – watched paint dry

February 17th – Jane said I’d missed a bit

The lane flattened out as we had to cross some busy A roads and made our way into the village of Cold Ashton. The CW takes an indirect route here so I expected the village to be something special. We sat outside the Parish Hall and had our flask of coffee with a left over sausage and some Malt Loaf. Our surroundings were a bit damp but it tasted great. It was a good job we had our own supplies as the village pub here on the busy road had closed down.

There were indeed some spectacular old houses here although hidden away behind great walls. Q and I poked our noses in the tiny Holy Trinity church which was very sweet and had a rather impressive stained glass window. It also had lots of leaves in the churchyard which I enjoyed kicking about because I had boots on and I could.

We then had to make our way through some really muddy fields. First of all they’d been muck spreading quite recently. Oh Quentin. No matter..you can after all wash your feet, he said. Then the path became very clayey. Q’s feet made quite a splendid claggy , sucky noise. None of this bothered Q and as we made our way across the field he told us about the evening of cabaret his daughter, Rosie, would be hosting at her school and which Q and Margot would be attending. Q had been helping Rosie create an 80s quiz and he tested Jane on some of his tricky questions. It was a fancy dress evening and he told us he planned to turn up in his grey suit and red tie as that was how he remembered spending his time in the 80s. In the office. Made me smile.

He also told us about his new voluntary job. He works in the Wedgewood factory in Stafford. He is working on cataloging their collection and it’s obviously something that he is really enjoying. Q has always been keen on his art, glass and ceramics. In fact, it turns out that he was at Tate modern seeing the Paul Klee exhibition last Saturday at pretty much the same time as me and Leera.

As we emerged from the muddy field we came out into a tiny hamlet called Pennsylvania. We had to cross the v busy A46 here and it really is quite dangerous. I think they should put some sort of crossing in. Later on in the day this road was blocked due to a serious accident. Not really surprising.

Now we had a simple walk back down through Dyrham Wood and then across the fields back to Dyrham village. It was quite surprising to find a field full of yellow flowers here. It looked a little bit like rape but Q said it was actually mustard. What on earth was it doing blossoming at this time of year? Some later research by Q informed us that this was the farmer deliberately trying to get some nitrogen back into the soil.

It was a pretty walk into Dyrham which is a lovely village. We made our way back to the National Trust tea room at Dyrham park where Q’s bare feet attracted quite a bit of attention, despite being cleaned off in their facilities. It’s funny how it makes people talk to us and I love the reaction and friendliness that it brings out in people.

It was less busy in here this week and we had a bite to eat before making our way back to the cars. By the time we’d got back we had walked 5.5 miles and now, more importantly, we have one last stretch to go to get us to Bath.

Walk 59- Reigate remembrance

Max, Lee, Lily

Ann, Tina, Emma at old house

Priory Drive

Above Breakneck

Mudslippin’

Ann n ducks

Lacrosse

Winners

Emma and Tina

Micha

Tina and family

Quite appropriate that I should spend last Sunday taking a walk around Reigate where I used to live. It was, after all, Remembrance Sunday  and this was a trip down memory lane.

I got up early at Leera’s and had a breakfast of poached eggs cooked ‘Lily style’ which were really rather good. It was nice sitting around and getting to know Lily a bit better and then seeing Max before I had to get off.

Then I drove over to Reigate where I’d arranged to meet up with Tina and Ann. We were all friends from the tennis club here and it was a nice surprise when Emma, one of Tina’s twin girls, also turned up. We met outside my old family home on Cockshot Hill. I resisted the temptation to knock on the door and ask to have a look round, mainly because Jane had warned me that they would have me arrested.

We had another companion on our walk today- Micha the dog. Tina did say what type of dog she is but it was rather foreign sounding and I didn’t quite catch it. You can see in the pictures though that she looks a little bit like a miniature husky and is very cute.

Our route today took us up the hill and then through the alley to Priory Drive. The alley always used to scare me when we were young- not the sort of place you wanted to go down on your own really. Priory Drive is where Tina and her family used to live and she had a little reminisce outside her old house. We also bumped into another familiar face from the tennis club, Lyn, who has lived here forever. My brother Mike was friendly with his son Julian and he and his brothers all belonged to our tennis club.

We walked up the hill and passed the United Reform Church where I used to go to youth club and where Tina’s Mum has always been very actively involved. Tina now works here too having left banking a few years back with no regrets. Mind you, working in the church can still be quite stressful as we saw. Lyn gave Tina some hassle about the church goers parking outside his house and the number of leaflets put through his door.

At the top of the hill we entered the Priory Park. We walked through the woods and onto the top. Micha was let of her lead here as she comes here for a lunchtime walk with Tina whom she acompanies to work. That wouldn’t happen at the bank. I used to hate it when we had to walk up here as it always seemed a big climb. Today it was lovely as the weather was good. Sunny and blue skies with great views over to Reigate Hill beyond the town itself. We peered down the infamous ‘break-neck’ hill and I recollected the time I nearly broke my leg sledging down here in the snow.

We met a man trying to set up a dog walking business and he had a good chat with Tina. Meanwhile I had a catch up with Ann who told me that she was now the proud part owner of a camper van. She also told me about her plans to spend Christmas on a cruise. The Bay of Biscay to be precise. Sounds like the could be interesting…choppy seas…..

We then made our way off the end of the hill and here it became very muddy as we were supposed to join the main path. None of us had come prepared for this (no leki, no boots) and we tried to skirt around the mud through the woods. Unfortunately here Emma slipped rather badly and kind of fell and rolled over in spectacular slow motion. Luckily she hadn’t hurt herself but her Jack Wills leggings  and Converse trainers weren’t looking too clean! She took it all in good spirit though and I tried to change the subject by talking about GCSE subjects.

We then walked around the pond into the main park itself. It was busy here with Sunday strollers and duck feeders. Ann and Tina then told me about the ice rink they’d had here for the last two years. Apparently it is supported by Reigate’s most famous resident. This always used to be Cliff Michelmore (who ?) but nowadays it’s ‘Eastender’ Shane Ritchie! Ann told us about her recent encounter with Shane and it seems his driving manners leave a little to be desired.

We then walked out of the park and through to the tennis club. Reigate Priory Lawn Tennis Club to be precise. Tina and I had both been members of this club since we were about 8 and I am not sure about Ann but probably about as long. This place used to be the centre of our worlds. Everything revolved around the tennis club. I had my 18th birthday party here where they gave me the bumps and dropped me on my head and concussed me. We’d all grown up to take various roles on the committee. Tina and Ann being Ladies Captain whilst I ran the Juniors section successfully for several years. Tina and I both moved away and gave up tennis but Ann still plays here today. We went in the clubhouse and looked at the board proudly displaying the names of the Open Tournament winners. I have included a photo of this and you can see the surnames of Tina Kruszynski (nee Roberts) and Ann Walling. Sadly, you are right my own surname does not appear . Now, if there was a board showing the runners up each year you would see my name appearing about 20 times. Shame. No wonder I moved away- I’d just had enough in the end!!

We walked back into town past the girls playing lacrosse. We used to have to play this game at school and it was always a bit unpleasant. It always seemed to be cold or wet when we played and I hated it, even if I did play for the team once. I am sure that if we’d played hockey instead the weather would have been less miserable. The home team here seemed to be rather good and the crowd cheered ‘C’mon Reigate!’

We then walked through the town which is relatively thriving these days. Not many of the old shops remain but some do and that’s good to see. The newest shop in Reigate has caused a bit of a stir apparently, as its one of those pound stores. Reigate’s residents aren’t too impressed, feeling that the shops bright displays of plastic goods on the pavement aren’t quite posh enough. For God’s sake. Maybe this is why I moved?

We sat and had a coffee outside Cafe Rouge in the sunshine which was very nice. It felt like some sort of apres ski experience – which is very much more in tune with Reigate. Tina told us the latest update on her dog walking stalker saga. Its not very nice really but hopefully his court case will come up soon and either he’ll get put away or given a restraining order. He seems a bit barmy so I am not convinced he will take any notice of that!

By now time was getting on and we didn’t have time to go up past the flat in Chart Lane which Tina and I used to share. She was a great flat mate and as far as I remember, we never had a disagreement. Surely that can’t be right? Maybe that’s just the way I remember it. I should have asked Tina for her views. We walked directly back up Bell street and over the other side to Cockshot hill. This was another memory of a big hill from my childhood and my main memory is of walking back from the station after school and my big brother Dave carrying my big school bag for me because I was so slow and no doubt such a whinger!

So back at the house and cars we had walked about 3.5 miles in total and it had been a lovely chance to catch up with old friends again. We’d also been very kindly invited round to Tina’s Mum’s house for dinner so off we all went. Tina went off to collect her other daughter – Rachel and meanwhile Ann and I arrived at Mavis and Richard’s place. Mind you, not until Ann told us the wrong house number. I knocked on the door and a strange woman answered. She looked completely blank and I could feel my brain churning as I tried to work out who this was. She explained that she wasn’t Mavis and that she didn’t have any dinner for us. We trotted across the way and tried the next door. This time Richard did let us in and Mavis served us up a treat for Sunday lunch and it was lovely to see them too.

Soon after I had to be on my way with one final visit before I left Reigate. I had to nip in to see Christine to collect some Christmas decorations for Laura. More of which later…..

I drove home through some horrible traffic on the M25 that night and was exhausted by the time I got home. It had all been worth it though and there at home was the real reason I left Reigate 13 years ago. Jane.

Walk 58- Tate to Tate

Lee and Bomberg

Giant bug home

Chapsons

Me marching

Remembrance

Big Ben

Fireworks

Not impressed

Loving Twombly

Tate Thames view

Blackfriars

Woody

Last Saturday I’d arranged to meet up with Leera again and drove down to her place in Purley. This was the first time I’d been to her home here and I’d be meeting up with the family, George, Maxine and Lily for the first time in too many years. I got up really early and had a great run down south arriving by 10:45.

It was lovely to see Leera again and then to say hello to George and Lily as she got back from playing netball. I also got to meet Woody the tiny, deer-like Italian Greyhound puppy. So cute. Before we set off we had a coffee and nice BLT sandwich and then we drove down to Purley Station and caught the train up to London via East Croydon.

Arriving up in London, we caught a bus from Victoria along to Vauxhall Bridge Road. The nice bus driver told us where to get off. I think he thought I was a country bumpkin,which of course, I am! The plan was to walk from Tate Britain to Tate Modern and to include a tour of both galleries which I have never been to. Leera is a member of the Tate Galleries and I’d thought ‘who better’ to give me a guided tour.

We decided that we wouldn’t bother with the special exhibition called ‘Art under attack’ as I’ve never been a big fan of iconoclysm anyway. Instead we decided to do the BP walk through 500 years of British art. At Tate Britain they have arranged their collection in chronological order and you walk through the years from one room to the next. We started in 1540 and made our way through 18 galleries in total to bring us right up to date.

I had expected it to be a little ….erm …high brow and out of reach. Not at all. As we walked from room to room the work of famous artists was everywhere. It was very impressive and I enjoyed seeing how the history of the time influenced the art that we saw portrayed. I must admit I felt very well educated by the time I’d finished and Leera also said she’d enjoyed it too.

We moved from Stubbs, Landseers, Gainsbroughs, Whistlers, Turners, Constables, John Singer Sargents. Portraits of the landed gentry and their animals through the introduction of colonial scenes. Then we progressed into the war years and a bit of grimness. Then it got even grimmer with Francis Bacon and the dark Epsteins and David Bomberg’s ‘Mudbath’.

As we moved into the 50s , 60s and 70s we cheered up a bit with Peter Blake, Hockney and the Henry Moores. It all became a bit more abstract and we enjoyed the rather marvelous African elephant head made out of car doors and maps. It was nice to see some more of Sarah Lucas’ stuffed tights here as well. The final room was 2013 and this was what looked like a collection of ancient African ethnic art. In fact it is an interesting imitation by Jake and Dino Chapman.

There’s a little bit of building work going on at the moment so we grabbed a cup of tea in the basement cafe and then went back outdoors. The weather was a bit dodgy- damp and dreary. We started walking along Millbank thinking we’d catch a bus to give us a head start and save our feet. However, as we started walking we could hear a marching band coming towards us. We decided to wait and take a look. Maybe this was The Lord Mayors Show parade, as I knew that was taking place today.

The first thing that came into sight was a large white police van followed by lots of police motorcycles. Interesting. It turned out this was some sort of Ulster Unionist Parade. There were marching bands, with lads thumping the big drums with some gusto. A small crowd walked alongside the bands and to be honest they didn’t look too friendly. I wasn’t sure we should be hanging about here but somehow we ended up marching alongside them all the way into Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. Mad? Maybe…

It was quite sweet as crowds of American tourists clapped the band, presumably thinking they were war veterans warming up for Remembrance Sunday the next day. We broke away here to have a look in the grounds of Westminster Cathedral. The rows and rows of little crosses with poppies on them caught my eye. It was very moving just to see how many of these had been purchased and placed here.

We then walked through the crowds of tourists round here and over Westminster Bridge. By now it was wet and nasty. The tourists were annoyingly slow and hesitant especially around the London Eye. We were walking along the Southbank and the Queens walk. It was very busy and we decided to nip into the National Theatre to have a spot of lunch. Leera recommended the cafe here especially their stew. It was buzzingly busy but luckily we found a spot to sit down. Leera had the lentil stew and I stuck to the safe mushroom soup. It was very good indeed.

As we came out it was now dark and we noticed the crowds, 10 deep lining Waterloo Bridge and the edge of the Thames. We learned that at 5pm there would be a fire work display to celebrate the Lords Majors show. We decided to stick around and watch and were glad that we did, as it was very impressive and loud.

After this was over we then moved on down the path past the Oxo Tower, Gabriel’s Wharf and the impressively lit Blackfriars Bridge, towards Tate Modern. When we got in here it was all a little bit daunting. Leera showed me the Turbine Hall which is currently closed off for building work. I discovered that there were four main exhibition areas here apparently sorted by type of art. Plus there was a special exhibition by Paul Klee which Lee’s membership allowed us to enter for free.

First things first, though. We needed another sit down. So up we went to the Members Room to have a cup of coffee and a piece of cake. Refreshed, Leera then had a brilliant idea. Let’s see how fast we could get round all five exhibitions at the Tate Modern. Now that’s my sort of challenge and made the next 2 hours were really fun. The four galleries are as follows:

Structure and Clarity…abstract art. Cubism
Energy and Process…arte povera…..Gerhard Richter and Cy Twombly
Transformed Visions…expressive abstraction….giant Mark Rothko’s
Poetry and Dream..surrealists and friends….

Finally we entered the Klee exhibition. We both nearly cried as we realised how small Mr Klee’s pictures were and how hot and crowded the gallery was. We couldn’t bear, at this stage of the day, to slowly mooch around. All the pictures looked rather similar and there was room after room of his little cube like colourful pictures. He was indeed prolific.

The highlight though was when we both spotted a particular picture that was in a very simplistic style of a rural village. I recognised it as a postcard I’d had for years and Lee reminded me that it was a picture that I’d painted for her- from this postcard. That cheered us up!!

It’s funny how the things that you look at and laugh and say ‘oh what a joke/mess’ turn out to be the things that make a biggest impression upon us. The Twombly’s were huge canvasses with red scribble but they certainly made an impression and in comparison, Mr Klee’s sweet little pics seemed rather…….like he hadn’t tried hard enough…sorry.

Off we skipped to the shop to buy some more postcards!!

Once we’d finished here we were really tired. I felt like I’d just completed two stages of the Cotswold Way! I think it was because we’d got a bit cold and damp. We both moaned about our aching limbs as we trudged back to London Bridge station. We walked past the Globe Theatre, the Golden Hind and the Millennium Bridge which hasn’t wobbled since 2002. Tonight it was lit up all purple. Beautiful – even in the rain.

We caught the train back to Purley and then picked Lee’s car up and drove back home. It was lovely to get back into the warm and say ‘hello’ again to Woody. George and Lily soon got back from their firework party and we spent the rest of the evening catching up. It was a really wonderful end to the day. I slept incredibly well in Lee’s guest room underneath the mural of the New York skyline. Cool.

The next day I also got to say ‘hi’ to Maxine who’d come back from clubbin’ at some crazy hour of the morning and popped round on her way to cake icing to see me. Bless.
I mapped our walk and I’m pleased to say that we must have walked at least 4 miles although it felt more like 20!! Haha. What a fab day.

Walk 57- Getting there

Geoff, Amanda, moi

Parklife

Amanda, Jane, Geoff

Dyson trees

Lovely stream

Silly s-d

Jane Austen

Tormanton

Tormanton church

Halloween leftovers

M4 drone

Dyrham Park

I have been amazed at our friends willingness to accompany us on some of these walks especially as we get further down the Cotswold Way. Its a long way from home for most folks. Amanda and Geoff live in Solihull but they’d agree to this next stretch from Old Sodbury to Dyrham Park. As we had to leave early to get the walk in on Sunday, G&A came over on Saturday night and we all went out to dinner at our favourite local pub- the Horse and Groom at Bourton on the Hill. It was Gloucestershire dining pub of the year last year and it did not disappoint.

We set off a little later than planned (no surprise there then) and had a dash down the M5 and then M4 to junction 18. Amanda was a little bit surprised at how long this took and once we’d parked up in Old Sodbury we needed to get ourselves going with a nice slice of Amanda’s cake and our flask of coffee.

We’d parked Geoff’s car in the pretty village of Dyrham and then drove back to Old Sodbury where we’d finished last weekend. Geoff had been very much looking forward to visiting a place called Old Sodbury. I don’t know why but Amanda seemed to enjoy having her photo taken with the CW signs. We set off at quite a good pace down the lane which we soon left and entered the fields and started a steady climb up.

As we climbed we entered Donington Park which is the country estate of Sir James Dyson. It was lovely parkland with great sweeps of grassland and trees although slightly spoiled today as they’d clearly been laying some sort of underground pipeline. Jane mentioned the word ‘Hoover’ once but I think she got away with it.

We got quite warm walking, especially as we climbed. It was a bit of a mixed bag of weather as we set out. Some sunshine but some nasty looking dark clouds too. As we climbed up high, the views opened out and we almost got confused by Sir James statue of a stag which for a minute we thought was real.

As we walked through these pleasant surroundings we chatted about future holiday plans and what we’d be getting up to at Christmas. We crossed some pretty streams with very clear water. It felt very much like Jane Austen territory as we strolled through the lovely park quite unlike other, more foreboding parts of the CW. We posed for photos on the unusual stiles around here which I’m sure Jane Austen would have struggled with in those skirts.

Exiting the park we had to cross the very busy A46 and from here we could clearly hear the drone of the M4 motorway. We crossed muddy fields to the forgotten village of Tormanton which was a little hidden gem, lost in time but right next to the Motorway. The church here has some ancient yew trees as well as impressive crypts for the wealthy merchants who were buried here right back to the 15th century. It’s also meant to be famous for its gargoyles although to be honest we thought they were nowhere near as good as Lincoln Cathedral’s.

In this village we also stumbled across a rather nice looking pub The Majors Retreat. However, Amanda and Geoff said that they’d like to get home before Tuesday and so, despite passing the pub twice, we agreed not to go in!!

As we left the village we hit a bit of a bleak part of the walk as we crossed the M4 itself where it was incredibly noisy. Then we walked across open fields towards some huge electricity pylons which were also buzzing with noise as we approached.

Of course here, at this most open spot, we had our first rain. We put up with it for a bit but then Geoff said it was time to don our waterproof trousers. It was like a well practiced drill as we all squeezed ourselves into these unattractive items. We did so just in time as rain came down steadily for this long, boring stretch of the walk. It was pretty miserable as we plodded along in single file and not even the raw shortbread biscuit cheered us up now even though the rain started to dry up. I don’t think Jane Austen would have liked this particular stretch of the walk.

At the end of this stretch we crossed the A46 again and here the path double backs on itself and again we walked along the edge of muddy fields. Eventually we could see the walls of Dyrham Park and just as we did, it had another really big downpour, this time with some wild wind to go with it. Somehow it didn’t seem so bad now as I could see the end was in sight. I even managed a little skip although I am not sure the others appreciated that! We then walked quickly down the edge of the wall past the strip lynches (an old field system of terraces) and eventually out onto a road.

Now we were back in Dyrham village and under the shelter of trees. We thought our car would be right here but it wasn’t and we realised we needed to walk along the lanes to the other side of the village. This meant passing the front of Dyrham house. This is a very impressive National Trust property and it was used in the film ‘Remains of the Day’. We peered in through the grand gates at the bottom and could see beautiful gardens.

It was here that we became desperate to find our way to the National Trust tearooms. The main entrance was way back at the top of the hill and so we really weren’t sure that we’d be able to get in down here. We sent Geoff off on a mission to find a way in and luckily for us he found a secret entrance. Hurrah. I have to say Jane wasn’t quite so excited by this option. I think she’d rather have gone back to The Majors Retreat pub!!

We joined the crowds sheltering from the rain here and sat and steamed with the rest of them. It was surprising to see just how many visitors they had on such a wet and miserable Sunday. It was a very welcome break and whilst we didn’t hang about to see the rest of the place it was good that we’d actually got to go inside the walls of Dyrham Park.

It was just a few steps now back to the car but as we came back out into the village it had our 3rd downpour of the day. We sheltered under the trees this time until it eased off a bit and then hurriedly walked back to Geoffs car. After removing all our muddy gear, Geoff let us in and drove us back over to Old Sodbury. All in all, it had been a jolly good walk except for the boring and noisy bit around the M4.

Now, we only have two more stretches to go before we reach the end of the CW and Bath and today we’d walked another 6.5 miles. So we are indeed getting there.

Walk 56- Kill or cure on the Cotswold Way

Coffee start

Shadowy figures

Jaunty Julie

Somerset Monument

Textile fields

Wet walker

Mad dogs

Oak shelter

Dog

Last Sunday I was still recovering from the flu which had wiped me out for much of the week. I actually really didn’t feel like walking and might have made some noises about this to Jane. She was very good though and wouldn’t contemplate this- we needed to walk.

Of course the weather was also threatening a hurricane which we don’t actually get in these parts. However, they were saying that this could be as big as the great storm of 1987 which had caused huge amounts of damage. Oh this would be an interesting walk then!

We were supposed to be walking with Pam and Guy but they’d been in touch the day before to tell us their plans had changed and they were now staying overnight in Crewe. Now I don’t know about you but I have my suspicions. Do we think that is a likely story? Who ever goes to Crewe on a Saturday night, never mind gets unexpectedly stuck there? Personally I suspect that the thought of walking in a hurricane was enough to put them off. Lightweights.

It was now down to just me and Jane to complete this stretch and you know how much Jane hates walking in inclement weather. She is an absolute start for doing this but as she keeps making very clear, next year is all about Jane!!! OMG I am in big trouble. There’s a book about this sort of situation by Danny Wallace I think. He spent a year saying ‘yes’ to everything. I think I may have found the theme for next years blog….

Anyway off we went bright and early. Jane’s weather forecast said it would be windy for the first two hours and then it would rain. Lovely. We drove to Old Sodbury and dumped Jane’s car there and then made our way back to Lower Kilcott where Pete and I had finished up the weekend before. The valley was looking even more lovely than last weekend- very autumnal indeed.
We left my car and started the walk. Initially there was quite a steep climb up through the woods and then we came out on the top. The wind was really starting to swirl about up here but it was quite sunny and bright.

After about a mile we passed the Somerset Monument apparently a tribute to General Lord Somerset who did good works at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. From here we walked towards the village of Hawkesbury Upton although we skirted off before entering the main village. The path now runs along an old drovers road called Bath Lane. It’s just a chalky path and feels very high up but it was flat and easy walking and Jane said she liked this type of walking as she did a little skip.

About another mile along here we dipped down towards Horton Court. This is a national trust property and Jane seemed to think it might have a grand tea room like at Blenheim Palace. I suspected not and I’d read the warnings that it was a v steep walk down and then back up if you wanted to visit. We didn’t. Instead we ploughed on. We entered an oak wood and as we did it started to pour down with torrential rain blowing sideways. We were quite sheltered in the wood and it would have been nice to stay there. But I was really conscious of the fact that the weather was only due to get worse and I was also slightly nervous of standing under large oak trees…..
So out we went and as we did it just got worse. For about 5 minutes we could hardly stand up on the hillside and we got absolutely soaked.

I was really worried about Jane . It was a little bit like when we went on a snorkelling trip in Sharm el Sheikh when we weren’t really supposed to. The whole time I was just bobbing up and down looking out for Jane and making sure that the shark wasn’t heading for us. Today I was just really alert to rescuing Jane from any falling trees. Of course had either of these things happened my super powers would have kicked in and everything would have been ok.

As it was they weren’t needed. Jane was remarkably cheery and whilst I felt that I shouldn’t really be getting this wet when I was only just getting better, it felt a bit like kill or cure. In fact it felt great to be out in this wild and wooly weather.

Around about here I lost where we were on the map although for once we were still following the CW acorn signs. As we entered the village of Horton however we did go a bit out of our way as we walked down the high street too far and ended up having to trudge back up. Bizarrely here it was Jane who rescued us with her knowledge of cartography. She realised that at the point of being lost we were standing next to a phone box and sure enough this was clearly shown on the map! She is a map reading genius!! Who knew?

Right back on track we now walked along lanes and grassy fields towards Little Sodbury. I chose not to make us drag up  to the top of Sodbury Fort instead we skirted around it. This was because again as we reached here it really started lashing down with rain.

By now we had our heads down and were just marching on. I tried texting my friend Deb from work who I thought lived in Little Sodbury. I thought she could make us a cup of tea. No such luck. It turned out that a) she wasn’t in and b) she didn’t live in Little Sodbury after all. Apart from that it was a perfect plan.

The last stretch was exceedingly windy and we walked just along the tree line at the bottom of the escarpment. It was interesting that Jane walked right under the trees, whereas I did a complex mathematical calculation about how far out the trees would fall and I walked beyond that line. It was a shame I didn’t have a compass and protractor with me. Do they still use those in schools. Very useful.

Finally we entered Old Sodbury and walked down the lane back to our car. I felt relieved to have made it back and I couldn’t quite get over how brilliant Jane had been. We’d walked 6 miles today and now we only have 3 relatively straight forward stretches of the CW until we reach the end in Bath. Bring it on!

Later on that night the real storm did hit and there was a lot of damage and disruption. Once again it made me feel like we might have been a bit silly going out in it!! Still, at least it seemed to have blown away all my bugs!

Walk 55- A proper wild Autumn walk .

Tyndale Monument

Tree clump

Tunnel path

Wotton Under Edge

It’s not coffee

Pretty garden

Pete lunch break

Mud slip

Nice but wrong path

Thatch roof

Back and soggy

Meanwhile back home…

Last Sunday it was back again to the Cotswold Way with my brother Pete. He was staying with us the night before, as we’d been to see David Tennant at the RSC in Richard II. The play was very good and David was fabulous- darlings. I must confess though, to resting my eyes very slightly during the second half.

Anyway on Sunday, Pete and I were well up for making another big dent on the CW walking between North Nibley and Lower Kilcott. As we get further down the CW it’s obviously getting more and more difficult to travel to the start and back. Of course we set off slightly later than we’d hoped for and then when we got to the A46 at Stroud there was a sign across the road saying ‘Road Closed’. Unbelievable. We pulled over in our two cars and contemplated what to do next. Pete waved down a passing MAMIL (middle aged man in Lycra ie cyclist) and a nice man in a car also stopped. The latter was v helpful and confirmed that indeed the road was closed for resurfacing and he told us how to get back on track. This involved quite a complex route over the top of Rodborough and Minchinhampton Commons.

This detour was a bit of a pain as we were already late but actually it was really good. The nice man had said something about “the cows probably being put away by now”. It made no sense at the time but when we got up on the common we realised what he meant. Basically, they have cattle up here roaming about all over the place and clearly they hadn’t yet been ‘put away’. Pete said it was like being back in India! The cows weren’t the only ones roaming up here. There were also cyclists, walkers, golfers and joggers all to be avoided on the narrow windy lanes.

We found our way back down to Nailsworth and the A46 and finally arrived at the turnoff for the tiny lane to Lower Kilcott. This is a lovely valley and we parked at a very remote farmhouse. The farmer was very kind and said he didn’t mind if we parked here. Bless- if only he’d served coffee and a piece of cake. We then drove back upto North Nibley in my car. Luckily as we put our boots on, the pub opened its window at 11am and I stuck my head in and persuaded the young man doing the cleaning to let me in to use his facilities and park in his car park.

We started out with the steep climb up to the Tyndale monument. You can see this tower from the M5 and I always notice it when I drive down to work. It was built in memory of William Tyndale who translated the New Testament and was born in N Nibley. Here the real CW path had been washed away and so we avoided that really steep bit and went up a gentler path. Half way up I realised that I’d forgotten my lucky Leki and good old Pete offered to run back down and get it for me. Meanwhile we met two little boys and their dad searching for bugs under a log. They wanted to know why I’d forgotten my stick and had had to send my brother back to fetch it. I could only reply that it was ‘Because I am silly!’. This naturally prompted the follow up question ‘Why are you silly?’ to which there really is no answer.

We were soon at the top and the common opened out before us. We found the monument but the views were a bit dodgy today as the weather wasn’t so great. We walked across the common and the through the oak woods. It was nice and flat up here and we were in good dog walking territory again. This is quite a long stretch and we made good speed. At the end there were nice views down to Wotton Under Edge.

We then had a steady climb down to the road and then walked into the town. The walk goes along Long Street which was very nice and seemed to have some good individual shops. Shame they weren’t open on Sunday morning. The pub however was!! This was The Falcon which Jane had found last week and Dave and I had planned to meet her here but of course we didn’t get that far. It was only noon when we walked in and we both fully intended to just have that coffee we’d been wanting earlier. However, something strange happened when we got in…..and we ended up ordering real ale! It think it was something to do with the sign on the wall which told us lots of information about each brew. How could we resist especially as the locals were very friendly.

On we went taking a diversion via the church which we popped into to have a look. It was empty and very peaceful but we didn’t really have time to hang about. We left the town on a lane which began to climb up towards Wortley Hill. It is very steep, I got very hot and my face went very, very red. To be honest I felt as if I was coming down with something…….

There were great views from the top and it was a relief to have made it. Up here we came across fields of corn on the cob again and it became very muddy in parts. I hadn’t seen mud like this for some time and it brought back all sorts of  happy memories of walking the CW with Joyce and Enid and Annette earlier in the year!

We walked a long the top until we found a view and a seat and then had our lunch which Jane had very kindly prepared for us. We had ham and cheese rolls, one of our home grown apples and a tiny millionaires shortbread. As we sat eating this we could see the rain moving in from the distance. I put on my waterproof trousers in readiness….

Then we walked down and it did start to rain. In fact it had a major downpour and we sheltered under a big tree whilst Pete also gave in and put his waterproofs on. It soon calmed down and we decided to press on. As we came off the hill here we did get a tiny bit lost. We walked down a deep gully but had realised that the CW acorn signs had once again disappeared. We carried on down though as we were enjoying this tree covered path and a bit of shelter from the rain. At the bottom we met a road and realised we’d gone wrong. Pete got out his compass and got all technical on me trying to find directions. I suggested that it might be best to just follow the road sign that said ‘Wortley 1/2 mile’ as that was exactly where we needed to be. Boys and girls eh?!!

We did then walk along lanes through some really picturesque villages: Wortley, Alderley and finally back to Lower Kilcott. Part of the path here runs alongside a shallow stream and it was very pretty even in the rain. The trees were swaying and whooshing in the wind which was by now quite wild. Pete commented that it was now ‘proper Autumn’ and he was right. It was wonderful to be out in this weather and I think this had been one of my favourite stretches of the CW so far. By the time we’d got back to Lower Kilcott we’d walked 8.5 miles, got a little bit wet admittedly and we’d had a fab day catching up with each other. Remember, Pete was the original person that I talked to about my idea for Walky Talky so he’s always great company and we both love having a good rant as we walk.

Postscript: unfortunately I was right when I said I felt like I was coming down with something at the top of Wortley Hill. I have had rather nasty bout of flu virus over the last week, hence I am only posting this now. Still, seem to be on the mend now and ready for the next CW stretch tomorrow when apparently we are going to have hurricane strength winds…..

Walk 54- Discovering Southport’s coastal path

The Sefton Coastal trail

Ian and wiggly pine

Pine path

Dune

Glorious dunes

Late sun shines

Storm brewing

Clev n me

Pine patch

Train back

Rock on

Cute Patch

After 2 days on the annoyingly hilly Cotswold Way it was time for a change of scene last Saturday as I drove up north to see my friend Ian (aka Clev) from work. Ian and his wife, Gill, live in Up Holland which is near Skelmersdale. I was interested to see this part of the country as I have never actually been here as far as I know.

As I left home early in the morning, the weather was horrible. It was lashing down with rain and it was quite windy. However, by the time I arrived it had totally cleared and what I had thought might be quite a wild walk, had been tamed. Yet again- can you believe my luck?

Ian has been a friend of mine at work for a long time and in fact I have a photo of us both on a course from way back in the 80s. We’ve always got on really well but I have never met his family and it was lovely to have the chance to spend some time with him outside work. It was nice to meet Gill, Ian’s wife, and to hear about their son, Stuart’s exploits at Kings College, London where he has just started. Finally, I met the other member of the family, the incredibly cute Patch who is, if I’ve got this right, a wire haired, parson terrier. He is 11 years old and suffers from arthritis so he said he didn’t want to come on our walk. Obviously, I do realise that dogs don’t talk. Unlike Jane who really thinks her fish can hear her. But that’s an aside. Run children, run……

We’d had this walk planned for quite a while and Ian had found us a really interesting walk on a new long distance path on the coast. Today we’d be on the Sefton Coastal Trail which also seemed to be the start of the Trans Pennine trail.

After my experience on the M6 the weekend before (in the car rather than walking), I allowed myself loads of time today. Naturally this meant I arrived about forty minutes early. I texted Ian and told him to get the kettle on. After a brew and a tasty ham sandwich we were on our way.

Ian drove us to Southport and on the way I got a glimpse of Skelmersdale which, like many other New Towns, has an abundance of roundabouts. One of these had quite a good art installation featuring giant photos of the heads of some of Skem’s residents. These were just normal people and they all looked very smiley. Ian explained though, that there was a gap as unfortunately, one of the ‘faces’ had been done for murder so it wasn’t entirely appropriate to celebrate him, I guess.

We parked at the Fisherman’s Rest pub which said it was one of the 100 most famous pubs in the country. Apparently, this is because there was a notorious sea rescue here by the RNLI which they celebrate every year by singing a song about it. We parked up and got ready to walk but not before a couple of old ladies ran over Ian’s walking shoes. This place was mean and rather dangerous.

We made our way along the seafront to the start of the official walk. We passed Rotten Row and the park where annually they host the Southport Flower show. Even now the flower beds along the edge were full of colour. Ian was born and bred near here and he hadn’t been back for ages. He had a good old reminisce and told me how his parents used to tell him that this park was his back garden.

The official trail start is well marked and the path started out on the pavement along the road which was very noisy. We set off at a fast pace, Ian leading the way. I think he has now taken over as the fastest person I have walked with this year. Soon the path became a bit more intrepid and we went into the sand dunes. It reminded me of being on the Outer Banks in North Carolina with dunes on both sides of the road. Luckily here though the sea wasn’t frothing onto the road as it had been when we were driving down OBX.

There were plenty of points of interest along the way including Pontin’s holiday camp and several rather splendid golf courses. One of these is the Royal Birkdale Club which has hosted the Open. We also walked alongside the railway line which goes into Liverpool. Normally on a Saturday this would be very busy with either Liverpool or Everton fans on their way to the match. Today, however, it was quiet because England would be playing their all important World Cup qualifying match later in the week. Well done lads! The good thing about the railway line is that there are stations all along the way so we could decide where we wanted to escape the path and jump back on a train. Oh but we’d got our sights set on walking quite a few miles today so Hillside and Ainsdale were not for us- they were for wimps!

As we walked, the path became more and more scenic and it turned into a shared track with a cycle way through some really beautiful pine woods. This is a red squirrel reserve although we didn’t see any today. We did do lots and lots of talking as we walked. We’d not seen each other for ages and so there was much to catch up on. One of Ian’s big passions in life is his music. He is very talented and is in a duo, The Huers, with another colleague, Phil. This has a folk theme and the guys play a wide range of string instruments – acoustic guitars, electric guitars and even mandolins. Ian also produces some more synthesised sounds under the name of Simplexity. He and Phil are involved in a musical thing for charity at work which sounds fab and could potentially raise an awful lot of money. Ian’s a great chap who always has time for everyone so it didn’t really surprise me to hear how many hours he has personally put into this.

Eventually we found the sign we’d been looking for – Freshfield’s Station. But we decided to take the path the extra 1 km down to the beach. My feet soon began to regret this but on we went. It was a real surprise at the end of the path here as the beach suddenly opened out and we could see several Lowry stick figures drifting along the beach. It looked even more beautiful as the late afternoon sunshine came out and made everything look very dramatic. The golden sand dunes and ancient pines looked lovely and even the sea was in for us. We could see all the way to Blackpool tower and the hills of The Lakes in the distance.

We admired the view, posed for some self timer pics and then retraced our steps and then onto Freshfield’s Station. We had a 15 mins wait for the little train back to Southport and once we were on the train we sat down and enjoyed the warmth. Lovely.

As we arrived back in Southport we emerged into the busy station and then walked into the town. It’s a nice Victorian town and I found it to be quite a strange mix. There are some grand old buildings with Victorian verandas and quite a bit of pedestrianised space. Ian showed me the apartment where he lived until he was 7. This was above the main library in this really grand building where his Dad was the caretaker.

Further along though you’d find traditional seaside shops selling rock and other goodies. Apparently there is a bit of competition between Southport and Blackpool. The folk of Southport being rather snooty and feeling that their town is somewhat superior. I must admit I did rather liked it.

By now of course we deserved a little refreshment and so we went into a huge pub where rugby league was on the giant TV screens. I enjoyed a lovely half of Burscough Ale and a packet of Lancashire black pudding and mustard crisps. We had good rest here before we set off on our final stretch back to the car- which was nearly another 2 miles! By the time we got back I was limping quite badly and had developed a rather nasty crack in my heel and a bit of a blister. Eek. Note to self, said Bridget Jones, must take more care of my poor feet.

Back at Ian’s we plotted our walk and found that in total we had covered 9.5 miles. What a splendid effort and it meant I had covered nearly 30 miles in the last 3 days. We celebrated this fact with a Chinese takeaway and a bottle of Pouilly Fume. I stayed overnight at Ian’s and slept rather well needless to say. The next day I got up refreshed. Poor Gill was still not very well and Ian and I had a quick breakfast before I got off home. I’d really enjoyed our walk and the chance to see a new part of the country and catch up with a good friend. Whilst it was a long drive back, I wouldn’t have missed it and happily listened to Terry Wogan most of the way home.

Walk 53- Cotswold Way..another day, another hill, then another……

Morning Dave!

Cam Long Down

Dave up top

Me still smiling

Which way?

Dursley door

Autumn red

Autumn steps

Crap town

Glass library

Rainy golf

Good decision.

We woke up after a good nights sleep at the Old Crown- it really was a pleasant place to stay. We didn’t exactly get much of a lie in as I woke up to the sound of the church bells. We made it down for breakfast as late as possible (8.45am) and enjoyed the full English. It was lovely and I’m sure there was a bit of Gloucester Old Spot (pig) in there somewhere.

By 10:30 we were packed up and ready to go. We’d had a genius idea which involved leaving our back packs at the pub. They had made walking at the end of the yesterday quite hard work and we wanted to be free of this burden today. The nice man behind the bar was really lovely and said no problem. In fact, he even offered to drive us back up to the Cotswold Way but incredibly we declined. Get a lift? Good god, no we scoffed. Fools……

The village was very peaceful and it was a lovely day. It was even a little warmer today with clear blue skies and white wispy clouds. The start of the walk means a steep climb back out of Uley. Across the fields and through the woods backs upto Uley Bury ancient hill fort. It was quite hard work as we warmed up again. Then we had a nice stroll across the top watching a kestrel hover and then dive for its prey. We met a few early walkers out enjoying the warm weather and their morning constitutional. No one except us seemed to be in much of a hurry. Dave remarked that we seemed to get less respect today from these fellow walker as we had no heavy bags. No one asked where we were heading and we felt the urge to let folk know how far we’d already come!

At the top here we had great views again across to River Severn and classic patchwork fields. We could also see our next destination- Cam Long Down. It looked quite small from up here but we could see from the contours on the map that it was going to be our 2nd steep climb of the day.

First though we had to get down from Uley Bury. It was a very steep path and gravelly which made it tricky to get down without slipping. Of course, I had my trusty Leki with me whilst Dave had picked up a huge sturdy branch yesterday to help him. Apparently he is going to keep this log and do some whittling as I think he became very attached to it. Talking about trees, down here we found some incredible trees with great trunks and roots over-hanging the path.

We walked through some lovely farmland with cows and sheep. Strangely it was quite unlike anywhere else I’ve seen on the CW as it is normally more wild than this! Next we had the climb up Cam Long Down. We watched as two chaps did it before us, walking through the field of cows and then up. Then it was our turn. It was very steep but we took it slowly stopping to catch our breath.
As we walked into the wood it became very windy. We were soon at the top and trying to have a laugh with some other walkers whilst trying not to show how out of breath I was.

From here we had a very bumpy and lumpy ridge walk with terrific views all around. Funnily enough it was less windy up here as we meandered along and then down again. By now we were having a very good chatty as the walking became a little easier. We walked through a lot of ferns and bracken here and made our way down towards Dursley.

The CW book had said that this wasn’t an attractive town. There are old mills now used for light engineering and boarded up areas as we entered the town. However, the area near the church was nice and as it was time for an early lunch so when we saw the sign for the Hummingbird Cafe we couldn’t resist. It offered a cafe and Caribbean Restaurant combo and we were quite intrigued. It had a distinct pinky purple theme and it was quite newly opened and really nice. Dave had fried plantain and some sweet hard toast and I had Caribbean pancakes and tropical fruit and syrup. We chatted to the owner, a young woman who had learned the tricks of Jamaican cooking from her husbands mother and grandma. I really hope she can make a success of her business – she deserves it – the cafe was delightful.

By the time we left it was raining. Oh dear, this doesn’t happen very often whilst I’m walking. I’d left my waterproof trousers at the pub and Dave hadn’t been able to find his at all. Dave was also starting to ache by now and we weren’t sure we’d make it to Wotton Under Edge where Jane had agreed to come and pick us up. As we walked through Dursley we passed the newsagents which had a newspaper sign outside with the headline ‘Town anger at crap rating’. Apparently this is a reference to poor old Dursley being voted one of the worst places to live in the country. To be honest, I thought it was doing its best. It had a nice pedestrian bit, a very modern glass library and most importantly a very popular pub called The Old Spot. Yes, it had it fair share of charity shops but it also had some really nice shops including a splendid looking toy shop.

As we left the town we had yet another extremely long steep climb up a road and then a path to the top of Stinchcombe Hill. It was very hard and slow going but eventually we emerged onto the golf course and by now it was really pouring down as we’d climbed up into the clouds!!

Once again here we were given a choice. We could either walk several miles around the edge of golf course with a nice view of the rain. Or we could walk 100yds across the golf course and find our way down. Both are officially the CW, you just get a choice. Today in the rain, I felt that we really ought to go all the way around. Not really…it was the direct route for us man!

We then had yet another flippin’ walk down and it was rather slippery. It was quite nice walking through the woods as it continued to pour down and near the bottom we turned out of the woods and into more open fields with long grass. Our trousers became very wet about the leg and as we approached North Nibley we decided we’d had enough and I phoned Jane and asked her if she would come and pick us up here.

We then walked up to the village itself and you can’t believe how pleased we were to find the Black Horse Pub open. Not only open but with two comfy armchairs by the fire just waiting for us. Here we sat and waited for Jane for nearly two hours as Dave chatted to the landlord about the pub trade. By the time we left I felt as if I could run my own pub standing on one leg. Maybe not ,to be honest it all sounded a bit difficult.

So by the end of today we had completed another 8 miles. I know we’d intended to get to Wotton but there was yet another ridiculously steep climb, there’d be no views in the rain and we’d had enough – we ached. It was such a good decision and the fact that we stopped and had a lovely time in the pub drinking a half of ale and sneakily eating the malt loaf Jane had given us the day before, meant that we’d have happy memories of our two days. Dave was great company on the walk and was very patient with me every time I moaned that the Cotswold Way really was annoyingly hilly. I believe I even heard him say that he’d be up for more!! Good man.

Walk 52- Cotswold Way- the long walk to Uley

Off we go

Beech woods

The coats back

Idiot farmer

Stroudwater Canal

Dave of the corn

One horses head

Hang gliding anyone?

2 more miles

Lovely Uley

The Crown, Uley

Wild orchid?

I had taken two days holiday to have a real go at the remainder of the Cotswold Way. Dave, my eldest brother, had kindly agreed to join me for what would be quite a challenge. I had done much studying of maps and plans, trying to make sure that I didn’t leave us stranded somewhere in the dark. My planning said that we should walk about 8 miles today.

In the end Dave drove us to the start point where we’d dump the car and walk for the next two days. However, we took quite a relaxed start to the day, set off a little later than I’d planned and decided to stop off in Painswick for a coffee before we got going. We popped in the tiny Patchwork Mouse coffee shop and made use of the facilities in the nearby Town Hall.

We then drove up beyond Edge and back to the car park where Jane and I last left off before we went to Crete. Remember, last time we were here it was Summer so today I was hoping we might find a bit of Autumn. The walk starts off high up and we gradually made our way down towards Stroud through Standish Woods. These were once again impressive beech trees but sadly they hadn’t quite turned copper coloured just yet.

We were happily following the very well marked way, via the normal posts with an acorn sign on them, when all of a sudden, at the bottom of a particularly steep bit, we realised that the acorn posts had disappeared. Oops. I must admit I had not been looking at the map and had no idea really quite where we were. Oops again. We could see a farm building and decided to wander down to find someone and ask where we were. Luckily we found a nice man mending a boiler in a shed and his young mate and they said ‘you are at Hill Farm’. Thank goodness. We could see this on the map and we hadn’t gone far wrong.

It had been quite a cold start to the walk today but once again we were lucky with clear blue skies and even the occasional glance of the sun. We bumped into a few friendly folk early on including two chaps in the middle of a vineyard who were walking the CW the other way around. They optimistically told us, at this point, that we were about half way to our destination today- Uley. Oh…how wrong they were……

As we came down from the hills, we skirted the edge of Stroud. It was quite unusual to be walking along busy roads and past schools and factories. We looked slightly out of place with our walking boots on and heavy back packs. Whilst these hadn’t felt very heavy when we set off they gradually seemed to get heavier and mine was really quite diggy in my fat bits.

We crossed over the Stroudwater Canal which was quite pretty and then continued on towards Kings Stanley. You do actually get a choice here on the CW. Either you can do what we did which is to take the direct route along the roads or you can go an additional 2 miles and take the scenic route over Selsey Common. Given the choice, I felt no particular need to go the long route. Good job….

We found the Kings Arms Pub in Kings Stanley and had some lunch. It was a nice pub with just a few locals chatting and a skittle alley. After a short interlude we were on our way again. It was now that we started to see a bit of Autumn as we nearly got knocked down by a farmer ploughing his field. He really did seem to aim for us despite the fact that we walked around his field and not across it. Idiot.

Leaving Kings Stanley we walked up through the fields to Middleyard. As we walked through the corn field we talked about some of Dave’s friends who are planning on moving to some remote part of Scotland. We both agreed that we weren’t too convinced by this plan. Why on earth would you want to do that?

We got a bit lost here again on the road as we missed the acorn sign but quickly realised as I was now keeping a much closer eye on the map. Next we found ourselves going up a ridiculously steep path to the top of Pen Hill. From here the path then meanders along the top of the ridge largely through woods. I must admit I did say that if I never see another beech wood again in my life that’d be fine! The gliders overhead made quite a distracting noise.

This last stretch along the top here seemed terribly long. Dave couldn’t believe it when I told him that we still had a way to go. In parts, the woods opened up into grassy common areas and we trudged on past people walking their dogs without a care in the world. By now its fair to say we had our heads down and weren’t that interested in the barrows, burial mounds and not even Hetty Pegler’s Tump (no- I don’t know) drew our attention. We passed a sign here that still said we had another two miles to go. Not happy.

You can imagine how impressed I was when suddenly the path wanted to take us on yet another steep downhill bit through bloomin’ beech woods. I almost went on strike, I really didn’t want to -knowing that if we went down- we almost certainly would have to climb back up again. But on we went, eating some of Dave’s sour sweets to cheer ourselves up and chatting about yoga. It started to get a bit dark in the woods here and I was worried that maybe I would need my head torch after all!

Finally, we met a nice man who asked where we were going and thankfully he told us that Uley wasn’t far away now. It was just through this gate, that gate, the next gate and then look down- there it would be! Sure enough, after we walked around Uley Bury, we found the view of the village bathed in late afternoon sunshine. I wanted to skip but ached too much and so slowly we made our way down through the oak wood and steep field. Trying not to think about the climb back up the next morning….

We walked around the back of the church and emerged onto the village green and there, before us, was the most wonderful scene. The lovely Crown Pub which when we went in was just what we needed. Cosy, friendly, nice rooms and a gorgeous hot shower. Amazing. We enjoyed a great evening here having a good old moan about the days exertions. Over a pint of Pigs Ear ale from the Uley Brewery, we plotted how far we’d walked. 10.4 miles. No wonder Dave climbed back up the stairs to his room on all fours!! For now, tomorrow was another day….