Packing, breakfast, back upstairs, and then off we went.

We walked through the town until we reached our turn.

Clearly, as you can see by one photo, they aren’t happy with people who don’t have their dogs on a leash. But wow … they might shoot them?

We knew today had a climb. I had read a blog, though, where the writer implied one could opt to take the very steep hill to a tower or one could go another way. So I assumed our app was telling us the easier way and at some point it would show us two options: the high road and the low road, so to speak. (Or write, actually.) But no! We were on the steep path and so it went. We might have been slow, but we continued on our way. We went by a number of fields with sheep. Sheep mean “Watch where you walk!” They are so sweet and fun from a distance. They are more smelly and dirty close up. Go figure. Both yesterday and today the sheep are not nearly as skittish as they were when we were in Scotland. I guess they are used to all the walkers.

When I looked up and saw a spot with benches I said, “I think that’s the top!” When we reached the benches (and I took photos) I realized my thinking was quite wrong, and Dan said we were about halfway up.

Thankfully he was also wrong, as it wasn’t quite the much more of a climb, and there we were, at the tower. A place people could actually drive to, wouldn’t you know? And of course I had to shoot a photo of a some new gate locks because I know how exciting those are.

While we sat, resting from our big trek, we saw a deer. But wait! There was a little one right there as well. Mom was busy cleaning the little guy up for a while. New today? Dunno. But obviously needed that good old mom spit bath!

We said goodbye (not literally, mind you) to the tower. From there, though, it was a downhill walk, so the hard work of the day was done. We of course saw more sheep.

And then we smelled garlic. It was wild garlic growing in a wooded area. Quite fragrant!

We reached a bit of road and one house. And then it was grain field after grain field along with a mustard (gone to seed — thank you Ruth Ann for helping me with that!) field.

One of the gate we found, shortly before our destination, seemed rather useless!

And then hello, Chipping Campden!

We went to a pub for lunch. We arrived at 2:57 and they only took food orders until 3:00. We barely made it, but we got our food — I had my first toastie in a while. Yum! Greg ordered a hot dog which, for some reason, cracked me up.

From there we made our way back to our hotel so we could check in.

We had an upgraded place because, as I had been informed a few weeks back, the original spot was overbooked. Sure can’t argue with an upgrade! For the first time on this trip, our luggage was brought to our rooms for us. Good thing, as we had two flights of stairs this time. Whew!

Our room is nice, but I have to confess I’m never jazzed by the “bathtub in the bedroom” thing. I guess they know some of us aren’t into that, so a privacy screen is in the room. (Greg and Jan were in a different part of the hotel and landed a super room. I’m not jealous, I’m not jealous, I’m not jealous. Or maybe I’m a liar. You choose!) Below you see our room and our views.

I attempted to take a bath and use the sprayer to wash my hair. Well, never mind that! I couldn’t get the darn thing to work. I do find it interesting to see if I can figure those things out at each place we stay! (It’s like the gates we have to deal with … sometimes I get it, sometimes not. This was a definitely not!)

We had a short amount of quiet time and then we met Greg and Jan downstairs for a cocktail hour. Greg has been dealing with a rotten heel and toe as well as a cold, so I really wanted to treat them. He’s not complained a bit, even though I’d sure understand if he did. (I know I would whine a lot. It’s a talent.) Thank you, Greg! And thank you Jan for walking with me! This has been very special.

We went from cocktails to our Mediterranean dinner. And what a fine dinner! Don’t ask me what we had because right now my brain is a muddle, but it was delicious!

After dinner we went to Jan and Greg’s room and enjoyed a final glass of wine. (That’s when I saw where they were staying and I nearly got out my gun and told them to get the heck out of Dodge but 1) I have never owned a gun and 2) we were in Broadway. Oh well!)

Now we are back in our room and ready for a good night’s sleep. I hope.

Tomorrow is our last day of the walk. I’m sad to say goodbye to our adventure.

17,597 steps, 6.82 miles, 18 flights climbed** (Dan and Jan use Apple Watches and they had as many as 10 more flights, as well as more mileage than I had so I think my watch hates me.)