Category Archives: Travels

Monday, June 1 — Walk, Day Six

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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.)

Sunday, May 31 — Walk, Day Five

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We moved our breakfast time up to 8:00 because today is our longest walk. We will be walking 14.4k so around 9 miles.

First, of course, packing, which at this point is fairly easy: everything has its spot and I mostly remember where those spots are.

Breakfast was quite nice. I took no photos of that, but I did take a photo of the stairs we had to deal with with our luggage, and a photo of said luggage waiting for pick up.

Then it was time to walk and off we went, first through Winchcombe and then on to Puck Pit Lane.

Jan graciously and gracefully demonstrated a new kind of gate we had to use at times.

We had, of course, gorgeous landscapes.

I shot this plant to try and identify it. According to my phone it’s broad bean. I know, not exactly a thrilling close up photo of the plant, but the fields were impressive.

Then it was back to a grain that the iPhone said was “bread wheat”.

We arrived in Hailes and Greg and Jan kindly posed for me. There was also the ruins of the Hailes Abbey. And there are to be no detectorists in the field by the abbey. You’ve been warned

We checked out the Hailes church, which included frescoes which I found interesting as I hadn’t realized any churches here had those.

Then it was back to fields and meadows, and of course gates. Ah, the gates … or stiles … or kissing gates. So many have different ways of opening and closing. It’s like an intelligence test, and I think I mostly score a B or C, but the one with a chain was easy to figure out. I give myself an A (because I do not believe in A+ as I frequently mention to Dan).

We passed by Wood Stanway Farmhouse and then entered Stanway. I had thought that might be a place to stop for a rest or whatever but there wasn’t anywhere near our path that looked like a possibility.

So on we marched. We passed sheep, and continued on through a bit of a lush “tunnel” (it felt like it, anyway), until we reached a road we had to cross.

Then it was more on the path, which wasn’t always smooth. I had to remember to lift her feet so I wouldn’t take another spill!

Oh … and I made a video during the above portion of the walk.

We passed by the Stanway House. I don’t know if people ever get to visit, but it and the church by it were locked tight.

From there we entered the Cotswold Way trail. (There are a number of trails in the Cotswolds.)

There was a huge beautiful tree that I had to shoot to see if it could be identified. The iPhone said “European Beech” and when Greg reached us he said it was a beech, but had a different name (in German) for it.

We went through more meadows.

Finally we were in Stanton. We were weary and ready for a rest and maybe some lunch. I had noted in my research that there was The Mount Inn where we could get a bite. Well gee, it was a big climb to get there. Ah … I get it: “Mount Inn” as in mountain. Cute. Or not. None of us were all that keen on the hike up. We ordered our food and drinks and were surprised by the amount of food we had. I forgot to take any photos of the food (I blame the climb), and only have one shot of part of the room we were in.

Then we had the last leg of our walk. I thought it was two miles. I was wrong: it was a bit longer. First we walked back down the hill in Stanton.

While Jan and Greg went ahead I told Jan I would go back to find Dan as he wasn’t with us. Since I found him near the Church of St. Michael & All Angels we went inside.

Then it was (surprise!) more meadows. And sheep. Some were the spotted sheep we had been told we might find. (Confession: I thought they’d be spotted on their wool. Heh. No … spotted faces.)

There was one very large climb. I had feared it might be there, but Dan had suggested it wouldn’t be a big one. Gee, I was right! So up up up we climbed. But climbs don’t look like climbs in photos so never mind that. Just know we made it up to the top.

And then there were the cows with one beige stripe. We saw those in Scotland too. I’d never seen them prior to this trip.

More walking. More meadows. More lovely views. And a new kind of gate … but not really a gate.

Finally we arrived! Our longest day was done. And hello Broadway! Now they say the neon lights are bright but I didn’t see even one neon light here. Be forewarned. We checked into our hotel and our room is lovely.

We met Jan and Greg again for dinner, which we had right at the hotel. You get no photos of dinner. But it was good and I’m tired and there you go. But here, have some photos of only a few of the stairs we had to take to get to our rooms.

Now it may be only 8:50 here, but I’m pretty darn tired and hoping I will sleep after that long walk. Goodnight!

26,207 steps, 10.26 miles, 7 flights climbed

Saturday, May 30 — Walk, Day Four

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7:00 wake up, slow rising, easy packing, and off to breakfast, hauling our luggage down to the pickup point as we went. I took a few photos of the hotel. Ah stairs! We sure have done a lot of luggage hauls up and down stairs.

Breakfast was similar to yesterday: basic, no frills, but it was fine.

While we were eating our driver showed up. Hm. It was 9:00 and I had read she’d be there at 9:30. There have been a few issues with this trip and I’m not complaining, but I will let them know there were some problems. We raced to our rooms to get our daypacks and hit the bathroom and then we were off. Our driver was not as speedy as yesterday’s, but also not quite as comfortable, it seemed, driving the roads here. But we got back to Guiting Power to begin our trek. (Our “taxi” is in the photo on the left and the other is just a final Guiting Power shot.)

This walk had no big stops on the way until shortly before our final village, so it was a lot of scenic moments without villages.

I shot the final photo above because I have no clue what it is. If anyone knows, do tell! Shortly after that we passed a big rocky field with new plants that looked to be corn. It seems that a variety of grains grow in this area.

Since Dan picked that bit of a grain (last photo above) he then modeled it for me.

Sometime toward the end of the walk we had a downhill where the ground was a bit uneven. Yesterday Jan had mentioned she could have used my poles (which I hadn’t thought to bring then) on one section so this time I asked her if she’d like them. Nope. She was fine. Welllll … she might have been fine, but yours truly manage to catch the front of her left food on something and fell. Nothing damaged aside from pride, and no clothing ruined, but pants got a bit of a stain. But hey, I didn’t do my typical face plant!

By this time we were nearing the Sudeley castle. I had looked into the cost for going in and it was quite expensive. Being as we see enough castles in any case, we skipped it. We did, however, stop at the cafe there for drinks and snacks before we did the final leg of today’s walk. My navigation app had been making noises because we had veered from the trail until I turned the sound off. When we started up again it redirected the route so we could get back on the trail. We didn’t have long to go.

Then it was hello Winchcombe!

We arrived at the White Hart Inn and collected our keys. And then we had the absolute thrill of carrying luggage up stairs! What fun after a day of walking. Our room is more spacious that the last two, and the bed is larger. I had been expected something not-so-great because I thought this one had lower ratings, but I was pleasantly surprised. I’m pretty sure I must have been confusing places and last night’s must have been the lower rating.

The scaffolding outside our window isn’t fabulous, but we will barely be here so it’s not a huge deal.

After we showered and rested up a bit Dan and I went out to investigate a bit.

We wound up at St. Peter’s, where we saw a string quartet practicing. I immediately heard what sounded like a Caroline Shaw piece and, sure enough, it was! Sadly the concert was at 7:00 tonight and that was when we had dinner reservations so we had to miss it. We were able to have a look inside the church, though.

Then only a bit more walking including a plaque on the side of our hotel wall.

We met up with Greg and Jan for dinner at 5 North. What a meal we had! I’m going to bet it’s the best meal of the trip. If you ever get to Winchcombe plan on eating there. Just be sure to save up for it! I promise it’s worth it. (You are seeing both Dan’s and my desserts … I promise I didn’t eat both!)

Then back to our hotel where I finished up this blog entry and we hit the hay. Tomorrow is our longest day (10 miles) and we have to be ready. If one or two of us decide it’s just too much that’s fine too: I saw an Uber/Lyft car here today so I know that could be an option. (I didn’t think Lyft was anywhere but the US, but that’s what was on the car.)

Ciao for now!

19,961 steps, 7.64 miles, 6 flights climbed

Friday, May 29 — Walk, Day Three

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It was nice to wake up slowly — at least for me: Dan was up before 6AM and I did wake up slightly before 6 but then set my alarm for 7:45 so I could sleep more. Sleep hasn’t been great much of the time (typical of me) and I knew an extra 45 minutes would be welcome.

It was nice, as well, to not have to pack everything and haul the luggage downstairs to its pickup spot. Today we are to walk to our destination and then get a taxi back. Cotswold Journeys, the company we are using, isn’t exactly clear about how we go about doing that. It says the car picks us up at 3:30, but I didn’t find info about just where that might be. Perhaps, though, it’s just right at the end of our route. We are using the app Ride with GPS, and it takes us through the entire route. (And it makes a sound when we’ve gone off the path. The weird voiced lady inside the app — she must be so tiny! — also tells us turns and the like. I don’t think, though, that she will tell us where our taxi is.

We got ourselves ready for breakfast and I started this blog entry. You can see that we have a fan running in this photo. You can also see the large TV. We make it a point of never turning on a TV when we travel. This is a vacation from everything, including TV!

We met up with Jan and Greg for breakfast. This place isn’t quite as extravagant with their menu: if we wanted a full English or the like we had to pay extra. In reality that means we ate a more reasonable meal, even while it not only included our egg dish but a bowl of yogurt and granola as well. Dan’s poached eggs on toast came without the eggs on top of the toast. It looked rather sad at that point! My mushroom and cheese omelette was tasty but I could only manage to eat half of it.

After getting teeth brushed (Funny: I must have misspelled “brushed” at first and it decided I mean “bruised”!) and putting things away in our room we met up with Jan and Greg to begin our trek for the day.

Out we went, passing some lovely homes on the way.

We then wound up on a path. We walked a good distance through beautiful areas. Early on we did get a few sprinkles, but nothing we worried about. Later it was a bit more, but never enough to worry me. Jan was smart and brought a rain jacket, but the rest of us had skipped that. It’s typical of me not to bring one, but it was surprising to me that Dan didn’t! Still, aside from my putting my camera away for a time it really wasn’t an issue. As you might notice, one photo shows a sign that warns of CCTV. I have no clue where they might have been … up in trees? Hidden on the fence? I never could see even one.

We saw the sign below, saying we were on the Gustav Holst Way. I will have to look that up to see why it is called that. But of course Dan and I started singing things from The Planets. Because.

More and more walking …

The app we use is handy to tell us about turns, but it also makes me laugh sometimes.

I thought the stone slab would be something huge and significant. See if you can figure out which photo includes it. (And do ignore our speed … we do a ton of stopping!)

We reached Naunton, which was a nice place to stop just for a beer. Then on we went. (Sorry, you don’t get a photo of our beers.)


We saw so much of a particular plant, but I’ve yet to figure out what it is. Maybe it’s rye, as we saw yesterday, but it seemed different to me.

Finally we were at our final destination: Guiting Power.

We were to meet our driver at The Old Post Office, but he had written to say he was running late. That was fine by us — we stopped at a pub and some of us had “zero zero”, some a half-pint, and perhaps one had a pint. We also had some cookies from our hotel room, so we pulled out those as well. That would tide us over until our 6:30 dinner reservation.

Our driver arrived and he chatted with us as he drove. The funny bit, for me, was hearing Dan, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, say how he then understood my whimpering! So I wasn’t as crazy as maybe we both thought, eh?

Back in our room we showered, I did more of this blog, and rested. And then … dinner!

We went to the spot we opted for after have some wine there last night. Okay, so it was a lot more expensive than the initial Italian place I’d booked, but we had the entire room to ourselves, as everyone else opted to eat outside (it was too sunny for us: it seems many are thrilled with sun, but we aren’t that sort). The food was delicious — or at least my gazpacho and chicken were. (And Dan’s salmon appetizer looked wonderful.) I didn’t take photos of everyone else’s plates, but I will assume they were happy with their meals.

We also had desserts (only two — one per couple) which we really didn’t need to certainly enjoyed.

Then it was a quick walk back to our home for the night.

Tomorrow we have to get our luggage downstairs for pickup by 8:30, and then our driver is to arrive at 9:30 to take us back to Guiting Power where we begin the day’s walk. It’s only 6 miles, and I’m hoping for an easy walk. Time will tell.

And now … goodnight!

19,705 steps, 7.84 miles, 12 flights climbed
(Just a quick note: Jan, Dan, and I all have Apple Watches. Each give a different number of miles and flights climbed. I expected steps to differ due to our strides, but it does seem to me miles and flights climbed really should be more similar. That shows just how accurate all of this is, I suppose!)

Thursday, May 28 — Walk, Day Two

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**I hope you know that if you click on images you should see them better!

We woke and had in-room coffee before packing our bags to get downstairs for the 8:30 required time. (Not that they ever pick them up right then, but they say 8:30 so I will not be late!) One annoying thing yours truly did was, as I was attempting to pull my adapter out of the wall socket thinking to myself, “You are forcing it and it’s going to break!” I broke it. Stupid me, but there you go.

Oh … and yesterday we saw a sign outside that announced a Motor Show. Or so I thought. This morning when I looked outside I realized it read “Moron Show”. Well, because I’m such a genius, when Dan laughed and said someone had changed it I said, “Oh. I just thought maybe there was a car called Moron.” Okay. Really, I did say that. And yes, Dan could hardly stop laughing. Since my goal in life is to make people laugh I guess I can say I’ve had a successful day.

We went downstairs, met up with Jan and Greg, and headed to the breakfast area. It was another lovely meal. I had eggs Florentine, and the others had equally delightful plates of food.

From there we went back upstairs so Dan and I could vote.

Yep. Vote.

Because we would be out of the country when ballots would be mailed we requested the overseas ballots and they had been sent to Greg and Jan’s. Greg delivered the morning after we first met up, but this morning was the first time we were really ready to fill things out. Then I walked them over to the post office, where it was £7 and change to get them sent. Now we just hope they arrive in time! (Only after we signed up to have these ballots mailed did we then get an email saying we could have actually printed ballots early at home and sent them. I sure wish we’d known about that earlier!)

We dropped by a store so Greg could get a hat (a nice Tilley), and soon it was back to our rooms to get our daypacks and start our walk.

The beginning of the walk took place on the road, and passed by a cemetery.

Soon we crossed the busy street and were on the path, which is much nicer to walk. It had sprinkled last night, but thankfully it wasn’t at all muddy. Unfortunately it was a bit muggy (and became muggier as the day progressed). The walk was quite scenic. It was also all downhill to begin with which was hard on someone who had a damaged toe. (Sorry, Greg! That is no fun, I know, having dealt with that myself. But you are so quiet about it. I would have complained and attempted to get a lot of sympathy!)

We reached a spot where there was, much to our surprise, a food truck. The woman had an espresso machine, as well as some goodies. We all ordered some form of coffee. How fun to run across this. In addition Dan, who had arrived there first, was conversing with a group of women. As it turned out (and I’m guessing that’s why I heard a big laugh from all of them as I walked toward them) they are from Los Gatos and Saratoga areas. One of them went to Monte Vista High School and certainly knew Lynbrook High — but they were probably ten years younger than I am. Once again, a small world.

We walked on through, mostly, meadows. I had read that there was a sign warning walkers about the possibility of a bull in a field, but we never did see one. I was ready, though, to use Dan and/or Greg as a shield so Jan and I could escape. That would have made one or both of them heroes, right?!

Then we entered the small village of Lower Slaughter.

At that point we were ready to have a seat for a while, so we stopped in at The Slaughter Country Inn for a light bite. As we sat clouds were rolling in and for a time we thought we might be in for a spot of rain, but it never did hit us.

From there we had the final leg of our short and gentle walk.

Now it’s Hello Bourton-on-the-Water! And hello major crowds. I had read it was the most crowded village, but I had no idea what the meant. It’s crazy and a bit of a shock. Our dinner reservation is just at a pub — nothing fancy as far as I can see — but I’m glad I made a reservation!

Our stay is at the Broadlands Hotel.

We have a slightly larger room than yesterday, but it’s pretty minimal. There is no place to hang towels, for instance, and luggage will have to opened on the floor or bed. But we shall survive, I’m sure. We stay here two nights and have transfers: the first is back to the hotel from tomorrow’s destination and the following day the transfer is at 9:30 in the morning, taking us to our starting point. Dan and I have learned to like these two day stays — it means we don’t have to wake up to pack tomorrow morning.

We both showered and did a bit of laundry. I’m happy I have my merino shirt: I washed it and about an hour later it was close to dry. That fabric really is rather amazing.

When we were all ready, we went out to walk a bit and went to the Co-op to look for a small bottle of laundry detergent (it wasn’t to be found). Then we headed back to make our 6:00 dinner reservation at Kingsbridge Inn.

We walked in to Kingsbridge pub and I told the man behind the bar that I had reservations. He said just to pick any table for four. Didn’t even ask my name. Hm. No reservations were needed at all. That was a surprise. We went outside to the patio there. All the tables were either occupied or very dirty. We weren’t impressed, but finally cleared a table ourselves and sat down. While at the bar we were told to order our dinners via our phones or else go up to the bar. We chose the former and placed our orders once we found things that were available: it seemed the majority of items were out of stock. Drinks were the same. But we managed to get our orders done and paid for (and then they give us the option of tipping them? For all the work we did. So strange. But yes, we tipped 5%.). A bit later Greg and Jan got their drinks (they ordered separately) and we sat and waited. Then a young man came up to tell me they were out of something I’d ordered but they could replace it with something else or refund me. Fine. Replace it. Eventually he returned again and said they were out of my drink so I had to choose something else. And after all that another man came and said the kitchen was too hot and they had to close it down. He said it was 60° centigrade. He said “no food”. I said we’d already ordered and paid and he said we should go to the bar to get a refund. Um. Okay. Greg went up and then the younger man came and said that yes, our food WAS coming. I quickly went to Greg since I thought he’d be asking for the refund (realizing too late I should have just let him do it and we could have left). But then our meals and drinks all came. With no silverware or napkins. I could go on and on about how crazy and poor the service was, but I’ll stop now and just say I’m sorry I chose that place.

After that debacle we really wanted to sit and relax elsewhere. We looked a bit nearby. We didn’t see anything there, but I did see the tallest lupine I’ve ever seen!

Then we found a lovely spot for some wine. The restaurant looked so nice. Earlier we had seen the place I’d reserved for tomorrow and thought it looked a bit questionable so I canceled that and made a reservation for this new place. I’m thinking tomorrow will be much nicer! We had a lovely time sitting under a fragrant tree with pretty pink blossoms (I think it’s a locust tree?).

Back to our hotel we went, and said our good nights. Tomorrow we have breakfast set for 8:30, so we’ll connect again then.

Oh … and it has been sprinkling a bit. I’m thankful it waited until we got back to our rooms.

Goodnight!

17,389 steps, 6.96 miles, 2 flights climbed (this last bit is surely inaccurate, as we climbed hotel stairs at least 4 times)

Wednesday, May 27 — Walk, Day One

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We woke rather early. Okay, Dan woke up first since he had his alarm set. My good ear was against the pillow so I didn’t hear a thing. I did wake up about fifteen minutes after his alarm went off, though, and that gave me plenty of time to pack.

This was to be the test day: will I be able to put everything into my suitcase that I don’t want to bring on the walk? I knew it would be a bit of a challenge.

In some places there is a service that will mail things back to your home if you want to dump some items. I wouldn’t mind at all if we could do that — it’s quite clear that both my wool hoodie and wool shacket will not be used for eh remainder of the trip. Had I been able to dump those I’d have plenty of room in my small carryon suitcase. Ah well! I just have to scrunch that doggone suitcase down to zip it shut. Dan has a bigger suitcase and it even expands, so he doesn’t have quite the challenge. (And yes, I can take some of my things, but I have this “I can take all my things myself” kind of pride going on.) The final “if” was whether I could fit my iPad in the suitcase.

Answer: Absolutely, positutely not!

So, hearing my mother’s voice, “You made your bed. Now lie in it.” I put the iPad in my daypack, figuring I could deal with that bit of extra weight. But Mr. Rescuer suggested he could fit it in his large suitcase, so I guess I don’t have to lie in my bed now. Nice!

After we packed we took our bags downstairs so the transfer company could pick them up and take them to the next locale. Then Greg, Jan, Dan, and I went to breakfast. And ate. Too. Much. Food.

Can we justify it due to a 7+ mile walk? Yes. I think we can! This first place we stayed, Manor House Hotel in Moreton-in-Marsh was incredibly nice. (And, odds are, nothing we could have afforded had we looked on our own.) What a great way to begin our walking holiday!

I neglected to take a single photo of our breakfast, but you’ll just have to believe me when I saw it was quite delicious. I had salmon and smashed avocado on toast, along with two poached eggs. The others ordered different things. All of us were quite satisfied.

Soon it was time to head out on our walk. I went out the door and went right.

Wrong.

I never have been good with north and south when in places other than my home town. But we did quickly figure things out and off we went. Jan took one very important photo, as you can see:

Thankfully the weather wasn’t quite so hot today, and there was a gentle breeze much of the time. We quickly moved from road to path.

Eventually we reached our first village, Longborough.

We went to St. James’ church, as I’d read about it, but I pulled on the handle and said it was locked. Um. Greg is smarter than I am: he turned that handle and we went inside.

I had read about a cafe/store, run by volunteers and we decided to stop in. Not that we were really hungry, but why not?! Three of us ordered cappuccinos and one had an espresso and chocolate croissant. As we sat a volunteer chatted with us a bit. He left, but returned shortly after, clearly enjoying chatting more than the work part. Greg asked where he was from since he clearly had a North American accent. Well, born Pennsylvania, but lived in Oakland. Heh. Okay then. Then he mentioned that he taught at Stanford so I asked him which department. Well gosh, music! He was in early music. What a world we live in!

We said our goodbyes (sadly neglecting to ask his name), and left Longborough.

At one point I lightly brushed against and evil plant. Stingweed or some such name. And just ouch. Even lightly brushing against it is unpleasant. Thankfully the sting didn’t last as long as it did some years back when I really got stung!

EVIL plant!

More walking. Frequently we ran across sheep, cows, and some horses. Such beautiful country! There were a few climbs, but nothing like we did on our other two walks. Still, we are a bit older now, so there’s that!

We continued the walk including going through the small village of Donnington, but it was a quick place to pass through.

And then we got to Broadwell, which is where I had suggested, in a write-up I made about each day, we get lunch. First we visited the church that I’d also read about, and then hit the Fox Inn. We actually weren’t all that hungry, so we got some bar bites and two of us had Donnington BB beer and two of us had Old Rosie cider (even though we are ever so young). It was just nice to sit and relax. Oh, and as I ordered our ciders the bartender said that those would help us get up the hill. Hm. Who knew we had another hill to go up?

From there it was the last stretch to our final destination for the day. On we walked.

And then there we were: hello Stow on the Wold! But what a sad photo that is below — it really is much more charming than that.

But we all were a bit weary and since I was having difficulty finding our lodging I didn’t take any other photos, but we did find it and we did get up to our somewhat small rooms. UP meaning we had to lug our luggage (gee, lug and luggage must be related, right?) up a flight of stairs. That IS one issue with these walks: so many place won’t have lifts and they won’t take our luggage up to our rooms for us. (Another good reason for backpacks, really.) But we did it, and then we showered and rested a bit.

Oh … and where we are staying? It’s called Sheep on Sheep Street. And guess what street it’s on? Yep. So we are staying at Sheep on Sheep Street on Sheep on Sheep Street.

We had agreed to meet up with Jan and Greg again at 5:30 to have a look at the village and then make our 6:00 dinner appointment. I had made reservations at “The Porch”. I did see our lodging also had a dining room so I thought I’d look to see what they had as well. Hm. Both places had the same photos of food. How curious is that? (Later, after our meal, we looked again at our place and, sure enough, they had a kitchen, so we never did figure out why some food selections were identical and others not. It will forever remain a mystery. As so many things in the Cotswolds are … I mean … we’ve seen those shows. We know about all the murders. In fact, I’m sure I’d be great at solving crimes around here.)

But back to what we did. First we went downstairs and when the person at reception heard that I’d already made reservations for dinner and, in fact, had made them for every night we are here she said something about me being a genius. Or perhaps I’m exaggerating. But I know she was impressed. (And to remind everyone, including the three I’m walking with, I’m not a control freak or anything close to that!)

We headed outside and saw where we’d have our dinner. Then we went toward a church, but first there was this “ture”. Something I’d never heard of before!

Then we headed to a church that had an image that JRR Tolkien is said to have in mind when he wrote the LOTR trilogy. Jan shot a photo for me. We shot one for Jan and Greg. I think we are having fun!

Then we walked back to The Porch for dinner.

Finally I didn’t order something too heavy. I also didn’t take a single photo of our meal although I did manage to shoot a sweet photo of Jan and Greg. But because I know you are dying to know, Jan and I had a salad with three (somewhat overcooked) falafels along with other yummy things. It was quite refreshing. Greg and salmon and Dan had a Caesar salad if I’m remembering correctly. My meal was just perfect!

It is so wonderful to share this week with Greg and Jan and my heart is full!

After dinner we opted to go straight back to our hotel (if that’s what you call this — I’m not sure what is a hotel, what is a B&B, and what is an inn at this point) and shared a bottle of wine with Greg and Jan in their room (thanks G&J!).

We agreed to meet around 8:30 since that’s when our luggage is to be downstairs. We have a much shorter walk tomorrow so we can really take our time.

Goodnight!

22,000 steps, 8.72 miles, 8 flights climbed

Monday, May 25

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The morning began in the morning. Kind of like usual. Dan actually woke before me and while I said I was really awake even though I didn’t say anything after my “good morning” he said I was making “sleeping noises” so I guess I dozed on and off. Since I would never snore I’m sure my sleeping noises were some sort of musical sounds or something.

When I finally did actually get out of bed, and made my coffee, I suggested a plan for today, which I had plotted out when I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night. He said, “I see you have a plan,” or some such thing, but I said, “No. I have a plot.” Sometimes I can be comedically annoying. Go figure.

I also commented on meeting up with some dear people tomorrow and he and I both kind of marveled at the time passing. Stay tuned for who we meet! (Okay, probably half of my four or so readers already know. Heh.)

Finally ready to go, after showering and putting things away, out we went.

First we walked back up to the cathedral we saw from the outside yesterday. A young man working there gave us tons of information and, had we the time and energy, probably would have given us a full tour. He sure knew his stuff. Turns out the outside of the cathedral is quite grand, but the inside never did get fully completed. It was, he said, all built due to the architect’s ego. Also it was to show the Catholics just how grand the Anglicans were. Ah, the lovely conflicts. It was interesting to see so many organ pipes right on the main floor. (I know he was telling someone else about just why and I heard, “It’s embarrassing…”. No clue why, but I guess they had to put them there.)

Again, just as we did yesterday, we went to Elizabeth Fort. We didn’t spend a ton of time there (it seems more geared toward kids), and I was NOT at all fooled by the men I saw. Not one real guy there, although the one being punished in the stocks looked life-like. The views of the city were nice to see.

We walked some more …

… and passed by the Counting House as we went further. So I said, “The king is in the counting house, counting out his money.” For the life of me I couldn’t remember the whole thing, though. (And yes, I had to look it up when we got back to our room. It quickly came back, tune and all.) They are working on the place, so we couldn’t get all that close.

Then, finally, we went to the English market. Full of booths, a few with knick-knacks and such, but more of meats, fish, cheeses, fruits and veggies, and more. We walked through nearly all of it.

Eventually we stopped at a sandwich and salad spot to buy what turned out to be lunch, even while we had planned on late breakfast. And gee, we remembered this time to share a sandwich. Miracles do happen! (This photo makes the sandwich look so small. It really wasn’t this tiny!)

From there we headed to the Church of St. Anne. We had a bit of a walk, including a spot where we had to quickly cross a street to avoid a man who was clearly out of it. Mostly I was thankful his pants, which were falling down, had yet to expose anything I’d not want to see, but I suspect that happened shortly after.

That brings me to a bit about the problems in each of the places we’ve been here. Yes, there are homeless. In some areas quite a few. In Dublin we walked by a woman with a number of scabs on her face, and I saw that she was shooting up, and groups of men who looked pretty bad. When stores close some homeless will take up a spot where they can sleep. It’s so sad to see, and I don’t like to write much about this darker side, but it’s there. Poverty is here. But then walking around San Francisco we see much the same. It’s everywhere.

Okay … back to the church. We walked further and we had a good climb up some stairs. As we climbed we’d walk past houses. The people who live in those places surely must be in very good physical condition!

But St. Anne’s … well … we walked by it, but it just didn’t look like a place we wanted to bother with. We’ve already been in a number of churches, so we passed it by.

Next on the “plot” of the day was the Fitzgerald park. It was a bit over a mile away. So off we went in that direction. What did I know about the park? Really nothing. I’d just read it was a place to visit.

When we arrived we heard and finally saw that a cricket game was happening. A very nice young man explained a bit of the game to us. I managed to comprehend some of it, but I sure couldn’t explain it well if you asked me!

We walked only a short while in the park. At the start of our walk we heard a woman on a loudspeaker of some sort nearby. We finally heard more clearly and there was a school by the park. The children were having races. Cute. Too bad we could only hear but not see them. We continued our walk in the park for a bit. I shot photos of the bird because I’d not seen one like that before. Looks rather crow-like, but the gray made me assume it was something else …?

We realized perhaps today would be a good day to head back to the hotel, take a rest, catch up on writing and downloading photos (the latter for Dan: I always wait until I get home), and just relax. I also started planning just how to pack things up: it has now gotten quite warm, and the remainder of our trip will probably continue with that trend. I have to figure out how to squeeze my warm “shacket” and sweater into the suitcase, along with my warmer pants. It’ll be a challenge, but I have no choice but to make it all work.

After that bit of time in our room I, as usual, became restless. I’m not very good at sitting around. Dan asked if I wanted to get out and walk a bit and of course he already knew my answer, I’m sure. While we had been relaxing I had also looked up pubs that have the “trad” Irish music sessions (trad for “traditional). I found a few and entered them on to my Google map.

Side note: Ah, Google Maps. Sigh. I plot things out, they work. But suddenly they disappear. I’m not sure why. I guess I’m probably doing something wrong, but ugh. We tried Apple Maps on our phones but haven’t managed to get more than one destination on them. I’m sure there’s a way, but so far we’ve not managed to figure it out!

So out we went, across the river once more (it’s the only way to go anywhere from our hotel. The first place we saw was a no-go. Just wasn’t right. The second place we passed wasn’t on my list and I saw no reviews, but at least we knew we would hear Irish music and they had food. Still, I’d rather go to some place that was recommended. We passed some interesting places, though.

Shortly after that we went to the The Oval pub. Such a cool place. They have several “snugs” — little rooms like the two we found in Dublin (at least I think it was Dublin — everything seems to run together after a while). Those little rooms are perfect for those of us who can’t hear well. I had a little beer and Dan had a larger one. As I told him, “Those bubbles fill me up!”

Then more pub hunting. While at The Oval we saw a pamphlet that listed other pubs that had music and one was a place I had already put on my list, so off we went, to “Sin é”. Now about that name. I read that it means “That’s it” and it’s so named because right next door is a funeral parlor. Hah! Well, it looked fine, but had no food and the music didn’t begin for a while. So on we wandered.

Then we found a restaurant. Not Irish. The man we spoke with (the owner perhaps?) was so friendly, and explained that they served tapas in a Latin American style. (Later we learned he was born in Algeria but grew up in France. Just the friendliest man.) We looked over the menu, and said we’d like to eat there. We ordered some mini ceviche tostadas, some guacamole, and a chicken and rice dish. Absolutely delicious. For desert we opted for a bit of decadence. (Who … US??) That was fabulous as well.

After dining there we headed back to Sin é. Some musicians were in the back playing. I couldn’t see them, but could hear them. We squeezed in and Dan ordered our zero zero beers (we are so well behaved sometimes) and we sat down at the first free table. The place was crazy! Things all over the walls and ceiling. It was fun to hear the musicians — it seemed that they frequently took turns doing whatever they wanted to do. There was a fiddle player (at least one), guitar (he sang as well), some sort of squeezebox, and I’m not sure what else. I did some recordings. Of course people talk throughout, but so it goes. It was interesting with the final recording, though: people suddenly got very quiet.

Well, that’s a wrap for now. I’m beat! Tomorrow is another moving day, and we have one flight and two trains to take.

Goodnight!

Stats
17,251 steps, 7.02 miles, 6 flights climbed

Sunday, March 24

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Today began with hotel coffee since they had a Nespresso machine and that coffee isn’t too bad. We’ve avoided all the little packets of freeze dried (at least I’m assuming it’s freeze dried), but Nespresso will do. I’ve yet to figure out the kinds of coffee though: there were three colors and none were labeled (so Dan can’t figure out if any are decaf). After getting dressed (for me) it was just waiting until Dan was also ready so we could head on out.

Our first destination, or so we thought, was to be Elizabeth Fort. It wasn’t open to enter, we knew, but we at least wanted to walk by. So off we went, taking some photos as we walked, Dan with his Fuji and me with the iPhone for the moment.

We managed to get sidetracked — no surprise — when we saw this church, St. Finn Barre’s. We shot from the outside, as the gate was closed, but soon a man came up with a key. I suspect opening to get ready for the service. But he said, “Let me open it for you.”

Do you see the gold angel (perhaps easiest to see in the fourth photo)? Apparently the architect of the church, William Burgess, put it there and the legend is that if it should ever fall the world will end.

From there we continued on our way to the fort. I saw the organist’s house and the choristers’ house, but I couldn’t find the oboist’s house. Strange.

Some of the photos of a wall above are from the fort. I neglected to take a photo of the entrance. Oops!

Our next destination was a good walk away. For the first time on this trip I was actually getting too warm while walking. Where did that sun come from?! But on we walked.

I saw a fork in the road but I didn’t take it.

And then we arrived: this was the Marina Market. I thought perhaps it was a market that would have, oh, you know … things that are in a market. Veggies. Fruits. Meats. But no, it wasn’t that kind of market. The area around this is run down, with lots of vacant buildings, broken windows and all. I think they are attempting to change the area. (One building is going to be housing with 25 stories and it’s so strange as they are starting by building two extremely tall — gee, maybe 25 stories tall! — skinny structures, but the photos show a more normal looking building. I should have taken a photo of what is to be the finished structure, but of course I neglected to do so. Oh well.)

But I ramble. Back to the Market. As we started to get close I saw a little girl carrying a tiny violin case. When we reached the entrance of the market I saw why: there was to be a Suzuki performance there. Sweet!

The entrance:

When we entered the building we saw a large number of food options so we toured the entire building in order to search for our first meal of the day.

We settled on a place and while Dan ordered our breakfasts I headed to the coffee spot and ordered our coffees. It took a while to get our food, but oh dear … SO MUCH FOOD! Here I thought today would be a day on which to be responsible. Never mind. I opted for the vegetarian meal and Dan went for the meat. We should have ordered one meal and shared and had we known how much would be in our “breakfast box” we would have. Too late to do that, though. And no, I couldn’t finish. Nor could Dan.

After we ate we walked by the Suzuki concert. I shot only a very short bit. But so doggone sweet to see all those young musicians!

After our meal we ventured back out, ready to walk to our next destination: the train station.

We bought our tickets for a 25 minute or so round trip, and also purchased tickets for a tour at our next destination, and shortly after boarded the train and headed out.

And hello Midleton! We had another mile or so walk then. Since we were early for our tour we looked at a few other things in the village. Every village we’ve been in, be it Ireland or Scotland, always has memorials to the war or wars.

And then it was time for our Jameson Whiskey Tour! We of course had to go to the distillery since they clearly named it after our youngest! Heh. Or not. We hung out for a bit, shopped a little, and finally the tour began. It was really very informative and I enjoyed it. It ended with a sampling of three high end whiskeys. My only complaints about the tasting: it was rather rushed and they didn’t have the little bottles that Talisker had so if you couldn’t finish your whiskey (and who could in that short time?) you just had to leave it behind. Too bad! From there we were taken to another spot where they gave us a final drink. Dan and I opted for the whiskey with lime and tonic water (at least we think it was tonic water). Yum!

Do you see the wings above? That’s representing the “angels’ share” of whiskey. As it ages it evaporates and they say they it rises up and the angels get it. The longer it ages the less whiskey you get from a cask, which can explain why older whiskies cost so much. I also showed a photo of the final whiskey we could sample. It is €240 a bottle! It could only be purchased there, I believe, and no, we didn’t buy a bottle.

When the tour was finished we started our walk back to the train station.

We had about twenty minutes to wait. I was fine with that, as I was quite tired of standing. Then on to the train we went.

I wish I’d taken a photo of the tons of people (most in red shirts that resemble soccer shirts in the states) who were getting on to the train. Wow! BUT as we walked back to find dinner (as if we needed food) there were absolute masses of sports fans. We had noticed some when we were at the Marina Market in the morning and since so many were young children we assumed it was a sports event for children. Nope. It was Cork versus Clare.

But what were they playing? Well, I had to look it up and here’s the answer I received:

Cork defeated Clare by 1-30 to 1-14 in Round 5 of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship on Sunday May 24th at Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

So now you know.

As we looked for dinner we continued to run into crowds of people. Some were walking to who knows where, some were at bus stops, and many were at various drinking establishments. Most were in the red and white shirts, Cork’s colors. Clare’s colors are saffron and blue (as I later looked up to verify) and I did see a few of those, and one little boy looked rather dejected as he was walking. Poor guy! I wish I’d gotten a good photo of the crowds, but honestly it was hard to get through some areas so I could only grab this one after we made our way through.

We were searching for a place with room for us, so we could grab a bite. We went into one place, thinking it might work for dinner, but the noise was deafening. Thankfully we did find a place called The Raven (looked like no Cork fans were there) and we ordered, surprise, surprise, far too much food. I think I need a fasting day! I had a shrimp sandwich and Dan had chicken. HOW he managed to eat that huge thing is a wonder, don’t you think?

From there we walked back to the hotel. A bit of laundry was done, and I got this entry typed up. What a long and full day it’s been!

Yawn. Time for sleep!

Oh …
21,582 steps, 8.59 miles, 1 flight climbed

Saturday, May 23 — Moving Day

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We were quite lazy this morning: we didn’t wake until a few minutes after 8:00! But today is moving day so there’s really no need to rush.

I showered and packed, and then we went downstairs to have some coffee. We rarely purchase breakfast at these places — €15 per person just seems ridiculous! So instead we went to the bar area because Dan had seen a woman with coffee the afternoon before, and we did see an espresso machine there. No one was in the room so we wondered if we’d have to venture out when a man came from the kitchen. We asked if we could just get coffee and maybe a bite and he said he could bring croissants from the breakfast room and yes, he could make my cappuccino and Dan’s espresso. When he came back with four miniature croissants, butter and jam, and proceeded to make our coffees. Perfect! We sat around a bit, and when it was time to pay Dan again had to wait for someone to notice us. A woman finally came into the room and we found out that the croissants were free and we only had to pay for coffee. Can’t argue with that.

She talked a bit to us about the weather. (Turns out she lived in New York for something like seventeen years.) She said the weather they have been having was colder and wetter than usual. We noticed that, finally, the weather looked quite nice and she agreed. Of course we were leaving so it didn’t matter a whole lot to us! (Side note: and yesterday when we were buying our baseball caps the young woman at the register said she had majored in meteorology and it didn’t do her much good with figuring out the weather!)

Going back up to our room after our little breakfast we collected our things, checked the room carefully as we always do, and checked out. We walked in the direction of the “coach station” (bus station to us). Every time we head out of an area it seems I feel as if we missed a lot, but of course it’s impossible to see it all. So it goes.

Partway there popped into a little store to purchase a sandwich for the bus. Arriving at the station we spotted our door and sat nearby.

I had read that we must be at the station ten minutes ahead of departure time but we were about thirty minutes ahead. My kind of timing! We didn’t have to sit for long, as the bus arrived rather soon after we got situated. I had mentioned to Dan that we get no reserved seats on a bus, so I wanted to get on as early as possible. We did, in fact, get in so soon we could easily sit together and find seats toward the front. Lesson: never just arrive at the last minute — some groups of people had to sit separately and I could see they were caught by surprise.

The bus itself was clean, but the seats weren’t terribly comfortable: they were too upright and there was no way to recline them, and anyone of any girth would probably need to buy two seats! They said they had outlets but they were underneath our seats and nearly impossible reach unless one of us stood and the other got down rather low to plug things in. No issue for us since we had fully charged everything, but I do wonder why they hadn’t thought to put them in front of the seats rather than underneath.

There were rules that I had read (although my confirmation didn’t state any of them and I wonder how many people go online to read them). No drugs, do alcohol, no smoking or vaping, no weapons. Well, okay, I guess we can deal, but what to do with my lightsaber?! We were also not to have “odorous” food. We dealt with that too. We are so obedient.

Almost precisely at 11:30 we left the station. Goodbye Galway! (Although we did one other stop in Galway to pick up more passengers.) The ride was fine. Three hours of “fine”. One thing of note was that people on the bus were much quieter than people on most trains we’ve been on. Curious.

I took iPhone shots as we went. The colors are off since the windows are tinted.

There was a quick stop in Limerick as well. No time to get off the bus, though.

Off we drove. Well okay, I did no driving. Off we sat …

… and then we arrived at our final Ireland destination.

Hello Cork!

We went out in search of a taxi as the walk to the hotel would be over and mile. With backpacks that wouldn’t be an issue, but these roller bags make it less pleasant. The lay of the land — or at least the roads — was odd and the driver had to go a round about way, but I knew that would be the case having checked the map earlier.

Our hotel didn’t have our room ready when we arrived, so we hung out in their lounge for about 30 minutes. No biggie.

In 30 minutes it was, in fact, ready, so we headed up. The room is a good size, with one of those not-quite-king beds. At the little coffee station were two pieces of chocolate which was, well, sweet. (Yep, still imaginative here.)

(The last photo above is from our room’s window.)

But then I saw a box of five little chocolates. Hmm. How nice of them to give us even more chocolate! And then I saw the card … and that was even more fun to read.

We did a bit of in-hotel-room laundry, and then we decided what to do with the remainder of the day. Answer: wander around a bit. Duh.

So off we went, just a random walk.

When dinner was desired we just opted to go in to a restaurant for no particular reason other than it looked like it would do. I had prawn curry and Dan had a chicken burger of some sort. Having forgotten to take a photo yet again, I just quickly shot this silly thing. Why? So I can go back if necessary to remind myself of what we had that night. Why? Because occasionally Dan and I reminisce about a trip and we start naming our meals. Why?

Because.

On our walk back to the hotel we clearly fit it so well with everyone wander about. I’m sure people thought we were locals. After all, most of those out and about were probably college age. Like us. Um. Many years ago.

But seriously, I was surprised by the huge number of younger people wandering about. Not quite as surprised by how so many were in summer clothing even though I was in my wool Shacket , though. I’m sure low 60°s here is just fine for summer clothing for them. Me? No, not so much.

Now we are back in our room, and I guess we might want to make plans for tomorrow.

Ciao for now!

Update: Forgot to post the pathetic stats for today.
7,713 steps, 3.12 miles, 0 flights climbed

Friday, May 22

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About that power outage: it’s fine now, but it did last a while. I’ll have to check and see just how long, since we may end up tossing anything in the freezer. Apparently a damaged semi truck was near a power pole and if it had overturned there would have been a bigger issue, so PG&E opted to shut off power until things were resolved. Or so I’ve read.

We had no specific plans for today other than walking to Salt Hill, which I’d read was a nice walk. There were a few other things we might fit in, but nothing like a tour or museum. So it was to be a relaxed day.

I had read a blog by a woman who fell in love with Galway and said she would be happy to move here. So far Dan and I aren’t feeling that, though. The Latin Quarter is fun but clearly a tourist area. Maybe today would be the day we find out what she’s writing about …?

First, though, coffee. Of course. But look … no sweet roll this time! I had no idea my bagel would be so huge, and who knew crisps were served at breakfast?

Once we finished our breakfast we went toward the Latin Quarter: Dan had seen a cap yesterday he wanted to buy, and I had decided I needed a lighter cap for days when it isn’t cold. Rumor has it we will encounter warmer weather quite soon. My hat was found and gosh, for only a bit more € we could get two so Dan opted for a baseball cap as well. Here I am with my new Guinness hat. (I had to show the back as well, since I do love the harp logo.)

We continued on our way to the place where Dan could buy his linen hat as well. The funny thing is that he now has SIX hats with him: his Mucros wool cap, the new linen Mucros cap, a rain cap, a trail hat, beanie, and his new Guinness baseball cap. Me? I “only” have three: my new Guinness baseball cap, my rain cap, and my little hot pink beanie. (Yeah, really — I’m NOT a pink person, but it came as a free bonus from Woolx.)

Here is Dan modeling just three of his six hats!

Then it was on to find the way to Salt Hill. As we neared that path we saw a lot of booths set up so we wandered a bit. There was one cool stand that had faux leather items made from cork and I was tempted by the keychain. Then Dan said, “Do you have any keys?!” Heh. Well, aside from a mail key I don’t even use keys, so never mind.

While we were there we saw a huge dog. I’m not an animal person, really, but this dog was so sweet … and huge! The people were quite friendly as well.

We found our way to the “long walk” (which is what the walk to Salt Hill is called I guess), and headed out. I won’t write a ton, but I will show photos of things we saw on the way.

We arrived at Salt Hill, seeing the place (from a distance) we might have opted to stay, and while it would have been less expensive we did think where we are is more central and better.

Then it was time to turn around and head back.

We opted to go a slightly faster way, and eventually landed at a place to buy a little bite to take back to our room. I had what was sort of like a pasty, but not quite, of mushroom and sauerkraut, and Dan’s was mushroom and cheese. They were small but tasty.

After a brief respite (is there any other kind of respite?) it was time to go back out. Since we missed out on the live music yesterday, we planned on getting somewhere early enough to grab a spot where we just might hear and see the musicians.

We walked back to the Latin Quarter, looking for the place Dan remembered. Or did he? I guess we’ll never know for sure! He thought he saw something that said music began at 3:00, but we sure couldn’t find it. He also had read about a place that had two floors and we weren’t sure about that either. We did get to see some buskers, as well as a bride and party parading down the street which was kind of fun. (We weren’t sure if we were seeing the father of the bride or the groom … heh … funny how one can’t always tell!)

Eventually we went to a spot to have a couple of “zero zeros” to begin our little adventure.

From there we continued to search, and finally went into a spot that already had musicians playing. I’m not sure how “Irish” all the music was, but it was fun to hear them.

That group of musicians left and another was setting up, but we were planning on heading back out. BUT … well … then were heard what I think were uilleann pipes. That kind of caught our attention. I saw the guy who was playing that then pull out a few recorder-like instruments (Irish whistle?) and we had to stay a bit longer to listen. (Sound is probably bad and too loud so maybe turn the sound down!)

It was fun to hear them. Loud, though!

But then they played “Folsom Prison” and moved on to more contemporary music. I heard a guy nearby saying, “That isn’t Irish!” Heh. No kidding. And it was just too loud, so we then left.

Then it was time to search for actual dinner. We walked almost all the way to our hotel when we found a place that looked like it would do. And it did. Except … there was a group of what appeared to be students (two young men and maybe four or five young women) and an older man who we figured was their professor. Oh. My. Goodness. He was loud. He was annoying. And one of the young women was playing up to him and he had his arm around her. He was clearly drinking a lot. It was pretty darn sad and frustrating to see what was going on.

Okay, enough of my whining. For now.

I had a nice seafood chowder and Dan did the turkey roast thing. It was tasty and, for me, just a nice, smaller meal. I need to do more of those! The place was interesting and I wish I’d thought to take photos, but all I got was the ceiling. Ah well!

Back in our room I am finishing up this entry and then it will soon be sleepy time. Tomorrow we have our one and only bus ride to our next destination. We’ll see how that goes!

Goodnight!

Update:
19,484 steps, 7.79 miles, 0 flights climbed