Category Archives: Walking Holiday

Tuesday, June 2 — Walk, Day Seven

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I woke several times last night and heard rain. Rain at night is allowed, although not appreciated greatly since we might end up walking through mud. Perhaps, though, we’ll avoid a lot of rain today which is not what the forecast had suggested earlier on.

Looking out one window I could see sheep in the distance, but that wasn’t any surprise since I could hear them.


Speaking of hearing, I forgot to mention a funny one from yesterday. As we were nearing the village we were going down a gentle slope. To my right was a bit of meadow and what looked like a forest. To my left was a wall of shrubs. I heard loud baa-ing. On my left. I looked and looked. No sheep! Jan must have figured out what was going on and I heard her (she was behind me) say, “They’re to your left.” DUH. I have to hearing in my left ear and hearing them in my right ear didn’t mean they had to be my right! But the most interesting bit is a bit later, as we were still on the path but there was a road to our left I heard motorcycles. Now where do you think I looked? To my left, of course! I even thought I heard them on my left. Because motorcycles couldn’t possibly be to my right. The brain knows!

Now back to today.

You might be shocked and amazed that we packed and lugged our bags down two flights of stairs. Great fun was had. Then it was time for breakfast.

We all enjoyed nice breakfasts, getting more food than we of course needed. But isn’t that what happens on vacations? Seems so. The photo below shows Dan. Most likely he’s meditating over a cup of coffee. You also see my slice of toast and I’ll just pretend that’s all I ate.

Then it was a quick trip back up to our rooms, with a quick shot up a lovely staircase (that we didn’t take), and we met up again to start our walk.

The walk began easily, as we said goodbye to Chipping Campden and got on to our route..

We soon left the road and marched on. Or ambled. You choose. Some of the sheep yesterday and today look rather naked, as they’d been shorn.

Above Chipping Campden is Broad Campden. The Quaker meeting house you can see in one photo has been used in the Father Brown series.

We were told to turn left at the Bakers Arms pub. At that point Jan and I were walking together. We saw one path but it was before the pub so we walked past to the next left and went there. Well, my phone was NOT at all happy with me and let me know. Oops. We were supposed to take the other left. So back we went.

We saw we were again on The Monarch’s Way. When I first saw a sign for The Monarch’s Way I thought they were talking about butterflies. Yes. Really. But never mind.

We continued our walk through lovely areas, through sheep areas (we have to do some “poop dodging” in those) and more. The clouds did look ominous at times. (But I think the gifts the sheep leave are more ominous!)

I sort of got off track one other time: we are the red line. We are supposed to follow the blue. I really just think we are more creative is all. (I suspect you have to click on this image to really understand what I’m writing about!)

More walking, more beautiful views, more fun with Jan! Oh, and more grain.’

Then we reached the village of Blockley.

Don’t know the place? Well, you might know it as Kembleford. As in Father Brown. We arrived there, not remembering the Father Brown bit. We went to a little store to buy some lunch and as we exited the store the rain came down. Right next door was a cafe and Jan and I went in to order cappuccinos and I asked if we could eat our sandwiches there. The young woman said normally no, but their oven wasn’t working (or something like that) and if we were discreet they’d allow it. So we very discreetly ate the sandwich (we shared because we are learning that we often could just share things rather than eat too much) and drank our coffee. Later Dan arrived and had an espresso and cake, so I wasn’t feeling quite so bad about our eating our sandwich. When we left the cafe we had a look at the church used in Father Brown. Because Jan and I put on our rain jackets the rain stopped.

Then on we went, past Blockley, through meadows, past cows, down paths and trees, through some rather narrow spots, and we did have another climb. (We had one earlier in the day but nothing like yesterday.) It’s nearly impossible to really show you how high we’d climbed, but if you can see a village below us in some of these photos, that’s Blockley again and we are high above it!

Now I must say there were many moments we had to concentrate very hard on where we stepped, in order to dodge things that must be dodged. We also had to be cautious about sting weed and the thorns on various plants. But we soldiered on bravely. (At one point, though, I did have Jan grab the poles from my pack and we each took one … it was so helpful to have both to help us climb and to assist in pushing back prickly plants.)

I can’t remember exactly when the rain began, but it rained. And it was somewhat significant. We stood under some trees for a time. Earlier we had heard thunder and wondered if we’d get dumped on. After a while someone who is impatient (me) decided to go on while Mr. Patience (Dan) waited a bit more. Jan was with me and, really, I think we were right to go on. But Dan later mentioned perhaps with the possibility of lightning we might have been smart to wait. But hey, I’m here, right?

The sheep here are much bolder than the shy Scotland sheep we saw. We even seemed to have welcoming committees sometimes.

The walk continues. The dodging continued as well.

And THEN … the worst of all. Mud. Mucky mud. By the time we got through the field of mud my shoes were caked and so much heavier. I’m hoping that means I get extra points: it’s like weight lifting, really. Jan took a photo of my lovely shoes. (I attempted to pull my pants legs up a bit so we could really see the damage. Honestly, though, it was worse than these photos show, I think!)

From there we were very close to our final (can you hear me sighing and even crying a bit?) destination of the walk.

Hello again, Moreton-in-Marsh!

We are back in the hotel we stayed in when we arrived here, but no deluxe room this time.

Shortly after getting in our room we met up with Greg and Jan for a celebratory drink. I took photos as we went down the stairs. The many, many stairs. But that really doesn’t do them justice! (I think I counted 28 steps up, and then, for Dan and me, 4 down to get to our room.)


But your SHOES, you ask? Did you really walk into the hotel and then go to the bar with those SHOES? No. I didn’t. I’ve been taught by the master here (hi Dan) that a puddle, especially a puddle with rocks below, is a great way to clean off filthy shoes. I had also used my poles to knock off a lot of the mud. By the time we got to the hotel the shoes were nearly presentable. After drinks, when I got to our room I used some wipes to clean them off nearly completely. I was happy to have them clean, and even happier to have shower time to get me clean!

We had dinner at the hotel and the meal was lovely. Greg and Jan had some risotto, Dan had chicken, and I had trout. All tasty!

We had a little after dinner drink and called it a night.

While we went back upstairs I took a video: this hotel has a lot of twists and turns. I’m guessing I could easily get lost. I’m not sure the video will really show that, though.

Tomorrow we move on. Time is passing by far too quickly and I just want it all to slow down, but I guess I’m not in control of time. I should be, but I’m not. Ah well.

Goodnight and stay tuned for the next adventure!

21,457 steps, 8.32 miles, 17 flights climbed

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

Walking Done … But Not Really

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We woke, did some packing, and went to have breakfast. It’s the first place where all guests sat at the same table. A day or so ago we saw a young woman with a t-shirt that said “California 1991” so we asked if she was from California and she said no, she was from Scotland and bought the t-shirt at a store there. We asked where in Scotland and she said near Inverness and so we mentioned the Great Glen Way walk we took. Then she got more specific with her home because she knew we would have passed right through it: she (and her travel companion) are in Drumnadrochit! We talked about where we ate and of course they knew the places. Small world.

After breakfast we finished our packing, and took our bags up for the bag pick-up, had another cup of coffee, and enjoyed the view one last time.

I took a quick photo of our lodging, and then we walked in the village a bit, just to check it out.

Then it was time to do the descent back to Pinhão. Plus a few climbs just to make it more fun, I guess. The way we went, using the app, was certainly not the fastest way down, but I think the plan was for us to be able to really see more views and a couple of the wineries as well. It was a pleasant walk.

On our way down, very close to Pinhåo, a dog seemed to want to guide us. It was pretty funny … if we stopped he’d wait. Eventually he did go his own way. (Later on we were sitting with Patrizia, Rudy, Peter, and Judith — the latter being people we’d seen but only actually met while sitting together. They, too, were from Switzerland. Turns out the dog also did the same for Peter and Judith! Funny.)

And then the walk ended. But as I titled this entry, “not really” … because of course we will walk every day in every city!

When we reached Pinhão we went to the train station.

We were told our luggage would be at “the house in front of the train station.” Curiously, we saw no house. Before worrying much about that we went inside the station to talk to the man selling tickets. Why? Because the strike is still on, of course! (Because of the strike we did have the insurance of bus tickets which, funnily enough, were more expensive than the train.) He said yes, the train was running. So far. Kind of shrugged and said something about the strike. Earlier, because of the potential of no train, we had opted to get a ride (with Patrizia and Rudy) to Régua because that’s where the bus would depart, so we did plan on doing that in any case. At that point we did see Patrizia and Rudy and they, too, were wondering about luggage. Shortly after that, though, our luggage transport guy drove by and while driving told us not to worry or some such thing. Turns out HE had the luggage in his taxi and he would be the one to drive us to Régua. Okay then.

So off we went. He drove pretty crazily, but we are still alive so whatever.

Getting to the train station in Régua, we sat with the other four new found friends, had some beer, and just enjoyed on another’s company. It was a lovely time.

Then … ta-da!!! … the train showed up. A noisy old thing, but it was a train and it got us to the Campanhã station in Porto. We then jumped on another train to get us to Sao Bento, a really beautiful train station …

… and opted to get ourselves to our hotel without taking a taxi. Not a problem, really, but it was downhill so I’m pretty sure we’ll take a car back to the train station when we leave this city!

Our hotel is fairly new and quite nice.

Below is us a fairly busy street so I’ll be interested to see how the noise is tonight. We have a nice view of some buildings across the street, though.

After we got settled in we went down for our free “welcome port” which was nice …

… and then we went in search of dinner. The first place Dan read about had quite the line, so that was a no. Then we went to an area we ate at the last time we were here but nothing seemed to have room. (Later we could hear music blasting from that street, so we were rather glad not to be there.) Finally I opened up The Fork (like Open Table) and I just searched for restaurants near us and we found a place. It was nice, and we were the only ones eating inside for quite a while. I was surprised so many were eating outside, as it was quite chilly.

We are now back in our room, and I will quickly try to upload photos because I’m rather tired. I think finishing our walking holiday just sort of zapped me. Tomorrow, though, I’m sure my energy will be back, and we are looking forward to more time in Porto.

Ciao!

The Last of the Longer Days

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… and only one day to go. This really has flown by!

I’ll add all the technical info later, as well as add some photos and videos if possible, since some didn’t load. Photos are loading slowly because I somehow hit the raw option. I’ll fix the photos when I get home … and probably add the other info then as well. I don’t want to spend time on this right now!

Today began with packing our bags as much as possible (saving teeth brushing for after our meal) that are to be transported to our next and final location. We went down to have breakfast (I’m so uncreative I have the same thing every day, it seems!) and pick up our bagged lunches. I suspect the hotel is having difficult getting certain supplies because the fruit we requested turned into a juice box! We both just left those in the room when we checked out.

We had looked out the window a number of times and it appeared to be raining, so rain jackets were donned and we started on our way. The first part of the journey was backtracking from the day we arrived in Alijo. I’ve noticed, though, that when I do a route in an opposite direction I frequently see new things, so I have no complaints about that. I’m sorry I didn’t get great photos of the village, but I can’t manage to take photos of it all, I guess!

Dan checked in with the navigation app, making sure he had the correct day loaded up. And of course he did.

We began with a fair amount of uphill, so we could look down on Alijo.

Reaching a level spot we ambled along and I heard a cuckoo. I just love those birds.

I’ve neglected to write about the gorse. We were told long pants were a good idea — that the plant can really do a number on one’s legs. Since I never wear shorts that wasn’t even an issue, but when I saw the thing (which I believe we’ve seen every day and few days it was everywhere) I could understand the long pants suggestion!

Since it was raining quite a bit yesterday we had a lot of mud encounters. (Later on another couple on the walk passed us and the woman said, “I hate mud!” I understand completely.)

I couldn’t seen to stop taking photos, despite the mud — the Douro region of Portugal is just amazing! Occasionally we could hear workers in the field. Not wanting to be intrusive I only took a photo with them in the distance. I’m not sure if you can see them or not. Sometime during this portion of the walk our jackets came off and cameras came out I was so glad, because there were a few flowers I really wanted to capture. (I didn’t get them all on the iPhone, though, and those are the only photos I can share until I get home.

Then it was lunch time. Please excuse that left side … yes, that’s my finger! Oops.

While eating Patrizia and Rudy walked by … well, first they stopped and we chatted for a while. I really enjoy the couple: they are easy to chat with. (And I believe we will be seated for dinner with them.)

More photos …

The signs for the Camino were seen frequently and we have to occasionally check to make sure we are still on the same route as those who are doing that walk.

More photos …

Through the village of Vilarinho de Cotas (if my gps info is correct) with some uphill. I have to say I’m really quite comfortable with uphill climbs, and I rather enjoy them sometimes.

And then the last leg to our lodging, which included a good bit of uphill and amazing views and one photo of someone who has started a fire (did I write about this already? I think so!) which we assume has something to do with making lunch, but we don’t know for sure. In some of these photos you can see the Douro … we are nearly back where we started this journey! (There should be more photos below … sorry they aren’t appearing. They’ll have to wait until we get home, I think.)

Finally we arrived in the town of our lodging, Casal de Loivos. Prior to reaching Casa Casal de Loivos we went out to an amazing viewpoint (clearly popular as cars drove up and people would get out to catch the view and take a photo). It’s a fabulous view, and we could see Pinhão below, our starting point for this walk.

Then we arrived at the Casa and wow! The nicest place we’ve had with Portugal Green Walks so quite the wonderful way to end our journey.

Following showers and a bit of down time we went to get our “welcome drinks” and immediately saw Patrizia and Rudy there. We spend a good amount of time outside chatting and enjoying each other’s company. I’m so glad to have met them. Initially the Casa owner had said we’d be sharing a table with them, but Patrizia said they brought a little cook stove and would make a dinner in their room. So we had a private dinner while the rest of the lodgers were upstairs for their dinner. With my bad ear I was pretty much okay with this, though it felt sort of strange.

Tomorrow is a very short walk day and ends as we began, in Pinhao. Then it’s on to other adventures!

Ciao!

Day Four of Walking

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The morning began with computer stuff (still on my Wordle streak), and then off to breakfast we went. We also picked up our lunch bags. It’s always interesting to see what a place will give you … some things are a surprise until we unwrap them at lunchtime! Today was a chicken sandwich. By that I mean chicken between two pieces of bread without any condiments. This happened with our last two days as well, although then it was ham and cheese with no condiments. We also had a salad, with packets of olive oil and wine vinegar today, so I took some of the dressed salad, including cucumber, and put those in to the sandwich. Then there was a nice piece of cake which maybe was spice cake. And, finally, an apple. Which is sitting in my hotel room as I type.

Then it was time to do our circular walk. We went out and quickly decided that we should put on our rain jackets. It was just misty enough …

From there we left the village and (don’t be shocked!) went past a lot of vineyards. Looking back you could see Alijo.

And of course not just vineyards, but olive trees, a house with lovely flowers, and then we saw some beautiful lupine.

Then it was time to do downhill, knowing full well what that meant. (I didn’t think walking and taking this video would be wise, so I told Dan I’d catch up after filming.)

We could hear workers, and although I didn’t take a photo, saw bags hanging on poles which I assume held their lunches. I looked back again to see Alijo still in view.

Some vineyards had clover growing between each row. The sky continued to look ominous, but so far we were staying dry.

We reached a cobblestone road continuing upwards, and I was glad for no rain since those can be more slippery when wet.

And then … poppies. I do believe they were California poppies, in fact.

At one point we heard someone call out … it was our Swiss friends, Patrizia (sp?) and Rudy! They would, of course, pass us as we are slower between being slow hikers and taking photos. It was fun to see them on the trail, though.

We entered the village of São Mamede de Ribatua after 4.97 miles. First was the statue garden …

and then more poppies … of the papaver sort this time. (More common to see these here.)

We continued our walk in the village until we reached an overlook where you could see a reservoir.

Close to the overview we sat and ate our lunch while a sad dog gazed at us, hoping, I’m sure, for a treat. Poor doggie … we were hungry!

Sometimes you see one place in near ruins right next to a home that has been fixed up. It’s not as easy to see in this picture, but the left part of this is what appears to be an abandoned place.

Continuing through the town …

and then it was time for the big climb. Up, up, up … for .99 miles. Gotta love that it’s .99 and not 1 mile, eh? One fun thing about a climb is seeing how far above a village you get. So of course I had to take some photos to prove I was making progress on the climb.

We reached the top and then it was smooth sailing for a good amount of the walk.

That being said (okay, written) it looked like maybe rain was falling elsewhere, and the sky still had that ominous look.

Sometimes we come across the sign for the Camino (I’m not sure which one), but when we’d see a sign like the one in this photo it means “don’t go this way!”

Now we aren’t actually on the Camino, but we often share the same paths. So far I think the only people we’ve seen on our walks have been people doing the same walk.

Shortly after the last shot you see above the rain began. We quickly packed up our cameras and pulled out our rain jackets (we had removed them partway through the walk). And that was the end of even iPhone photos. It was more rain than we’d had before, and by the time we got back to our hotel our pants were even quite wet. (We just didn’t put on rain pants because we were so close to the hotel.)

After getting things hung up in the shower to dry, we went downstairs for a little drink and snack. First we wanted to get dinner reservations, and ended up talking to two couples from Arizona who are a day behind us on the walk. They had stopped in about the middle of their walk today to do wine tasting. I’m not sure I’d be able to do that! But then they have vineyards so I suspect they are used to doing tastings. When we tried to get a reservation for 7:30 (the first time available for dinner here) we were told it would have to be 8:00. Ah well … I don’t sleep at all well even with a 7:30 dinner, but so be it!

We ordered our drinks and some chips. Alas, no chips, but she brought out something else for us. Guess that’ll do. Then we spent a lot of time discussing how we were going to get to our destination once this walk ends completely because — ta-da! — the train very well might not be running still. The strike continues through our move day, and at the train site I could see which trains were definitely running (very few) which didn’t include ours. However there was also a note that said there might be more that are running on the fourteenth, which is when we travel. To be on the safe side we bought bus tickets again. It’s somewhat inexpensive insurance and I think it’s better safe than sorry.

Now I’ll be brief: we had dinner, I ate too much, and I’m tired!

Boa noite!