Tag Archives: Moreton-in-Marsh

Wednesday, June 3 — Moving Day

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We had our final “free” (not really!) breakfast. I only mean “free” as in we didn’t have to pay for it this morning: we paid a good amount for this walk and breakfasts were included. From the breakfast area it was back to our room to just hang out for a bit since the train Dan and I would take didn’t leave until 10:55. Greg and Jan were still figuring out their next step as some of their plans had changed, but they later texted that they were catching the earlier, 9:55 train to Oxford to collect a rental car.

That didn’t mean we wouldn’t see them again, as we are all are headed to the same destination for today!

We woke to cloudy skies, and occasional showers. It appears we are now in for more rain on the trip so my rain jacket and hat are out, ready to be put to use. Goodbye, Moreton-in-Marsh. Goodbye, Cotswolds. I will miss you.

When it was time, we checked out and walking in light rain to our train. It wasn’t a long wait before we boarded. We would have about an hour’s ride to our first stop. The first photo below is from our room. The rest are just walking to the station. Thrilling, I’m sure. Should you wish to have a print of them I can do a stunning one for you. Or not.

Views from the train … including the “Oxford blur”. I hope you know that’s how one is supposed to shoot the Oxford train station. Or perhaps the train was moving too fast. Hmmm.

Then we arrived at our first destination of the day, Reading. (Rhymes with “wedding”. Not the Monopoly Reading.) Why Reading, you ask? Well, we would have arrived at our final destination too soon to check in and I thought, “Why not check out Reading on the way?) Besides we had to switch trains there anyway. So there we were. In the rain. We got of the train and first headed to a place called Top Gun Tattooing. It was time. We both needed tattoos.

Or maybe not. It actually was the place we would leave our luggage while we ambled. There are several companies that have this service and I used one called “Bounce”. You look up the city you’re in, see where spots are to leave luggage, and pay a fee to drop bags off. It’s quite handy. And you might just end up at a tattoo parlor.

So the luggage was dropped off, and we rambled.

We walked through a bit of a park until we came to the Abbey Ruins. Then it was getting a bit rainy again so we went out to look for a spot to eat.

We found an Irish pub. Yes, in England. It had a lot of TVs showing the Stanley Cup. It seemed odd to watch hockey in an Irish pub. I had a salad, Dan had sausages and mash, and we both had zero zero beer.

At that point we just decided to head back to the train station. I took exciting photos. You’re welcome.

We got on our train, kicked someone out of one of our seats (I would have been fine sitting in the row in front, but he moved so whatever). And aside from a few shots I spaced out.

And then we arrived … Hello, Bath Spa!

We made our way out of the station and stood in the taxi line. Traffic was awful so taxis were slow to arrive, but we did finally get one. The driver explained that road work was being done everywhere and it was messing things up. He did get us to our destination, though, and gosh, there were stairs to climb to get to the front door! We checked in and gosh, there were more stairs to get to our room! We are becoming experts at climbing stairs with luggage. Granted, the man who checked us in to this B&B offered to help, but pride didn’t allow me to take him up on his offer. (And now “Pride goeth before the fall” has a meaning I hope not to demonstrate.) Our room is sort of your typical B&B room, and it has a nice view outside. A view that showed me it had started to rain somewhat significantly again.

I started this blog entry (and hooray for a better connection that allows pictures to load pretty easily) and Dan started a short nap. (My writing took longer than his nap.)

Our B&B is on one side of the River Avon, and the main part of Bath is on the other. We are up a hill. It’s probably 20 or more minutes to get into the part of Bath we are going to want to see. We are going to have a great excuse to eat too much. (As if we need that.) I do look forward to investigating the area, but I sure hope it doesn’t rain every day.

We decided, finally, to take that 20 minute walk and headed down the hill and over the river.

We wound up at Sally Nunn’s Eating House. I’d seen a list of “don’t miss” things and that was on said list, although I believe it was more about the afternoon tea. They had room for us so in we went. we both had the “Set Trencher Dinner”. Loads more food than I could eat, but tasty. Comfort food kind of tasty — nothing gourmet, but quite yummy.

It was then time to walk back, although we took a small detour past the Bath Abbey. Then we continued.

It began to rain lightly, and it was rather windy. (And I had thought I was done with rain gear and warm clothes!) And then there was a rainbow. We continued our walk and the rainbow was still there. Lovely!

Then more walking up the hill. And up the stairs.

Tomorrow we can be lazy: we have a 9:00 breakfast since the earlier times were already taken. I’m fine with that. We’ve risen earlier so much that a little later will be enjoyed.

Toodle-oo!

(What with train rides and rain and all my stats today aren’t as great, but they’ll do! Plus, of course, when comparing all of our watches it makes it pretty darn clear these aren’t perfectly accurate!)
12,318 steps, 4.74 miles, 11 flights climbed.

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

Tuesday, May 26 — Moving Day

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We woke earlier than necessary (7:00) for our 8:45 taxi ride so I turned off my alarm and slept a bit more. I had already laid my clothes out last night, and managed to fit even the thicker things in my luggage so I knew it would go quickly this morning.

I finally rose at 7:30, and made my Nespresso coffee, got dressed, and packed. Still more time to spare. So I sat around a bit, checked email and Quicken — just killing time, really.

Finally it was time to head downstairs and check out. Our taxi driver was already waiting for us. Dan said, “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting long,” but he didn’t answer, so who knows? The drive took a while due to traffic and the distance. I don’t know why we had the idea initially that the airport was closer to the city, as it was definitely not! But still we arrived nice and what I think I’ll call “patty early”. We checked our luggage and raced through security. Here they have you take out laptops and iPads, but nothing else. Both Dan and I triggered the thing that means they have to check us out. For me it was my barrette and Dan had a shirt with a side zipper and that triggered it. They are pretty darn careful here. I actually appreciate that, as sometimes I’ve gotten through with all sorts of things I forgot to remove and they don’t catch them.

We made our way to a lounge to see if we were allowed in (the AerLingus lounge was closed due to renovations but I read that we’d be allowed in the other one here … maybe). Sure enough, we qualified, even without first class or anything. The lounge was pretty tiny, and we were allowed to stay for two hours only, but since our flight was boarding in about 1 1/2 hours that wasn’t any issue. The real reason we wanted to get in was to get free breakfast. We are cheap that way.

As you can see above, Dan had what they call the full English, or is it full Irish? Hm. I didn’t do the meat or tomato and even with what I chose it was a ton of food. As you can also see, sitting in a lounge is so exciting Dan can hardly contain himself. The other people in the lounge looked equally thrilled to be there. Killing time is a riveting experience.

We decided to amble to gate 6, where we were to board our flight. It didn’t take long to hear the announcement that Group 1 was boarding. Alas, we were Group 2. And then, horrors! — Group 3 gets to board with us. Now how distressing can that be?

Okay, it wasn’t at all distressing. So never mind.

We were in row 2 of the plane, with another passenger in the window seat while we were middle and aisle. The flight was completely uneventful. At least for us. One man had to console his crying infant for quite some time. As this photo shows, Dan wanted our pants to match. Or maybe it was an accident. You decide.



And then we landed. Hello again, London Heathrow! At least for a very short time. But oh my, was it hot out! Cork was too warm already. This is “too warmer”!

We weren’t sure what to expect since we were coming from the EU and entering the UK. I’d been told by someone on the Rick Steves group that we could expect nothing, and that person was correct. No passport control or anything. So after getting our luggage we made our way to Heathrow Express.

Into that train we went for our fifteen minute ride to London Paddington.

We were going to have no problem connecting to our next train so I even asked at the station if we could change the ticket to an earlier train but that would have cost something so instead we went to the Mad Bishop and Bear in the station and had some bites and drinks. I tried the non-alcoholic G&T and it was surprisingly tasty! I should have taken a photo of what they used because I’d try it at home. Too late now, though.

Our train departed precisely at 3:23. Our seats were in the “quiet car” — I had reserved them (for no cost) but clearly there were loads of available seats. Right before we departed the station a couple came in with their cat (in a crate) and proceeded to yak. And yak. And yak. I don’t know if they didn’t realize it was the quiet car or if they didn’t care, but no one pointed to the sign. Quite different than another trip we were on when a woman acted as the Noise Police. She needed to be on our train! They got off in Reading though, so silence was then enjoyed.

We had a five or six more stops. I don’t really count them carefully, but I did pay attention because I sure didn’t want to miss our stop! Sometimes I did take a quick station shot. Just because, as well as other rather shabby shots out the somewhat dirty window.

And then we arrived. Hello, Moreton-in-Marsh!

We begin tomorrow on a week-long walk. I would love to say this will be a very easy walk compared to some, but it’s so darn hot I think it will still be challenging. Still, I am looking forward to it.

We walked to our lodging, provided by Cotswolds Journeys since we used them for this walk, checked in, and made our way to our rather large room.

And then the real fun for today: we met up with Greg and Jan! (My brother and sister-in-law.) They are joining us for the walk. I just hope we don’t melt.

After we met up we headed to dinner at the Black Bear Inn. I thought I might be done with fish and chips, but nope … had ‘em again. Food was plentiful, but hey, we have a 7 mile walk tomorrow, so there’s that.

We finished and walked back to our lodging.

And then it was G&Ts. It was just too hot not to. Trust me. (I grabbed this photo below from Greg’s What’sApp post. I’ll try and get the actual photo later.)

After drinks we said our good nights and went to our rooms. I’m hoping we can manage to sleep, but we’ll see. At least I have a fan in my room! (I’m not talking about Dan.)

For now, though … ciao! (I wrote this even more quickly than usual so I hat to think about the typos.)

6,701 steps, 2.69 miles, 3 flights climbed

PS This final photo shows our hair as being somewhat gray or white. I’m sure it’s just a camera problem and I will try and fix that.

HAH!