Sunday 16 July 2023

Welcome to our blog!

At Buttermere in the Lake District, 2017           (photo: Grace Pearson)

Hello! Ever since we were married in 1998, Sara and I have had a shared love of British culture (Sara's deriving from her fascination with 19th-century literature; mine deriving from my love of history and a memorable work exchange experience in the Lake District in 1992). After honeymooning in the U.K. in 1998 and especially after a month-long holiday in 2004, we've tried to get across the pond as much as budgets and work schedules have allowed. 

And it was in 2004 that we discovered the enjoyable pastime of doing walking holidays in England given the generous rights-of-way laws there, where as long as you are responsible, you can walk on established rights-of-way over private land. For all the splendour and adventure to be found hiking the wilds of Canada and the U.S., other than a very few select trails such as the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail—much too adventurous for us!—walking on private land here in North America is next to impossible. By contrast, in the U.K. and especially in England, there is a thriving walking culture, which means that there are nearly endless walking routes available to be followed (or self-constructed) using long-established rights-of-way over private land, country lanes, railway paths, and other tracks through the beautiful countryside. And depending on your route, there's nearly always a pub in the village at the end of the day—and no grizzly bears!

On that holiday in 2004 we did several multi-day stretches of point to point walking carrying small backpacks and staying in bed and breakfasts—and loved it! In 2008 we were much more adventurous and followed a week's warmup in the Cotswolds with a 20-day, 200-mile (320 km) walk across northern England generally following Alfred Wainwright's "Coast to Coast" walk (or "C2C"). It was a terrific walk and we'd highly recommend it.

As the years passed and we became (slightly) more technologically advanced, Sara had the idea of blogging our walks, beginning with our "Pilgrimage of Thanksgiving" in 2013 to celebrate a successful kidney transplant given to me by my sister Susan in 2011. We walked around 450 miles (725 km) in 40 days across the south of England from Devon to Dover (hence the "D2D")—with Susan walking for a week with us in the middle—taking rest days in cathedral cities and literally singing our way across the land in village churches and, most memorably, Canterbury Cathedral, where we were welcomed as pilgrims: something we'll never forget! You can find Sara's blog of that 2013 walk (with comments from me in blue) by using the navigation on the right-hand side of the screen to get to her very first post in May, 2013.

After taking shorter holidays to England with Sara's dad in 2015, with my mom in 2017, and then enjoying a lovely 20th anniversary holiday in East Anglia and the Peak District in 2018, more recently we have planned a new, meandering and, because of its length, multi-part walk from Barnstaple in Devon to Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire (the "B2B"; and yes, we have a thing about alphabetic acronyms!).

The B2B Part One was in 2019 (a walk of around 200 miles in 26 days from Barnstaple to Stroud, Gloucester), and it will take us at least three or four more legs to get to Robin Hood's Bay. You can read Sara's account of our 2019 walk—which had a few small challenges including a first for us on all our trips: many days of rain!—by using the right-hand navigation to go to her first post in May, 2019. 

We were to do the second, 36-day leg from Stroud to Church Stretton, Shropshire in May-June 2020, but that was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The forced years off have made us very much look forward to hitting the trail again in 2023, which we have now done! See Sara's blog of our B2B Part Two just a ways below this post (though you'll have to skip down to her initial post on May 5th, 2023 and then read "backwards," i.e., upwards, of course).

The seals at St Margaret's Bay, Kent, in 2013
Oh, and our blog title "Walking with Seals"? It's all the fault of our friend Jennifer, who in 1999 told us of friends of hers who took their stuffed "Piglet" on vacations and had photos taken with him in famous locations. Since then, we haven't traveled without Lucille and Anastasia, our North-Pacific Otter-Seals! Over these many years they have gotten more and more "real" in the Velveteen Rabbit sense, but they are always excited to ride in our rucksacks as we walk!  

Once again, welcome to our blog and read on for our adventures walking with seals in England's "green and pleasant land"...


Saturday 13 May 2023

B2B Day 33: Enjoying Arts and Crafts in Kelmscott

William Morris (by Philip Webb)
Back in 2008 we toured Kelmscott Manor, one of the homes of William Morris, who is associated with the beginning of the Arts and Crafts movement—a reaction to the mechanisation and industrialisation of Victorian society near the end of the nineteenth century. Morris and his associates, who included the poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the designer/architect Philip Webb, and the painter/designer Edward Burne-Jones among others, participated in and executed a wide variety of arts and crafts, including printing and book design, tapestry-making, designing and producing stained glass windows, and much more. Morris is still well known for his wallpaper patterns and furniture designs. I was excited to return to tour Kelmscott Manor, knowing that it had undergone a significant refurbishment. I also know more about William Morris than when we first visited, thanks to a directed study with a student who prompted me to read William Morris's intriguing utopian novel News from Nowhere. This was handsomely printed by the Kelmscott Press in 1892—the name itself a tribute to Morris's love for his home on the upper Thames and whose woodcut illustration decorates the book's frontispiece (see below). The house is interesting in its own right as an example of a well-preserved late 16th-century farmhouse, but what makes it even more special is that it is full of beautiful things made by Morris, his family, and his friends.

News from Nowhere: Kelmscott Manor as pictured in 1892


Kelmscott Manor as photographed in 2023

We had pre-booked our tickets to tour Kelmscott Manor before our trip, so we showed up a little before opening time at 11:00 a.m. and waited outside in the cold, which has been persistent these last few days. We started a conversation with a British couple that was interesting, but never got to finish it because the museum guides began letting people into the house. So that we could move at a slower pace, we let a group of Americans from Virginia travelling on a "Road Scholars" educational tour go ahead of us. We wanted to savour our own tour on our own time.

Morris wallpaper

We explored the house from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and it was interesting to see that the rooms were slightly different than from our previous visit, and some had had the walls repapered. I love the gorgeous designs of Morris wallpaper! Knowing that Morris and his wife and daughters taught themselves to do the crafts they produced made seeing the items that much more impressive. William Morris's daughter embroidered a poem around the decorative canopy of Morris's bed, and Morris himself also learned how to embroider, which would typically have been considered a woman's accomplishment. 

William Morris's bedroom

After lunch at the very busy manor tea room (Moroccan spicy tagine for Ken, falafel salad for Sara, and, of course, some tea), we looked around the shop and bought a Morris design postcard for Ken's mom. We also both very much liked a beautiful set of 2 Morris designed mugs, but figured they'd be a bit hard to carry in our backpacks! After Ken took several pictures of the east front of the manor house trying to duplicate the view of it portrayed in News from Nowhere, we left around 2:30 p.m. and had a lazy "rest day" afternoon at our B&B. I napped and read the guidebook for Kelmscott Manor. Ken did some work on the OS maps of our walking days so far that he had prepared for the blog, revising them to reflect the route that we had actually walked. Later, we had another dinner at the local pub, the Plough Inn, and then went home to a warming bath (for me) and a good night's sleep.

The festive Plough Inn, Kelmscott

Ken at the Plough, with Morris-inspired wall-covering!



 

 

 

Picture credit for frontispiece of William Morris, News from Nowhere (Kelmscott Press, 1892). Public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4573221


Friday 12 May 2023

B2B Day 32 Whelford to Kelmscott: Walking, Resting, Reviving

For an OS map of today's walk (8.53 mi; 13.73 km; 21 ft total ascent), click here

Today our fairly short and leisurely walk took us from Whelford along the southern edge of the Cotswold Water Park to the Thames Path national trail, which we followed eastwards to Kelmscott and the first B&B that we were "revisiting" on this trip: Manor Farm. We first stayed there way back in 2008!

Our breakfast at Townsend Farm was delicious, and Penny discussed today's walking route with Ken, warning him about the possibility of barking dogs early on in the walk. Julian noticed that Ken had an OS map and said that he was glad to see it as he had formerly worked for Ordnance Survey, which was fun to know. We set off in the sunshine at 9:55 a.m., pausing at the junction of two streams of the Coln where there was a mill. It was a beautiful morning and a beautiful scene. We said hello to a woman who was standing outside with her morning coffee, also enjoying the mill, streams, and sunshine. 

Whelford Mill

We did encounter some traffic on the road we were walking, and even some on the smaller road that we turned onto. A woman drove up to us, rolled down her window, and asked Ken if this was Dudgrove Lane, and Ken immediately responded that it was. I am always slightly amused at being asked for directions since we are not local—but Ken is well prepared to answer questions with his OS map and carefully planned route. In my opinion, he's the best person to ask for directions, anywhere! We did walk past the compound that warned of barking dogs, but the dogs themselves were not in evidence.

Only the thin may enter!

Wayside wildflowers

It was interesting to see the housing developments on some of the lakes of the water park, since we are more used to seeing this type of development in North America than in the UK. We went through a fancy but very tight wooden kissing gate onto a gravelled drive in one of the developments, then at the end of the drive we went onto a narrow, brambly path through some woods, which came out onto a byway, a dirt road with puddles. At the end of the road there were men cutting down a tree. We turned left, and went down another road which had a lovely profusion of wildflowers, then onto another forest path on which we met a woman walking her dog. Emerging from the woods, we turned right onto another path, and went over a footbridge at the confluence of the rivers Coln and Thames. It was fun to complete our several days' walk down the beautiful Coln Valley from Chedworth to the Thames. (The Thames and Severn Canal—which accompanied us for most of our first day's walk up the Golden Valley from Stroud to Frampton Mansell—also connected with the Thames here.)

Historic Inglesham Church

At this point, we could simply have turned northeast on the Thames Path bound for Lechlade, but instead we wanted to take a quick half-mile detour along the path southwest to see the beautiful, unspoilt—and mostly unaltered since medieval times—Inglesham Church. (One reason it remained unaltered is because William Morris successfully argued against a major Victorian Gothic renovation in the 1880s, instead funding a careful preservation and conservation of the church's fabric and furnishing. There will be more on Morris tomorrow!). As we walked we saw another couple walking a parallel path along our way to Inglesham. They were slightly behind us as we waded through a field of thick grass and grazing cattle and we could have ended up talking to them, but they seemed to want to keep to themselves. 

An Anglo-Saxon Mother & Child carving

We reached the church, now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust, and sat down for a quiet moment to rest and pray as is our practice. Just a minute or so later, a large group of about twenty people from the University of the Third Age ("A movement whose aims are the education and stimulation of mainly retired members of the community—those in the third 'age' of life," according to Wikipedia) came in and began to look around the church. They were doing a walk along the Thames path between the two historic churches of Buscot and Inglesham. We had an enjoyable conversation with the group's two leaders and had a good rest in the church while this lively group of people was touring the church. After a few minutes they all went outside to eat their lunch, and we had a closer look at the church, which felt very ancient with its wall paintings, very old box pews, and a remarkable Anglo-Saxon Mother & Child carving which had originally been a sundial outside the church! The quiet couple came in later to look at the church briefly, as well. When the church was empty, we sang one verse of "Amazing Grace." After we came out, a woman gave us a thumbs up and said she enjoyed the singing. Ken responded that it was our delight to be doing what churches were designed for—singing the praise of God.

On the Thames Path. Note the coat and gloves: it was cold!

We walked back through the cows and past a memorial bench full of flowers, and then had a delightful walk along the river to Lechlade, though a cold wind was blowing from the northeast. I wrote in my journal, "Man with a dog whom Ken said resembled Chris Beardshaw," a panelist on BBC 4's Gardener's Question Time. I have had problems with misplaced modifiers in the past, and I should have more carefully written, "There was a man whom Ken said resembled Chris Beardshaw, and he was walking a dog." My apologies to Chris Beardshaw for the poor grammatical choices! [He seems to have a good sense of humour; I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't mind!—Ken]

Old Father Thames at St. John's Lock, near Lechlade

It was cloudy and quite cool, and instead of sitting outside at a pub right next to the river, we opted to eat lunch at "The Tea-Chest," a cute ship-like place nearby but a little further away from the river. There was one kind and helpful woman who did everything: take orders, prepare the food, clear up the dishes. I ordered "Oxford Brew" tea and a roast vegetable "toastie" with mozzarella, and Ken had a chicken pesto sandwich. Everything was delicious. The tea was so good we ordered another (it was the best tea of the trip) along with a slice of Victoria sponge and a piece of caramel chocolate shortbread. I was looking at the Cotswold stone houses outside the window, drinking tea, and the phrase "He restoreth my soul" went through my head. I felt like I needed restoring, and found that just sitting there looking at rather ordinary houses and drinking tea was somehow restorative. There was no rush.

We left after 2:00 p.m., and it continued to be cold and windy as we headed eastwards along the river. Despite the cold, this part of the walk along the Thames was simply enjoyable and peaceful. We had some stretches through fields and many more stretches right along the river where we periodically came upon interesting boats, locks, and footbridges. Ken particularly liked the mix of Queen Anne's Lace and yellow wildflowers along the way.

A typical upper Thames landscape

At St. John's Lock, there was a man mowing, and at Buscot Lock, there was a man clipping a hedge. It must have been a good day for landscape maintenance at the locks; their gardens were gorgeous. We've noticed on our canal and river walks in England that much pride is (justifiably!) taken in lockside gardens.

Beautiful Buscot Lock & garden

Ken really enjoyed this part of the day, though with the path after Lechlade snaking closely alongside the river, he noted that we probably walked four miles along the path when it was likely only two miles as a crow flies to Kelmscott!

A pillbox near Kelmscott, fortunately never used

As we walked along, we passed several World War II era pillboxes, the last of which, quite near Kelmscott, Ken went into. It was interesting historically but made him feel very melancholy. On setting out again we were soon cheered by meeting a couple with whom we joked about not knowing on which side to pass. It's obviously clear when one is driving which side of the road to be on, but there does not seem to be a fixed rule about passing on a particular side when walking. 

Not long after, we arrived at the turnoff path for Kelmscott village. We passed the Manor and then along a lane with a neat stone slab fence, and soon came to our B&B, Manor Farm Kelmscott. It was delightful to arrive here again after last staying fifteen years ago in 2008. We remembered Emma Horner as soon as we saw her, and enjoyed a nice chat as we got settled into our room. She's fun to talk with. 

The stone slab "fence" in Kelmscott
I had a nap, and then we went to the Plough Inn for dinner. I had a coronation chicken salad, and Ken had a burger that came with coronation slaw. The chips were good, similar to those at the Catherine Wheel. I had a sticky toffee pudding for dessert, and Ken had the ice cream that went with it! We relaxed in our B&B room after dinner, and Ken did a bit of research to see if we could visit the lock keeper at Grafton lock a couple of miles east along the Thames Path. In 2008, Keith Webb rescued us from the heaviest rainstorm we'd ever been caught in, taking two absolutely soaked walkers into his keeper's hut! But Ken discovered that Keith had retired several years ago, so we decided to have a more leisurely day the next day, which was a planned rest day. There would be no walk to Grafton lock but we looked forward to our pre-booked tour of Kelmscott Manor in the morning.

[I particularly enjoyed this day: the walk was easy, there were convenient stopping points, and overall was short enough that we never felt rushed. We could take our time to take in the history and take in the views...and we didn't get poured on like we did in 2008. 😀 Excellent!—Ken]

 

 

Thursday 11 May 2023

B2B Day 31 Bibury to Whelford: An Outstanding Lunch, a Beautiful Church, and a Medley of Anthems

Bibury Church

For an OS map of today's walk (8.21 mi; 13.21 km; 305 ft total ascent), click here.

On today's walk we continued our journey along the Coln valley. Our little Airbnb studio annexe was cute and even in the somewhat small bed we slept well—until I woke at 6:00 a.m. when the motorcycle outside started up and revved its engine. Surprisingly, Ken was able to sleep until 6:15. We gratefully ate the pastries that were left for our breakfast, and enjoyed attending morning prayer at Eyam church "live" on Facebook rather than our usual attendance 7 hours later when we're at home. We got going around 9:40, and enjoyed passing the lambs again. It was somewhat cold but otherwise a bright beautiful morning.

We hadn't gone into the church yesterday, so we walked down to it, and really liked its brightness and lightness. We sang the always triumphant hymn "Rejoice, the Lord is King" just before a group of walkers entered the church to look around. As we were heading out of the village, we asked a man putting a bike into his vehicle if we could get out to the bridleway from there by cutting through a narrow alleyway which we weren't sure was public. Even though he wasn't local, he told us that he thought we could, so we did, saving both time and a climb. We walked the slight downhill path to the river, enjoying the little falls of the weir at the mill.

One of the brave sheep of Bibury

After crossing the Coln there, we walked up and over a hill, passing a very beautiful house, with many sheep dotting the pastures all around. We were surprised that sheep laying right next to the dirt farm road on which we were walking seemed quite tame and not very skittish at all. Given how many tourists visit Bibury, perhaps they're just used to people walking close by...

The path took us up a steep hill, then we headed eastwards, generally parallel to the river on a forested hill above it. We walked along a field edge where a man was riding a tractor and spraying his crops (thankfully not near us), then headed downhill and along the left path at a fork to rejoin the river. The paths here were a bit muddy at times but we were able to get through with no repeat of Ken's "day two disasters." 😜 The river walk was pleasant, and all was peaceful and quiet. 

Bridge to Narnia?

At one point we saw a footbridge with a door in it, which seemed rather odd. I wondered if the door would take you to Narnia if you walked through it, but we didn't test it. The river was flowing quickly, but was quiet and peaceful. We were relieved that we didn't encounter any flooding, even when our grassy path came quite close to the water's edge.

We did a bit more woodland and then eventually came out to a road where stone wall provided us with a seat to rest on, trying to decide whether to go north to Coln St. Aldwyn's or head south to Quenington for lunch. A friendly couple came by who offered advice, and she kindly looked up on her phone the hours and menu at the Keeper's Arms in Quenington. Although we and the couple walked separately up the hill and into Quenington, we still encountered each other periodically as we were walking in the same direction, and had a few brief chats along the way. Before we reached the Keeper's Arms, we looked inside a converted phone booth that had all kinds of local information, including a leaflet on "River Valley Walks" that indicated a permissive path to Fairford that Ken hadn't known about. He was very happy to discover this path since it would save almost three miles of road walking. (More than a mile or two of road walking in firm-soled hiking boots can get rather painful, especially for Ken.) 

Costwold vernacular architecture, Quenington-style

Quenington itself was, like virtually all of the villages we'd seen so far, full of old and interesting buildings, both domestic and agricultural, which were built in the Cotswold vernacular style. When we got to the pub, we sat inside and ordered hummous with croustes and chicken escalope with a salad of chorizo, potatoes, and herbs. The chicken came with pesto mayo, and the salad was amazing. I wrote in my journal, "It was one of the best lunches we've ever had." It sounds like the type of food that we would usually describe as "foofy" (I've never spelt that word before!), but it was an example of slightly fancy food that was outstandingly delicious—worthy of slightly elevated language. The publican also had a delightfully dry sense of humour. We loved the decor and enjoyed the background music, which we learned was by Donovan Woods. We left around 1:15 p.m., well satisfied and well rested, ready for our walk down to Fairford. 

Along the Coln between Quenington and Fairford

On the permissive path

Soon after we left the village we met a tall younger man with a smile and two dogs, who just seemed happy and enjoying the day. He passed us again later, walking back. I was holding the "River Valley Walks" leaflet, and when we were walking a stretch down by the river Ken asked me to read the directions. He looked extremely puzzled as I read, and said that it didn't at all match where we were. He asked, "Are you sure you're reading the right walk?" and I realized I was reading directions for another walk entirely. We were in the right place, as we quickly recognized once I began reading the correct directions!  

We went up through some woods, out into a field, and just before reaching a road turned left into another wood along a permissive path courtesy of the Ernest Cook Trust, which owns much of the land immediately north of Fairford. (This is the path Ken didn't know about until we found the leaflet in Quenington.) The paths through the woodland were lovely. There were a few short muddy sections but we got through them without any problems. The way eventually led out of the trees and then seemed to go on, forever southwards, along the edge of a ploughed dirt field. At one end of the field, a machine was harrowing. (How often do you get to use "harrowing" as a verb rather than an adjective?) It grew hot and a bit uncomfortable in the mid-afternoon sun, but we did get occasional glimpses of what was to come, including a nice view of Fairford Mill and Church not that far away.

Approaching Fairford Mill and Church


Entering Fairford

We finally reached the exit gate of the field, crossed a small tributary stream of the Coln, turned right and popped through a door in the old Oxpens building—and violà! we were suddenly on the edge of Fairford. We rested on a bench at the Oxpens, which had some informative historical panels, and then walked over the bridge by the pretty millpond into the main part of the town and soon arrived at Fairford church—famous for its medieval stained glass. Fairford was also the birthplace of John Keble, one of the founders of the 19th century Oxford Movement within the Anglican church. We would encounter more places associated with Keble in a few days.


This late medieval church, rebuilt in the perpendicular style in the late 15th and early 16th century by wealthy wool merchant John Tame and his son Edmund, is well-known for its complete set of original stained glass windows which tell the biblical story from Genesis to Revelation—each window a vignette from scripture or tradition. The 28 windows, whose installation was finished by 1517, were quite compelling to view, but they and the heavy buttressing of the central tower made the church fairly dark inside when the sun wasn't out. 

Jesus and "Doubting Thomas"

Ascension and Pentecost

We enjoyed "reading" the windows, making our way from west to east along the north wall, with the Passion and Crucifixion making up the east window. We then turned back from east to west along the south wall, beginning with the Resurrection and Ascension and ending with the Last Judgment in the west window, which shows Christ as Judge, sitting on a rainbow. Another fascinating window shows the Ascension, with Christ's feet rising out of the top of the scene! Many of the other windows were similarly whimsical, profound, or otherwise fascinating. They were so interesting that rather than take a picture of each one we bought the church guidebook to take home.

When the church was empty, we sang "Amazing Grace" and then went outside. Ken was taking a photo of a gargoyle on the church roof, and a woman walking by asked if he was taking a picture of the bees! She said that there was a bee hive up there, and the bees had gotten inside the church last year. She accidentally sat on one just before the sermon, but managed not to cry out. We were glad we didn't encounter bees inside the church, though we had heard them humming.

The Last Judgment, the west window in St. Mary's Church, Fairford
 

We then walked down the block to Fairford's central square, which was compact and bustling in the late afternoon. We were heading to the Co-Op for supplies when we saw our server from the Catherine Wheel in Bibury (the one who brought us our sauces and called us "my dears") park her car and get out with her two children. She ended up ahead of us in the line at the Co-Op but she didn't recognize us. Because Whelford doesn't have a pub and it was too early to eat dinner in Fairford, we bought sandwiches, ginger biscuits, and a punnet of strawberries for dinner. Then I went to the smallest Boots pharmacy I've ever been in to buy some sunscreen. We really liked Fairford; it had lots of shops & places to eat and was quite busy, but as a town it still felt friendly and not too big. 

On the river path

We left at 4:15 p.m., winding our way through some alleys between houses and then for a short time walking on a lovely path by the river Coln, a path that Ken had found out about while watching a YouTube walking video in the winter. (You can find it here.) Unfortunately, our B&B host had warned us beforehand that the river walk to Whelford might be blocked later on as it passed through the Cotswold Water Park where a lot of development work was in progress, so we had to take the road instead. We were glad of this local info but a bit sad that the day would end with road walking. So after standing on a footbridge for awhile enjoying the Coln as it slid southeastwards, we left the river, passed a Catholic church, and got going on the two mile walk down the road to Whelford.

A lot of the land between Fairford and Whelford is covered by Royal Air Force Base Fairford, which we discovered was shared by the RAF and the US Air Force as we passed its gates. We were surprised at 4:55 p.m. to hear a trumpet tune played over loud speakers, then a band playing "God Save the King," which I sang as we walked, and then, suprisingly, "The Star Spangled Banner" (!) which we both sang. It felt odd singing the American anthem while walking in the English countryside. It also felt odd singing "God Save the King" when my whole life it had been "God Save the Queen." [Finally, it felt both odd and nice to sing the American anthem and once again realise that the words—inspired by witnessing the British attack on Baltimore during the War of 1812—no longer describe relations between the UK and the US!—Ken]

Thankfully we had a pavement (sidewalk) for most of the way into Whelford since at the end of the workday there were a fair amount of cars on the road. We stopped for a "foot rest" at the pretty little church at Whelford, but unfortunately it was locked. Soon after that we arrived at Townsend Farmhouse. Penny welcomed us and showed us our lovely room and bath, and arranged for breakfast the next morning. Our evening was wonderfully relaxed, with our simple dinner (the strawberries were excellent, and we were surprised that they were relatively local, very high-quality berries that you could just pick up at a local supermarket). Interestingly, we had been at Baldwin House when they had experienced a water cut-off; Townsend Farmhouse had also recently experienced a water cut-off, so we were forewarned that the pipes might splutter a bit when we had our baths. There was no problem, and we enjoyed a hot bath and then some time reading in bed—Ken reading the AA Book of Walks in the Cotswolds that was conveniently placed in our room. All in all, it was another fairly easy day of walking, with excellent food, friendly people, and a peaceful B&B at the end of the day.

 

Lovely Townsend Farmhouse

 

 

 

Wednesday 10 May 2023

B2B Day 30 Chedworth to Bibury: Warm People, Wet Weather, and the Beautiful Coln Valley

For an OS map of today's walk (7.81 mi; 12.57 km; 492 ft total ascent), click here.

We woke after 8 hours of sleep, which is pretty rare for us these days. It was good to set off after another lovely breakfast, a chat with Caroline and Robert about extreme walking (with reference to Robert's exploits, not ours!), and a farewell gentle paw-on-the-feet from Pippi the dog.

Fossebridge and its Inn
We liked Chedworth. The architecture and gardens were lovely. We passed one cottage in particular which had a gorgeous "arbour tunnel" leading to a lush garden; in a couple of weeks it would surely be blooming beautifully. It was interesting to see that new homes were being built in styles sympathetic to the area and in the warm Cotswold stone we love so much
—albeit enforced by planning regulations. Whatever the case, we wish there was more of that "fit with the area" architectural aesthetic where we live.

Today we began a three-day stretch of walking generally following the River Coln until it joins the Thames near Inglesham. On leaving Chedworth, our path initially took us to the Inn at Fossebridge, where we rested outside on a wall near the river (the Inn wasn't open at that time of day). There followed a slightly tougher walk diagonally uphill through two nice fields and then downhill along a driveway, over a beautiful bridge, and to the church at Coln St. Dennis. 

The bridge at Coln St. Denis
We rested outside in the sun on a bench before going into the church, which was a bit cold and musty. When we came out we had an enjoyable chat with a man who was mowing (and apologized for doing so!). He kindly gave us recommendations for food in Bibury.

We made good time on the road walking to the next village, Calcot, and navigated a narrow path between the houses. We met a man who had just parked his jeep, and talked with  him about the state of the paths to Coln Rogers—we avoided the one he described as "a bit tricky" as we guessed that it would be "pretty flooded"! The village of Coln Rogers was beautiful, and we liked the church. We sang "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" just before leaving the church, and when we came out a man who was working on the grounds asked us if that was us singing. We replied that it was, and he said, "It sounded like a whole choir." We were happy, mainly because that is what churches are for: to be filled with the praise of God.

Resting on the way to Winson...before the deluge!

We left Coln Rogers and resumed our walk down the valley, enjoying the lovely river views along the way while taking opportunities to rest when they presented themselves since our walk today wasn't all that long. 

Winson Church (after the shower)
Light and Warmth at Winson
On this day's walk, we always seemed to be at the corner of Ken's paper map, which he carries in a plastic map case. Shortly after leaving our restful bench by a bridge over the Coln, and just at the point Ken needed to turn the map, it started to rain, becoming quite a hard shower. He quickly managed to get the proper panels of the map into the case, we struggled into our coats and put on our pack covers, and then continued on our now very wet walk to Winson. Winson is yet another village with beautiful houses & gardens, but with a good feeling of a village that is lived in and well-loved. We hurried through the rain and to the Norman church and on entering Ken instantly exclaimed: "It's warm!" For those familiar with historic stone churches, "warm" is not the first word that comes to mind; cold and clammy is often the norm, but the heaters were on (by mistake?)—perhaps just for us.
We found the lights, and enjoyed looking at the painted chancel, the mosaic tiled floor, and the stained glass windows of this beautiful place of worship. I took a copy of a souvenir "Coronation Gospel" which explored the religious symbolism of King Charles III's coronation ceremony as well as providing a text of the gospel of Matthew. We were inside the church long enough to dry out, and sang several verses of "Crown Him with Many Crowns" (in keeping with the coronation theme) before exiting. When we got outside, it wasn't raining any more.

We decided not to go across the river to Ablington and instead walked along the road to get to Bibury more directly. At one point, we saw a beautiful little young deer all alone. It was so cute! Eventually the road walking grew tiring (as it always does), but after not too long we branched off on a path along a beech hedge and then through fields with many stiles that made a beeline for Arlington, the village that merges with Bibury. When we arrived at the Catherine Wheel pub there, we stopped for some lemonade and a rest. 

Long ago Bibury was described by William Morris as the most beautiful village in England. And beautiful it was with its historic houses and cottages running along and perpendicular to the river Coln...but it was very, very busy! Some repair work was being done to the wall between road and river, which meant single lane traffic and lots of cars backed up, waiting to get by. Moreover, an ongoing theme of this trip was finding village shops closed. The shop in Bibury, where we were going to pick up something for breakfast the next morning, was closed. This was a blow to Ken because he chose our Airbnb—which was a ways outside the extreme northeastern end of the village—based on the location of the shop, which Google had informed us would reopen in March. [Thanks again, Google!—Ken] At the end of the afternoon we did head to our cute little Airbnb annex and rested for awhile—almost falling asleep until a motorcycle starting up directly outside woke us. Using the big umbrella thoughtfully provided by our host, we walked through another shower back across village to the Catherine Wheel for dinner: Gloucester old spot sausage and mash for me; a lamb, mint and potato pie with chips for Ken. The chips were particularly outstanding: crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. The woman who had served us lemonade earlier in the day brought our sauces and said, "There you go, my dears." She was really nice. 

Picture-Postcard Arlington Row, Bibury
 

After dinner we wended our way back through Arlington-Bibury, and near the famous weavers' cottages of Arlington Row we met and had a nice chat with an Australian couple who had also dined at the Catherine Wheel. Like us, they were on a trip that had been postponed from 2020. Unlike us, they were still suffering from some serious jetlag! 

The path that we took back to the housing estate outside of Bibury where we were staying included a field of adorable lambs and sheep with fascinating "stripey" faces and body markings. We also had a fun chat with a man walking his dog, who loved living where he was. We came home to our little place and watched a bit of television before going to sleep. Today was a mix of what we love best about travelling in England—meeting and talking with interesting people; enjoying the architecture and landscape; eating good food; and seeing sheep!