One thing you learn about the Cotswold Way is a Cotswold mile is not the same length as a normal mile. Today the distance was marked for a hike of 13 miles but when finished my GPS said I went 15 miles. It has been that way on the whole trip. The GPS reading always comes out a couple of miles more than what is recorded in our itinerary. I would think the GPS reading may be a little more accurate than the miles that were recorded many, many years ago. So much for that. On with the hike, with two days left until we reach Bath.
I wave goodbye to Ned and Cindy as I start out from Wotton-under-Edge solo. Cindy was sidelined because of some very nasty blisters on her feet. With almost five weeks left of our trip we didn't want to take a chance of her blisters getting worse and ruining the rest of the trip.
As I got back on the trail the first thing you do is pass through the church at the edge of town. The trail leads into the courtyard of the church and out the other side.
Many of the small churches of the Church of England are built in the same style. The belfry looks a castle tower and the front also reminds you of the old castles you would see in travel brochures.
Right out of the town the trail followed along a small stream. As you can see above the cattle are in the stream drinking and eating branches from the other bank of the stream.
This was the first area that I noticed any logging going on. Most of the areas we past through have been either large wooded areas, crop farming or livestock raising.
The camera really didn't capture the view I wanted to show in the above two photos. I was walking down the trail and trees you see above the trail are about thirty feet above me and they are very large trees that have fallen across the top of the trail and walking under them make you feel like you are in one of the Jurassic Park movies.
As I was walking I noticed in the field to my left over 10 male pheasants. I have never seen that many at once the entire time I hunted for them. As I came to the end of the field I ran into two guys working to clear the path. I told them about all the pheasants I saw. They informed me that a large English manor had a hunt club with over 180 thousand pheasants on it. If I wanted to join it the price was £10,000 or about $16,000. They told me many of the members are from Belgum and Holland.
We see many signs as we come into the small villages and here you can see that the English are very courteous about asking you to slow down.
This sign had me a little concerned. I didn't want anyone calling the police on me since I was walking alone but I made it through with no problem. I guess I don't look suspicious enough!
This tower was built as a roosting place for barn owls and swallows. Many of the old barns and towers have been taken down and the birds are losing their habitat areas.
I made it to the next B&B and there to great me was my traveling partner!
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