1/6/2019 - walking from Stanton to Snowshill and the Edge (circular walk)

Well, the walk notes did say that it was the hardest in the series , but we found the climb on this one a bit difficult.

I for one had legs still crying out "help" after the climb above Bath a couple of days ago, and they were seriously unhappy about a steep climb rising out of Stanton at the start of this walk.
There was about 400m of climb over the 12km of walk.

The map that we downloaded with track notes to help us find our way. 

Our track (as far back as the pub, where we stopped for a long, cold cider on the way back to our car) 

Our first challenge was to find the start of the walk "Towards the top of the village, just down from The Mount Inn".  Amazingly, this was found easily.  On the way we enjoyed the beautiful old stone homes.

This lamp-post was the one we were looking for at the start of our walk. 

These were the signs that we were following along the way (at least for the time we were on the Cotswold Way).  We deviated from the main track to complete our circular walk, as instructed.

 The paths were varied and attractive.  sometimes wide and sometimes narrow.

We met quite a few horses on the way.

 We went through some lovely wooded areas.

This was the view of Snowshill as we approached, leaving the woods and heading across fields.

The church

One of the many kissing gates (again well used and enjoyed)

This horse was pretending to be a zebra, but he didn't fool us.

one of the common flowers along the path today. 

on one section of the walk someone had bothered to place a rock on each fence post (every metre or so) for quite a long distance.  

We wondered if these lumps of dirt were mole hills? 

rewarding views all the way to Wales towards the end of the walk. 

I loved the name of this walking path (which way does this go??)... Wyche Way....

The cider at the end was well earned, and we headed home to rest, drink tea, read and listen to the Aussies playing Afghanistan in the cricket.

31/5/19 Heading from Bath to the Cotswolds

We just made it out of our place in Bath by 10am. We headed for Bourton on the Water, which had  been recommended. 

We enjoyed the patchwork of green divided by hedges as we drove along. 

 Bourton on the Water  has lovely old stone buildings, but there were lots of cars and some minor traffic jams.  It is mid term break this week and there were a lot of families with small kids in town . There were a lot of people in town everywhere of all ages, shapes and sizes. 

 The kids were having a wonderful time playing in the water, which runs through town with lots of little walking bridges over it.  The water is only about 15cm deep - enough to get a little boy's shorts wet if he is kicking around in it. Some kids had no shoes on, some had socks on  - this gave a really great "wet foot" effect on the paths when they came out of the water and ran around.

There seems to be a tradition of playing in the water.  We went into a church fete and found a picture on the wall of football being played in the water.  The explanation nearby said that each August Bank Holiday the players form Bourton Rovers FC and play a match in the river (some in fancy dress)  as a fund raiser.  

There were some lovely gardens backing on to the river  but I'm not sure I would like to live in such a busy place even with a nice garden. 

 Beautiful stone buildings

The dogs were enjoying the summer day.  There were a LOT of dogs around.

Some of us could not resist icecream.. Rhubarb crumble icecream (very Rhubarby)   and honeycomb were the choices of the day.

We had a nice lunch at one of the many eating places (boy were they busy) 

 Then we drove along beautiful country roads to our home for the next few days

We had to laugh at some of the names of places on the way.  The Hollow Bottom was a pub.

This grey house is our new home.


The sheep are our new friends,  They come in to our yard to visit and then have trouble getting out again over the grid.

A bit of a climb up the hill shows the views that we are overlooking. 

This seat doesn't get many people sitting on it.

We drive up this little lane (Rising Sun Lane) , over the grid and up the walking track to the left to get to our home. (to the right out of picture) which is right near Cleeve Hill.

Our place in Bath

I took a few photos of our place in Bath.

Here they are with a bit of an explanation.
The place was at 3 Henrietta Gardens.  I've drawn in the two laneway accesses that we could use.  Our house was number 3, the owners were number 1 (joined in an L shape together)

The place was only about a km from the centre of Bath and not too much of a slope - which is pretty good.  It also had four bedrooms spaced along this very narrow passageway.  Two bedrooms with a double and two singles at the far end with one bathroom, A double room and two singles in a room on the centre of the passageway with another bathroom.

 Both bathrooms had one of these excellent showers.  push the on button and the water comes roaring out at the right temperature!  Thom thinks it may be the best shower he has ever had.

Kitchen sink looks out over one lawn area

Kitchen is a good size with more dishes than we could possibly use. 

Large dining room table

Enough chairs in our lounge room .  The modem didn't quite send to the far end of the passageway.

Conservatory was lovely and warm when the sun shone.  With lots of sitting spaces too.

 Paved courtyard area

 We had two gates to get out - both had padlocks that needed to be unlocked and locked each time.  (and beware of the dog signs)
The house is in the centre of a block, so two laneways lead in to it and its sister house.

 Better view of how the conservatory is added on to the house.  The shelter to the left is for the barbeque and outdoor setting.  Trevor and Thom are cooking a barbeque.

Our hire car remained parked here for the whole time that we were in Bath.  We walked everywhere.  This shows the other gates to get in.

Barbeque happening.