Day 7 - Romantic Road, Cotswolds

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Waking up this morning after a late night was a little hard. I did know, though, that I was going to have a really good breakfast downstairs. We asked for breakfast to be ready around 8:45 so we got showered, dressed, and headed downstairs. The dining room has a large table and a beautiful, rustic fireplace. We walked in and met Gabby who is staying here on vacation from Germany. She brought her car (BMW, of course) on an overnight ferry. I think that's one of the best things about living in Europe; you can get to soooo many countries so easily and quickly. Robert and Erin came in and introduced themselves, as well. They are from Virginia and just got done driving Scotland. Why is everyone we meet here from the Northeast? They did their masters at Penn State and we agreed that we're glad it's over. Sarah made me an egg with bacon (local) and I had a couple pieces of toast made with homemade bread. Oh, and the jams? Homemade, as well. I could've kept eating that all day but the Thais needed the bread and we needed to get going for our drive of the countryside.



We stopped to see the horses on the way down the driveway and to take a picture of the car that I was hoping to get back in one piece. The Romantic Road is a 43 mile winding journey through the Cotswolds. The narrow roads have me seriously wondering about how this drive will go...especially on the left. The first stop was Hailes Abbey, which was a church (abbey) built in 1246 by an earl who survived a storm at sea. It apparently got so bad out there that he prayed and promised God that if he made it back, he'd build the most beautiful church around. He made good on his promise, we're told, but the site is just ruins now. It became a site of pilgrimage due to a vial of Christ's blood being on display here. It had a large monastery who tended to an impressive sized heard of 4,000 sheep and grew tobacco. With all of the religious hoopla of who should follow what, King Henry VIII had the blood declared fake and the abbey was put out of service. It was later dismantled for the stone and other resources.



It turns out that I really don't think they have speed limits. Even if they did, we didn't see any cops until our drive was already over and we were just tooling around. There are signs for speed cameras in a lot of places, but we read online that they don't generally use them. Even still, it would be incredibly unsafe to speed here (even if you could get the car up that high) with all of the narrow roads with cars and bicycles coming at you. Even the occasional horseback rider is out and about. Another confusing thing is that there are only white lines in the road so sometimes it's hard to decipher if the two lanes of traffic go in the same direction or opposite directions. The traffic lights are also weird to me because instead of going red to green, they go red, yellow (or amber as they call it here) comes on, and then they both turn off and then green lights up. Letting you know that green is coming is actually useful, because the Mercedes engine turns off when you are stopped. Then as soon as you see the yellow come on and take your foot off the break, it starts back up again. Odd but still cool.



We passed through so many beautiful and small little villages. It feels like you are back in another time, minus all of the cars parked in the towns. You don't see very many cars actually driving the roads, even though this is a hugely popular vacation spot for many around the UK. When I think of England, this is what I think of. The houses are made of stone and are covered with ivy. They have colorful flowering bushes in front, alongside firewood on the front porches. The roads are flanked by fields of sheep and stonewalls that run into the distance, of which you can see very far due to the flatness of the land. Even pheasants are running across the road in front of us. I feel like I'm in a Thomas Kinkade painting! Interesting tidbit: during WWII, many children were sent here from London where heavy bombing was taking place.



All of the villages were great, but there were a few very notable ones. Our favorite was Burton-on-the-Water, which is referred to as the Venice of the Cotswolds. There are lots of little shops that we hit while walking towards the center of town. Once we got there, we realized there is a stream that runs right down the middle of it. There are a few little bridges that cross it and take you to the other side with some more shops along the water. Ducks were swimming in the stream and people were walking their dogs along the water. We grabbed a baguette filled with chicken, bacon, and sweetcorn and sat in the grass under a tree. I love the pace of this region. Everyone takes time to just enjoy the surroundings and it seems like everyone is in a good mood! Now if only I could find a farmer's market. No such luck, but BEHOLD: a used Land Rover dealership! Everything here is small so there are just a handful of vehicles for sale, but the one that caught my eye is an old Defender. These are from the 70's and 80's and are really popular to restore, even with modern conveniences. Aw man, it's sold...I bet Kristi is thankful because this was never going to fit into our luggage. I used the toilet (they don't say restroom, which I think is so much more polite, but whatever) and it cost 20 pence. It was worth it...a public bathroom that was tiled and actually smelled clean!



Our next favorite was probably Lower Slaughter. No, it's not the filming location of a horror film, but rather, slaughter refers to a low-lying muddy place. I'm assuming this would have been so before the houses and bridges and such. The stream running through this village is teeming with trout (brook, if my memory serves correctly) that are gobbling up the insects that fall into the water. We crossed a bridge and walked toward an old mill (with working waterwheel). We passed several houses on the way, and I realized that I don't think I could live in a popular place like this. Everyone, including us, is walking by and taking pictures and gawking. Although, I bet my brick oven pizzeria would do well here. The mill is about out of a postcard and even includes a little shop. Oh dear, there's even homemade, organic ice cream. Two please!



The last place we really liked was Bibury. I heard it's one of the best stops, but we were running low on time (not fuel, though, thanks to the turbo-diesel). Another stream with trout winds through here and there are even a few people on the other side fly fishing. We didn't actually get to go into the village, but we did find a momma swan with seven babies hanging out in the water. Kristi stayed back and watched them while I went up a little side hill to look for some good photo ops.



We kept passing signs referring to the Cotswold Way which is a walking path that's 102 miles long. I would have loved to walk some of it, but we didn't have a map, not to mention I got my walk on every day in London. We got back into Willersey and had dinner at the same place as the night before. Everything was good but the sticky toffee pudding was the best thing we've eaten so far on this trip. I don't even know how to describe it. It was like a piece of chocolate sponge cake but with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg maybe. Then poured over that was hot toffee which was left to pool at the bottom of the bowl. The pièce de résistance was a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Stuffed, we waddled back to the farm and crawled into bed. We heard some commotion out in the garden so we stealthily peered out the window and saw the Thai guests practicing their dancing. Holy cow, they are incredibly impressive. Like something I've only seen on TV before. I was gonna go down there and show them how we do it back in 'Merica, but I was too full.



We're off to Paris tomorrow. The flight was only $60, so how could we go wrong? Our hotel there is supposed to have a bit of a view of the Tour Eiffel (thats how they refer to the tower) so we're excited about that!

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Photos

Rental Car
I think it's a C220 CDI. There's no name or model on the back of it like normal, which is weird but not uncommon here. It gets really good mpg and the engines last a lot longer because it's diesel; I wonder why more people in the states don't drive these.

Cotswolds Door
I think just about every house here has a lilac bush. You can literally smell them just walking down the street.

Lamb
One of the many fields of sheep that we saw along the drive. Spring is a good time to come here because of all the new life you find. Flowers are blooming and there's baby animals everywhere. This field also had its fair share of ring-neck pheasants running about.

Hailes Abbey
This is what's left of Hailes. The grass on the wall is there on purpose to protect the walls from any further damage. It takes the brunt of the rain, hail, etc.

Cotswolds Way
This sign shows the way of the 102 mile trail. There were lots of people in town that were in their hiking apparel that I'm guessing were making a stop on this journey.

Old Mill in Lower Slaughter
The building the foreground is really a house along the path to the old mill. The wheel still turns while the water rushes over it. This is the site of some really great homemade ice cream, too.

The Grey Cottage
Could this look any more like a storybook?

Bourton-on-the-Water
Everyone is taking advantage of this weather, the Cotswolds being no exception. I'm surprised you don't see a dog in this picture because they were out in full force today.

Bourton-on-the-Water
To the right is a theatre and little shops, behind that houses. To the left and across the street are shops and restaurants. It's very quiet and relaxing here, despite all the people.

Mallard
One of the many ducks chillin' in the stream and on the grass.

Land Rover Defender
We saw this on the way in and I had to go take a look at it. It seems like every other house has one of these, but not usually restored ones.

Romantic Road
This is part of the windy Romantic Road. It's really peaceful, but can be stressful because of the hairpin turns and oncoming traffic. The sites are definitely worth it, though.

Bridge at Bibury
There is actually a trout farm just up the road from this bridge. The fishing is exclusive to the people staying at The Swan Hotel and appears to be quite good. I think I need to learn how to fly fish; maybe put grandpa's old rod and reel to good use.

Swans
This momma swan must be pretty proud, as she managed to get seven babies this year. I'm guessing these guys are a month or so old. They were all on the bank but mom gave a mighty uh, quack (do swans quack?), and they followed her single file down the stream.

Cotswolds House
Yet another example of a picturesque house here. The one next door is listed by Sotheby's and has a real thatched roof.

Broadway Tower
This is the highest castle in the Cotswolds. It also has a view, on a clear day, of 16 counties, the most of any spot in the UK. It was put here very purposefully to guard a major trade route.

Sheep
This guy's in need of a sheer, I think.