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Published: September 22nd 2007
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Wednesday 2nd May Today I picked up my replacement bike (the wounds were still fresh), an 07 Specialized Rockhopper from a guy outside Notting Hill tube station. Apart from a snapped brake lever where he'd hit a pole it was like new. Now I just had to buy all the accessories again. At least I had wheels again, walking sucks!
Thursday 3rd May Continuing the streak of bad luck, I tubed it to Wimbledon to pick up a TomTom portable GPS unit I'd bought for Em (to stop her getting lost all the time) and it turned out to be faulty. Also snapped my Walkman headphones and my week old shoes were already falling apart. Thinking of Matt Moo puts things into perspective though and I get over it pretty quickly.
Saturday 5th May HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTY!! Oh, and Paul!!
The Cotswolds!! (I gotta cut down on my exclamations!! Or coffee!!)
Jumped in the Pug nice and early and headed westward bound for Cheltenham. A nice 2 hour trip had us there before we knew it, so we checked out the town centre for a bit before heading out to Hotel de La Bere,
a 15th century Tudor manor house with loads of character and its walls seemed to breathe history like an ancient tree. The grounds were very peaceful and the rooms were quite nice, but the best bit was that it was only £65 a night. A short drive to the foothills of Cheltenham brought us into some downhill mountain biking nirvana and a great place for a walk. As we ascended up the dense forest trail, we came across the ancient ruins of an iron age hills fortress. Before reaching the top we had a go on a tree swing and I managed to hit the ground taking a bit of bark off my posterior.
The views from the top were spectacular. The entirety of Cheltenham town could be seen along with rolling hills and green and yellow fields of grass and canola. The air was fresh, the sky was blue, great views, what more could you ask for? A leisurely stroll down through the lush forest and back to the Pug, which took us back to the manor. We were fading away now with all this trekking so walked down to the local pub for the thickest 10oz burger
and some nice prawn noodles.
Sunday 6th May Today was our day to explore the quaint little interlinked towns that make The Cotswolds so famous. First stop was Chipping Campden, and although the route plotted for us by the GPS on the laptop probably wasn't the quickest, it was certainly the most scenic. We drove down narrow single lane tracks more suited to horses than cars but it was great to get out amongst the real countryside past old farmhouses, and every sheep seemed to have two lambs by its side looking quite content. This was quintessential Beatrix Potter country and now I know how she gained her inspiration.
Chipping Campden looked like the stereotypical ye olde English village, and appeared not to have been affected too much by the last century or two. An old market hall dating back to the 17th century was situated in the centre of the town, with old stone buildings (shops and housing) lining the main street and situated at the north end - St James Church, which was a wool church rebuilt in the 15th century. Wool was big business here and it made Chipping Campden one of the
most important towns in the UK in its heyday. Walking around some of the back streets we got to see some of the locals houses and how well presented their gardens were. It was obvious they took great pride in their town.
Stow-On-The-Wold was the next town on the list and it one of the more well known of the little Cotswold towns. A vast Market Square lies at it's heart where as many as 20,000 sheep were sold at one time at the height of the Cotwolds wool industry. Around the square is an elegant array of town houses with an ancient cross at one end. We browsed around some of the gift shops, had a cappa at a nice cafe and had to grab some Turkish delight at the lolly shop. After a bit of a stroll down the hill past a nice pub we headed back to the Pug for the next leg.
Lower Slaughter was a very quaint town with the little Eye stream running through it. Despite the name of the town, it was very peaceful and I couldn't imagine anyone slaughtering anything after winding down here for a while. An old mill
Contemplation
Overlooking Cheltenham with original water wheel was at the edge of the town which had been converted into a tea and gift shop. Upper Slaughter was only one mile away connected by the Eye stream. It was much the same as Lower but had a large 15th century Manor house which had been converted into a hotel. We saw the owners depart shortly after we got there in a couple of flash helicopters which had been parked right next to the hotel. I won't call them bastards because they probably worked very hard to get where they are. How bout I just let you call them bastards. As we were leaving Em decided she couldn't hang on despite my protests and managed to squat in a patch of stinging nettle, leaving a nasty rash in her nether regions.
Bourton On The Water was the last port of call today and was handily only a couple of miles from the Slaughters. It is called the "Little Venice" of the Cotswolds due to the river Windrush running through it with the elegant low bridges that cross it. Tree shaded grassy areas lined the river which were popular with the gaggles of tourists. Back
from the river, the traditional Cotswolds stone building housed tourist shops and we checked out an auto museum/shop that had, apart from heaps of car paraphernalia, one of the original Brum cars from the TV show (the kids and Mums would know Brum). It had just started to sprinkle so we jumped back in the Pug and headed back to Cheltenham to our cosy room and a bit of room service.
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