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Published: September 17th 2017
Geo: 51.7867, -2.19392
Ok, first the good news.....there is NO bad news!!
Now on to our day! We left California Farm with deepest regrets. The place was simply stunning....the views, the hospitality, the food, the accomodations.....seriously, a terrific stay!
First, before I forget, I need to tell the tale of our arrival yesterday. The guide book we are using contains maps which are had drawn but are very detailed. Our mistake the first day wasn't the books fault....we missed a sign post. (We found this out by talking with a Cotswold Way trail worker) Anyway, the maps are not to scale so sometimes its a little difficult, a lot difficult to judge distances.
We knew we needed to go past a farm with an enviable garden and then THOUGHT we needed to go past thenext farm and take a right down a little dirt trail to a larger track which would them lead us to the driveway of the California Farm. Weeeeellllll, we failed to realize that the farm with the enviable garden was the farm we needed to turn at.....it might not have mattered, the trail wasn't very clear. Soooooo, Mom and I went baja over fences and through sheep pastures and gates til
we were trapped by the words "electrical fence"! Thankfully, I have a rather large mouth and was able to the the attention of a gentleman in the driveway.
"Excuse me! We are a little lost. We're looking for California Farm!"
"Well, you've found it.....where did you come from?"
"Uh, up on the trail"
"That should lead you up the driveway!"
"Uh, well, I think we got a little confused....we came through the pasture! By the way....is this fence electrified?"
"Oh heavens, no. It used to be!"
"Thank goodness....Mom? Do you need a boost?"
Some random observations I've been meaning to share:
The English are super friendly....and chatty, which makes for lovely conversation. It takes a lot to keep up with me but these ladies AND gentlemen can all tell a good tale!
Everyone has dogs.....EVERYONE! And they all walk with them off leash out in the coutryside.
Everyone goes for walks out on these paths that seem to be eveywhere. We run into lots of people daily who are just out taking the dog for a walk. Two ladies were jogging this morning with a cattle dog and two dachshunds! They're little legs were just working overtime!
We've seen no roadkill....nothing! Everytime we see something in the road, it ends up
being horse poop. And we've seen a lot of horse poop!
Speaking of roadkill, today we walked through lots of wooded areas....sometimes it reminded us of Northern Michigan and sometimes it was more like Hocking Hills. The point I was gonna make is that we really haven't seen many squirrels.....two today. That's it. I think they've eaten them all up!
So our walk today was a little easier than the last two. The terrain was more level and it was mostly through woods and every so often you'd pop out in the middle of a town or have to cross a super busy road. We don't take chances......we run across when its clear! I think drivers here get extra points if they hit a walker and they speed up to give it their best shot!
We ate lunch at a place called the Air Balloon Inn.....Mom is so tickled to eat off the senior menu. It's always a deal like 2 courses for 5 pounds (which means she gets dessert for free). Lunch was delicious, she had treacle pudding and she savored every bite.
The Inn was nice enough to fill our water bottles for the remaining 8 miles and on we went. This
was the first day we didn't just eat out on the trail and so we'd had more to drink than normal......this brings me to my story of the day. Well, there's always th chance that you might have to answer nature's call out in, we, nature. We've walked up on a few people who were clearly finishing up. So when you have to go, you take your chances because it seems like the only tim you run into people are when you have to go! Anyway, I had to go and had picked out a lovely little spot where you could sort of hang over......I know, too much information, but there's a science to this! You want to take as little chance as possible to pee on your self! So as I was going, I heard a lady's voice! So I was tring to locate whether she was near or far.....coming from up the trail or down. I hear her again as I'm zipping up when I realize, that I must have done something when I bent over because the "lady" was the voice control on my Ipod, lol.
Off to Dursley today! No wireless tonight. Hopefully, we'll have some
at the Dog Inn in Old Sodbury when we get there tomorrow! Hope all is well with everyone!
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Ko
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Luv the "nature" story. It reminds me of the time I was in a similar situation in a woods when an entire "boy scout troop" came marching by. The problem? I wasn't finished yet but had to make it look like I was with pants up and zipped (
as I continued to let it roll down my leg.) Needless to say, the lake nearby was a good cover-up. Especially if you like to swim with your clothes on!