Tuesday 5 August 2014

Are We Nearly There Yet? The Missing Photos.

I've now returned to civilisation and have a passable internet connection once more.   One of the curses of being a wage slave is that if you take any holiday, you just return to work to find that you have a serious backlog to try and catch up with, which is exactly what has happened to me.  What follows here therefore, is a quick selection of photos from the first six days of the sponsored walk along the Cotswold Way that bandwidth restrictions prevented me from uploading with the last blog entry.  Details of the final few days will appear in the next day or two.

Day 1:  Bath -> Cold Ashton
Bath Green Park Station
No fun.... and sadly no trains either
Chris, came along specially to see us off.
Tina and me at Bath Green Park station
Bath Abbey
Royal Crescent
Tina looks back at Kelston Hill from Lansdown
Lansdown Hill, scene of a civil war battle
    
Day 2: Cold Ashton -> Hawksbury Upton
Cold Ashton haunted house?
Butterflies were prolific, but camera shy.
Even Tina had to duck to get under this tree blocking the route
This Peacock butterfly was easy to photograph, it was dead
Dyrham Park, plus some of the many foreigners on the trail, these 2 were Canadians
One of Dyrham Park's herd of deer, we saw several wild ones too.
Crossing the M4 at Tormarton
Horton Folly (built about 2000 for bats and barn owls)
Tina admiring the view just south of Hawkesbury Upton

Day 3:  Hawksbury Upton -> Dursley
General Lord Robert Somerset's monument
Tina and her spare tyre (that's me in trouble.... again)
The dog that adopted us near Wotton-Under-Edge
Wotton-Under-Edge, we stopped for lunch under the tree on the right
Tyndale Monument at North Nibley
The view from the top of Tyndale monument
Tina clambers up the last of the 121 steps of Tyndale Monument
Sign post to "Not Nibley" and "Watery Bottom"
A fridge of chilled water for thirsty walkers, very welcome indeed.
A view from Stinchcombe Hill
A different view from Stinchcombe Hill

Day 4:  Dursley to Haresfield Beacon

Derek, searching for his car keys
15 minutes later...  I spotted them hanging from the look of the boot!
Looking back at Dursley from Cam Long Down
Tina and Derek admiring the view
All roads lead to Rome Springfield Farm
Unable to find a bar, Derek props up a tree instead
Derek checks out the toposcope at Coaley Park
A glider approaches a nearby airfield
And Derek was wearing red!
Direct route or scenic route.... guess which one they chose.
Derek & Tina on the "scenic route's" Selsley Common
Selsley West and its fascinating church
Swans on the tow path... vicious brutes.

Day 5:  Haresfield Beacon -> Birdlip
Haresfield Beacon view point
Tina texting...  yup, my company was that boring!
Approximately half way
Painswick church
There is a high mortality rate amongst walkers on the Cotswold Way
Still a few poppies out, and appropriate as I'm writing this on 4th August
Two of these three golfers got extremely close to incapacitating both Tina and me
Looking down Cooper's Hill, scene of the famous cheese rolling event.

Day 6:  Birdlip Hill to Cleeve Hill
Barrow Wake Viewpoint
Display Board at Lechhampton Hill
Toposcope at Leckhampton Hill
The view across Cheltenham to Cleeve Hill
Very much later, the view from Cleeve Hill to Cheltenham Race Course and station
Somewhere or other on the top of Cleeve Hill
Topscope and trig point on the top of Cleeve Hill
And last, but definitely not least, the photo of Dan having just passed out as a fireman:
Dan (L) being congratulated by Chris (inspector)
Although we have finished the sponsored walk along the Cotswold Way now, (details to follow in the next few days), the online website for sponsoring us will be open for a little while longer yet, so if you haven't so far sponsored us in aid of the Broadway station appeal and you would like to, then please do so by clicking here.

1 comment:

  1. Masochism reared it's head on Monday 28th July 2014 when I chose to join Tina and Ray to do the scheduled short 10.5 walk along the Cotswold Way from Dursley to Randwick/Haresfield Beacon. I further compounded my 'enjoyment' by agreeing to "do the extra 2 miles" which came about via the signpost to Ryeford (Or Ryford as some signs said!). One "offer" was 3.5 miles, the other route 1.5 miles!! Given the choice by Ray I actually, doom brain like, decided to do the longer route!! Well, it was all for the aim of joining Laverton up to Broadway so..... In the end, we arrived at Tina's car some 7hrs 15 mins after we'd set off so, I guess nearer 12 miles completed than the 10.5 but, no pedometer fitted thus, we may never know!! Beautiful day, marvellous 'free' scenery and good company! The nearest pub, once we'd left the environs of Dursley itself, was the "Rose and Crown" at Nympsfield but even that was only by virtue of a sign directing potential supper uppers to it! Resilience won the day and we continued to our goal!! Bar for aching knee joints, it's much worse going down than up hill, survived well, - then again, I didn't have any "falling down fluid"! A little miffed that, bar for three joining the 102 milers on the last day, few took up the challenge but of course, YOU CAN STILL DONATE PEEPS!!

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