Miles walked: 6

Elevation gain: 342 ft.

Accomodations: Badger Hall

Today was a shorter walk, so we took our time leaving Winchcombe. Actually, we took our time the whole day, and had lots of time to spare. Winchcombe is an old town, over 1000 years old! High Street, where the White Hart Inn is, is a very busy street. Many of the buildings are half-timbered and all are old, but there is quite a variety of businesses occupying this area. Since it was quieter on Sunday morning than Saturday afternoon, I was able to get some pictures of a few of the buildings. Once out of town, we met very few people until later on around Hailes Abbey.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day. As we left Winchcombe behind, the church bells were chiming, the birds were singing, and occasionally we could hear the whistle of a steam engine on an excursion train. It made a beautiful melody. The trees were magnificent and I wanted to take a photo every few hundred feet. At two miles, we had planned to stop at Hailes Abbey; we were disappointed, though, to see the sign stating they were only open for pre-booked tours. David and I stopped here in 2017 and were able to tour the grounds and visit their excellent museum. It’s was such a memorable stop, I was looking forward to sharing it with Nancy, June, and John. We couldn’t even see the ruins from the road. We moved on, and parts of the road became more familiar to me as we followed the Cotswold Way through Stanway and on to Stanton.

We arrived in Stanton at 1:30 despite our dawdling. Stanton has no shops and just one pub up a steep hill. I remembered that climb from our stay here in 2017 and was not inclined to go up. We all waited in the shade by the war memorial for the taxi, except for June who wandered off down the lane towards the pub. She soon was back with the surprise of a cool drink for us. It was much appreciated! Our taxi arrived promptly at 2:15 to take us to Chipping Camden. We couldn’t check in to Badger Hall until 4:00, so after ringing the bell with no response and a bit more dithering we ended up going to a tea house. David and I both enjoyed a fruit scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam, which ruined us for dinner. We spent the time until four sitting in the sun laughing and discussing the trials and tribulations of all the plumbing we have encountered. The showers have given us the most trouble once again. Some of the problems have included when I accidentally pulled part of the shower controls apart, cold water coming out of the shower head unexpectedly, (multiple times!) never knowing how to operate the shower, shower doors making it impossible to adjust the water without getting under the shower, settling for a bath when we wanted a shower because we really couldn’t figure out how to work it…I could go on but I’ll just end that here.

Our hosts were still not in when we rang the bell at 4:00, but a friend close-by who watches for guests came and let us in to the back garden and gave our host a call. (She was still out because she thought we were walking all the way from Winchcombe and wouldn’t arrive until later.) We sat in the back garden surrounded by plants in pots and she soon was there. This is one of the nicest places we have stayed in. Big rooms and very comfortable! We are happy to be spending two nights here.

It is hard to believe, but we only have two walking days left. Tomorrow is listed as eight miles, but I think it will be longer, and we definitely will have more climbing. The weather looks to be gorgeous again so we are going to live dangerously and leave our rain gear behind!

• To Moreton-in-Marsh, April 29
• To Chipping Camden, April 28
• To Stanton, April 27
• To Winchcombe, April 26
• To Guiting Power, April 25
• To Bourton-on-the-Water, April 24
• To Stow-on-the-Wold, April 23
• A Rest Day and a Train Trip to Remember, April 21-22
• To Eastbourne, April 20
• To Alfriston, April 19
• To Kingston/Lewes, April 18
• To Poynings, April 17
• To Bramber/Upper Beeding, April 16
• Rest Day in Amberley
• To Amberley, April 14
• To Cocking, April 13
• To Buriton, April 12
• To Meonstoke, April 11
• Winchester, April 10