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  • Day 12

    King's Stanley to Dursley, June 10

    June 10, 2018 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    There is always a tough hiking day for many reasons...weather, pack weight, shoes, mud, terrain and / or hills. Today was tough due to hills...steep up and steeper down. The hike was only around 7 miles, and I say that because we always wander around a bit so the mileage is longer than what the guidebook suggests. Anyway, I am ahead so let's go to the beginning of the day.

    Breakfast was not up to the quality of the Troy House, nor were the accomodations, but acceptable to us as this was a one night stay. Arlene asked for a more direct route to the trailhead as we had to leave the trail for the B & B and our hostess suggested making a right out of the drive, go straight and we would find it. OK, we did that and came to an intersection of three trails. One went left up some stairs, one went straight and was marked as a restricted way, and the third branched to the right marked as a public walking trail. I had an idea that the Cotswold Way was up and to our left, but we first took the right side trail as it appeared to climb and circle the hill, but soon it curved down and to the right so a bad choice. Next we tried the restricted way which was muddy and narrow. We saw a runner running down the trail so I thought he was coming from the Cotswold Way...we turned to walk up the trail and shortly I noticed footprints on the lefthand embankment so I climbed it, hand over hand and saw trail supports. Wonderful, "come on up Arlene", but she said "no". Soon she saw another runner running down the restricted access way and he said to walk back the mile we had already come, so I told Arlene I would meet her at the foot of the stairs that we had seen earlier. As I was walking along the trail towards the stairs, I came across a stile and on it was the Cotswold Way emblem. Success at last! She climbed the stairs and we were on our way seeing some outstanding views from the hillsides.

    We walked by the picnic area near Frocester Hill to enjoy the remarkable views and met an English couple who were out walking and enjoying the views as well. We discussed the Cotswold Way and their enjoyment of it (these folks must have been in their late 70's or even the early 80's). When the question came up as to our origin, they responded with how they enjoyed seeing Bryson City and driving the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway several years ago when they were visiting the States. Made for more interesting conversation.

    Our way took us by two more ancient burial sites dating to the Neolithic period, up the side of Cam Long Down (the picture does not do justice to the steepness of the trail) to see the distant cities and terrain, then down again to enter the really neat village of Dursley where we saw the old market house built in 1738, had a quick coffee and boiled fruitcake at a streetside cafe, and walked through the car free pedestrian area with shops galore. We went into a grocery store looking for a pumice stone and noticed some ostrich breasts for sale in the meat counter. Never tried ostrich before, but it will have to wait as the grill is not here and we are eating Italian tonight. Ahhh, another meal to contemplate.

    Our B & B is quite nice, our hostess was pleasant even though we were early, and is making dinner reservations for us. Breakfast is also planned and she gave us a tip on the walk for tomorrow. All that before 2 PM.

    The Italian meal was outstanding and we are both stuffed. Arlene enjoyed the penna pasta with chicken and I had a seafood risotto. Dessert was a custard, panacotta, and delicious. We need to really retire and do this all the time.

    Tomorrow is another opportunity to sample more wonderful scenery and food.
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