June 28 Pershore

 Again I refer you to Alex and Alex's blog for an account of today's Five Bridges and Tiddesley Wood Walk, a meander that did not thrill either Alex but I thought was rather pleasant and would have liked to lengthen by following more paths through the woods.  Perhaps the biggest disappointment was that there were not five bridges.  There was one: 

for sure.  I did, however, take a pre-walk along the Avon, which turned out to be part of our route back, so this photo may appear again (remember, you can click on photos to enlarge:

As may this: 

After a couple of hours meandering, I returned to town where I decided to take advantage of the facilities, which, as you can see, are very welcoming::

They are also very high-tech:

Yes, you swipe your hand over the thingee to close the door and then to open the door.  I do think the Brits win the prize for providing the finest toilet facilities for public use.

Pershore boasts a great Abbey and park but otherwise is a rather dreary town.  It has seen better days....or not.  Maybe Alex and Alex got the honeymoon suite at the Boot Inn in Flyford Flavell, but I got the single-olde-lady room at the Angel Inn in Pershore.  Wi-fi?  She's too old, she does not need much of a connection and besides, she can just take her compute out into the hall or prop the bedroom door open if she wants a signal.  (Alex and Alex had 4 bars of reception in their room!)  Noise?  She can't hear all those trucks and cars zooming down the main street through town.  (Alex and Alex's room overlooked the patio.)  But I slept well enough to be off before 6:00 a.m. for the next day's adventure.

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June 27 Worcester and June 28 Flyford Flavel to Pershore

 Dear friends, for the events of June 27, the museums visited, the items seen, and the experiences experienced, I direct you to Alex and Alex's blog  where you will find a detailed and most entertaining account.  If the doings of the day have not yet been posted, they will be soon!  

Today was the walk from Hell!  I did this walk alone, so read about the A's experience on their blog, but maybe they fared better because I did act as a sort of scout, having headed out hours before they did, like at the time of creation:  

                    

so I was able to warn them of pitfalls to avoid.  Texting is wonderful!  Spoiler alert:  They really enjoyed the walk!!  And my advisements had nothing to do with their success.  

Cows:

I was not thrilled to realize that I actually had to turn around and enter the pasture wherein these extremely friendly bovines were grazing.  It was just luck that they did not block the exit gate.  Now I just spoke to Alex, recently arrived at the Angel Inn in Pershore, who  told me that these cows did not pay her or Alex a lick of attention.  Go figure!

Tell me that this is not the cutest little house ever!

The walk, was, for the most part, boring, punctuated by a few good views.  Lots of overgrown, grassy fields, lots of thorns and thistles, and it does not help when you push yourself through a very long row of thick barley only to realize, after I don't know how long, that you are not supposed to be trudging through the barley at all, but rather you were supposed to have attended to an unmarked brown post, which, had it been marked, would have sent you on a path parallel to the barley field but on the other side of the impassable brush where you could actually then get to the road.  Alex and Alex did not err here.

There were about three of these situations, so I climbed wire fences, wire fences with barbed wire, wire fences with barbed wire and and a wooden barrier.  Fortunately, none were electric.

We went out for Indian food tonight.  It was delicious!

June 26, Winchcombe to Broadway

A perfectly lovely walk.  The picture says it all:  

    Got an email from last night's hotel telling me to call them because my credit card had been declined.  It would have been nice had they provided a number. Pero bueno. Called, couldn't get through, called credit card company, someone actually answered, I stated the problem, voice at other end directed me to a "specialist," specialist put me through a drill that even the FBI couldn't drum up, not to mention all the nonsense they have to read on the screen telling you how sorry they are and all.  You are ready to scream.   Finally the card is unblocked.  I tell specialist, "Please put a note in my account that I will be using this card in England until August 10,"  "No need, Madam, there is no need for preauthorization for overseas travel."  Mustering every ounce of assertiveness I don't have, I replied, "Yes, there is a need.  My card has been declined at least three times this past week, and I would like to use it while I am in the UK."  "Is there anything else I can help you with today?"  I really wanted to say, "Now that you ask, Dropbox on my phone is not performing as it should.  And my GPS keeps beeping to alert me that I am off course when I am not, and sometimes it doesn't when I am. Any suggestions?"

  

  Then I went out to take a walk along the High Street and buy an ice cream.

Since this is a slow news day, I would like to insert here a word about essential items.  A scissors.  You know all those little packets that say "tear here," only they never do?  A scissors is what you need.  Second essential: containers that are manufactured for a specific need.  I refer to humangear stax, for example, little plastic tubs with screw-on lids that keep your jam, butter, peanut butter and other essentials from spilling and making a mess in your suitcase.  

Alex and Alex have arrived to join the adventure for about ten days.  It was great to see them and if you want a really entertaining and informative account of what we will be doing for the next week or so, and what they have already done in London, I send you to:   <https://alexandalexacrossamerica.wordpress.com> 

(You may have to copy and paste the link, but do!)

June 25, Warden's Way

 A word of warning to the traveler who might be leaving his/her/its/their accommodation before the breakfast hour:  do not, I repeat, do not surrender your key until you are sure you can exit all doors of the premises.  Fortunately, I was able to retrieve my key to unlock the outer door, but it was a close call and the thought of being stuck in a vestibule for at least two hours was infuriating.  What kind of fire code allows a building to require a key to unlock an exit door from the inside?   

    Imagine, if you will, this scenario that could take place in a hotel in the middle of the night.  

"Clovis, wake up!  Wake up!  I smell smoke."

Tiredly, Clovis groans, "Do you, Darling?"

"Yes, in fact it is getting thicker and it is hot."

"Oh, dear, perhaps I should investigate."

"Yes, Clovis, I think you should."

Clovis goes out into the hall where, indeed, there is very thick smoke.  Coughing and with eyes tearing, he returns to the room.  "Darling, we must make a getaway."

Clovis and Darling put on their slippers and bathrobes because you never know whom you might meet in a fire in the middle of the night.  They head toward the exit door.  Clovis pulls on the handle. The door does not open.  Darling shoves him out of the way and she pulls on the handle.  The door does not open. Both Clovis and Darling are now coughing and their robes have come undone.  This is most distressing.

Clovis: "This bloody door is locked, locked, I say.  It seems to require a key.  Did you bring the key, perchance?"  

"What?  Are you crazy, Clovis?  My gown has no pocket, and besides, you had the key, not I."

As Clovis and Darling argue over the key, they begin to get dizzy, so dizzy that they no longer care that they are in an immodest state of undress.  They try to make their way back to their room.  Flames are now visible from under a door across the way.  And that is the story of Clovis and Darling.  The end.

    Wardens Way is the sister route to the Windrush Way as in both run between Winchcombe and Bourton-on-the-Water.  One difference is that on the Windrush Way there are no towns, whereas on Wardens Way there are two!  I did not linger in either.

A pretty bridge:

An even prettier bridge no-longer-in-use:

Back to the tall wet grass, of which there was less today than there was the other day and most of the passages were wide enough so that you did not get soaked, but for situations such as this:

rain pants save your socks, insoles and boots!

These mooo-ers I just can't get enough of them!!

Forget about the road less traveled and all that, you really do want to take the correct fork, because even though I cannot do the math, I do know that the distance between the paths at the end point will be many many many times greater than the angle at the beginning.

How I wish I had known about this some ten minutes prior:

Just when it was getting really hot and there was a fair amount of exposed up-hill, one enters, with joy, a forest:

I'm all for that:

but maybe their codes are a little bit rusty.

An impassable gate.  It even had a lock for which you needed a key. (Keys seem to be so in today.)

Fortunately, the wooden barriers to the sides were scaleable.  

I know that now-a-days one is not supposed to notice nationality or anything like that, but I do notice and I want to say that I have had the most fun talking to people of Indian origin.  Today I had a pleasant encounter with a couple in their 50's, give or take, walking part of Windward Way. The husband was hiking in flip-flops just like someone I know might like to!  As far as the Americans I have met so far, well, I hate to say it, but they have seemed so out to lunch. 

Back in Winchcombe but this time not at the Plaisterers Arms but in the best room at the Lion Inn!  Yes, I sprung for that AND FOR A FEE OF £20 a guaranteed early check-in.  The room is very nice for a pub-type of lodging: large and bright, and it has its own little outdoor seating area, but it really needs a fan and the linens are like what you would send to camp.  Anyway, I got talking to the young woman who showed me to the room and it turns out she has Crohn's, so we had what to talk about.  She waived the £20 charge for early check-in.  

There is a "delicatessen" and a small grocery store in Winchcombe (aside from restaurants).  I bought a cheese+pickle panini and a vegetable tart from the fancy deli.  The vegetable tart was, ok, remember that movie where they ate hamburger helper without the hamburger? That is what this tart was like. The vegetables on top were just for show. And the cheese and pickle panini had a surprise within: HAM!  Sometimes, you just can't win!  The grocery, though disappointing in general, carries a particularly fine lettuce, so at least we're good for salad, and if you mix Fanta with San Pellegrino you get a delicious beverage.  Squeeze in some lemon juice and you are living well! 

June 24 Bourton on the Water

Off this morning on a circular walk that took me to Stow-on-the-Wold, which looks something like Bourton-on-the-Water only it is on the Wold and Bourton is on the Water.  What, you may ask, is a wold?  Either an open space like a moor or not an open space but a forest.  Take your pick.

Who says barkers and meowers can't get along?

The bovines got out of the way, a little bit reluctantly because it meant that first they had to stand up, then they followed me.  One was a little frisky, which was a bit worrisome:

Now this is a much more communicative sign:

Don't we all look so smiley when we are about to have gum surgery or an extraction or whatever?  Yes!  Because it is so much fun!  

And this is where I was today!!  

I got back from my 11 mile walk in time to return to Birdland to attend the 11:00 talk on penguins.  The talk was interesting, but nothing that would not be in a standard article.  I was, however, surprised to learn that some varieties of penguin can live as far north as the equator.  That is what the zoo-keep said.  

At Birdland, there are a few other critters:

Bourton is an upscale Cotswold town with all the upscale kitchy shops you would expect, lots of coffee shops, more carbohydrate concoctions than you can imagine, both savoury and sweet, lots of ice cream possibilities, candy shoppes, a lovely river in which kids and dogs can wade and frolic:

people spread out all over the town green enjoying a good time, and a very good grocery store.  Oh, and the hub of many many walking routes. 

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• What makes it truly lovely is the landscaping....and the architecture.  All in all I give Bourton o t Water 5 stars.  

 

June 23, Winchcombe to Bourton-on-the-Water

    Left the Plasiterers Inn by way of the garbage route. (When you leave before breakfast, if you are in a pub sort of place, the main areas are closed off because that is where the alcohol is.)  The route's beginning was just outside the front door; always a plus when you don't have to hunt for the starting point.  Leaving the Cotswold Way (but not the Cotswolds) for a couple of days, I began the Windrush Way, a 13 1/2 mile trek if done without a hitch, about 15 1/2 in my case, the extra mileage not being entirely my fault.

Most of the way was beautiful, except for the road walking which was not.  There was much, very much tall, wet grass

Just so you should know, there was more than one kind of very tall, wet grass.

so despite using gators, socks, boots and insoles were soaked through.  

This horse reminded me of those Spanish telenovelas wherein they kidnap you and pull you into a car and cover your head so that you can't see nothin'!

Sheep wool hanging on tree, but no sheep in sight:

Some signs are really hard to see:

Others, much easier:

Things were going just fine until a locked gate blocked the way I wanted to go, and the GPS said to go. A large sign pointing to the right read   FOOTPATH, so it seemed a detour or a diversion, but in reality it was over a 1/2 of walking to nowhere and then back again, and a climb over the locked gate.  Then about a tenth of a mile, that is one block!! from town, a portable sign plunked in the middle of the path read. PATH CLOSED, "Really?"  I ignored the sign, but just before the end, some serious sewer work was going on, so a turn around it was. 

The hotel where I am staying for two nights, a very nice hotel, indeed, would not admit arriving guests a minute before 3:00, so I changed from boots to Keenes as is my custom and headed off to Birdland.

There were penguins

flamingo, two kinds:

Pelicans

And many many others.  The cassowary was one of my favorites; she is a bit hard to see behind the wire.

Cute town Bourton is and it really is on the water:

June 22, Cheltenham to Winchcombe

 Today I had a choice: have a taxi take me to the place I left off and continue from there or do a variant through Cheltenham.  I chose the latter.  It was a lovely walk.

Near the racecourse, on the way out of town, I saw the tidiest display of garbage ever:

    

All the way out of town there were sheep:

Also cows, but why are they eating the hay out of a trough when there is a whole big beautiful field in which to graze?

One left the food bin to come and say hello, and maybe lament his sorrowful condition:

Something is definitely amiss with the grammar here:

So the choice is you feed them...if you don't they will bite?

This is Cleeve Common:

Well, a tiny bit of it.  Cleeve Common is a large grassy area, so large that a golf course takes up only a part of it, and it is easy to get lost trying to stay on the correct trail.  It would be an absolute misery to do this section in the rain or in high winds.

This is Belas Knap a site that is famous but I have to admit I can't get too excited about it:

    As I passed through a gate I saw a couple coming down a hill toward said gate.  One called out, "Do you know where the Cotswold Way is?"  "You are just about on it," I replied.  "But why are you coming from that direction?" (They were off by 90 degrees.) "We got lost."  "Oh."  Hearing their American accents, I asked, "Where are you from?" "DC."   "Just curious, what do you use for navigation?"  "Nothing.  I don't know how to use any of those things," said the man.  "Oh." I was thinking, "Are they every going to get lost on Cleeve Common."  And I was hoping he did not have a government job.  Of course, that I was helping someone with directions is almost too funny  to be true.

   

Always get out of the way of the big guys:

    Lots of frustration on arrival in Winchcombe.  In order not to belabor the matter, let us just say that the White Hart screwed up my reservation.  They finally found me a room at the Plaisterers Inn, down the street.  It is way closer to a dump than the hotel in Birdlip, not that the White Hart was exactly a palace. Aside from super dreary, and a stale smell of grease, there are barking dogs, lots of traffic and only one tiny towel in the bathroom. Shower has two temperature options: freezing cold or boiling hot. And you know what?  It wasn't even that cheap!  Noise canceling headphones necessary tonight.  Then I could not get a taxi to pick up and deliver my suitcase tomorrow.  Either no one can or no one wants to.  Had to call taxi from Cheltenham which is like calling a taxi from New Haven when you live in Guilford to take you to Clinton.  Will probably have to do the same for the next transfer. 

June 21 Cheltenham

    Today I was a tourist in Cheltenham. I went to see the suggested statues and buildings and parks, not enough time in the park, and visited the upscale Montpelier neighborhood, which, being in the Regency style, is similar to Bath, but maybe lacking that je ne sais quois.  Nothing was of OMG quality, but it was all quite pleasant.

    First and most interesting stop was the Wilson Museum, where I met Clarence.  He would like you to read about him just below:

    The emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) is closely associated with Cheltenham-born Edward Adrian Wilson, the Antarctic explorer, naturalist and artist. Wilson was one of the first to see Emperors in their natural habitat, and painted the earliest images of them to be seen in Britain.

    These images caused a sensation. Wilson was in high demand to give lectures. He delighted his audiences with tales and descriptions of penguins. He also began to campaign for the protection of penguins, which were being boiled for their oil in increasing numbers. He gave papers on this subject for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the International Ornithological Congress. It started a process that finally won success many years after Wilson's death.

    The sculpture, which we call 'Clarence', after the street on which the art gallery and museum sits, was sculpted in clay by Nick Bibby and then cast in bronze at Pangolin Editions using the lost wax method.

These snowshoe-skis are from Scott's 1901-1904  expedition to Antarctica on which Wilson was a participant.  It is unlikely that they are from the second expedition which, to say the least, did not end well. 

How did adventurers (I think the word explorer is out these days) manage without the fabrics and gear we have nowadays?  I cannot imagine.

Detail of a  Zulu woman's waistband:

 The most significant element are the ruby-coloured glass beads known as inkankane, which means "whenever I see you my heart leaps up in little flames."  I vote inkankane the best non-English word of the year.  Being so entranced by this word, I looked up how to pronounce it, no luck, but I came upon this link, the content of which I doubt anyone will read; if you do, you will plotz from the political incorrectness, but anyway, the author posits a different meaning for the red beads. I, however,  am sticking with the meaning offered here.

    If this piece of embroidery brings to mind William Morris, that is because it was done by his daughter, Mary:

The afternoon's cultural stop was at the Holst Victorian House, which charges way too much for admission, but OK.  Gustav Holst lived there until he was seven, but since he was THE famous inhabitant, the house bears his name.  What impressed me was the smallness of the rooms, their dark, stuffy and dreary decoration and atrocious artwork covering almost every inch of wall space.  

The accomplishment of the day was the purchase of size four coffee filters, found after searching three grocery stores.  Here is what you do: cut the filter in half, put one half into the little strainer, place filter-lined strainer in cup, pour the coffee in, then pour boiling water through the coffee and the result is way better than using toilet paper!   If you don't have milk, you can add half a packet of instant cocoa should the establishment provide it.  And even if you do have milk, the cocoa-coffee blend is quite satisfying.