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!
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