April 2 - The Cotswolds

Waking up in Blockley was really nice. Not much traffic through the small village, very peaceful. We met some very nice people over breakfast at the B&B, then headed out to catch the next bus up to Chipping Campden.

This lovely hamlet is one of the more famous attractions to the Cotswold visitors. We meandered through the town, taking in its rustic charms. Each of the houses sported a name rather than a house number. Robyn found her namesake. In the center of the main drag was the old market with its stone shingle roof.


We walked to a neighboring town to see some thatch roofed houses in all of their glory, then back into Campden to decide what to do next.

Let me tangent here for a bit. In England, there are public footpaths that have been public from time immemorial. Some cut through farmed fields, some between houses, some up along ridgelines and through bull-infested pastures.

Each remains public if it is used at least once per annum. We were happy to help keep this spirit of trespass alive.

All of these are open to the public to enjoy and the ones we traveled were magical. Some we found rather easily, as they seemed to have been well traveled. Others were only visible because of the lack of taller grass growing there, or the footprints that preceded us through the dew. The sheep usually moved out of the way for us but we did have to watch out for the 'landmines'.

OK, tangent off.

Since it was such a beautiful day and we both felt inclined to experience nature in English countryside, we decided to walk to one of the nearby towns and catch a bus from there. Armed with our Ordnance Survey map which detailed out all of the local footpaths, we set off for Broad Campden.

Across the plowed and planted field we walked, up the rolling hills until we found the edge of Broad Campden, about a mile away, and our first kissing gate. These ingenious gates allow a walker to pass through but prevent livestock from leaving their pastures. It was very neat to see and use them on our travels.

Once we got to Broad Campden proper, we made the executive decision to not wait the hour at the pub for the next bus but to push on ahead for the next 3 miles or so through the countryside back to Blockley. I think its safe to say this was one of the best decisions we made on the whole trip. The walk was a wonderful time to spend together, strolling down lanes, on trails through the undergrowth, down into vales, over creeks with stepping stone bridges and up the other side until we finally made it back to our room in Blockley. It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable times we had. I would do it over in a heartbeat.

We hopped a bus from Blockley to Moreton-in-Marsh so we could get another bus to Stow-on-the-Wold. We didn't stay in that town for too long but we did get to see this one church door with two ancient Yew trees on each side of it, said to have inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's invention of the entrance to the Mines of Moria.

Here in Stow, we also sampled our first Cornish Pasties, or as Robyn called them, British Hot Pockets, but these were GOOD. Robyn had a knack for picking out the really good ones, mine were less good but still good.

After returning to Blockley by bus and resting in our room for a bit, we decided to head out to observe some of the locals in their native habitat. We had seen the day prior a flier posted for a movie night at the town school. We showed up and were warmly and heartily greeted by the townfolk. Unbeknownst to us, the film they were screening was the recording of a play that was written and directed by one of the locals and all of the actors were from the town. We sat next to the writer and he explained the film for us. It was very witty, as it was intended to be, and a very fun time. The people of Blockley were all very welcoming and we left with smiles on our faces.
As I look back at what I've written, it occurs to me that this is the longest entry so far. I attribute it to the fact that Blockley and the Cotswolds were our favorite part of our trip.