The Cotswold Way-A New Day Dawns

Day 7

We began our day feeling pretty good about it. Reg’s itinerary had us walking just 10 miles with an easy 450’ of ascent. “Piece of cake,” we thought. We passed by St Mary the Virgin, one of the oldest churches in the area. According to Wikipedia, it is thought that most of what we see today was completed in 1325, about 171 years after its first recorded vicar in 1154.

Just outside of town we began a steep climb up to the sheep and cow pastures. We thought surely we had completed a good part of our expected 450 feet.

The rest of the day was much more of the same…except it wouldn’t stop. We kept walking and walking, but not getting any closer to our goal of Old Sodbury. Without a bench in sight, we finally plopped ourselves down in the grass between the trail and an empty field to eat our lunch.

I couldn’t find out much about General Lord Robert Somerset (1776-1842), except that he fought during the Peninsular War. He must have been a hero of some sort to have a monument of this size named in his honor.
The monument was built in 1846. It is a historical landmark, listed on the Heritage at Risk register. We tried to get closer, thinking we might find a bench with a view for lunch, but there was no way inside the wall. There were signs warning of some instability. Not sure whether referred to the wall or the monument.

We eventually made it to our accommodation after a hair-raising walk (shortcut) along the A46, a busy 2-lane highway.

So, how far did we walk and how much did we climb on our 10-mile/450’ day?
We logged 14 miles and 1,700 feet of ascent. Sheesh!
Reg keeps track of our daily mileage and elevation on the AllTrails app, so it’s pretty clear we did something wrong in the planning process.
What will tomorrow hold?

Day 8

Another short day today (Thursday) according to our itinerary. Just 9 miles and 450’ of climbing. After yesterday I’m a little skeptical, but we set off hoping for the best.

Dyrham Park is a magnificent baroque English country house. We walked the perimeter, outside the property walls until finally entering the street and passing by the front. This is a National Trust property that has recently seen some renovations. Secured behind iron gates, if one wants to see more, one must pay a hefty price. We would have loved to fill a day here, but with backpacks and a few more miles to go, £21.00 each was more than we wanted to spend. That didn’t stop us from trying to get a better look by walking through a back gate. We were quickly turned around and left to continue our journey.

Our B&B host gave us some seemingly convoluted directions. Thanks to four different map apps, we managed to get ourselves where we needed to go. Miles from anything walking distance, we arranged to have food delivered. Fingers crossed it shows up.

So, how did our 9 mile/450’ day measure up?
11 miles
1,700 feet of ascent

Yep, the feet are tired. One more day of walking. Tomorrow we reach Bath…hang in there with us.