Start:  Little Sodbury

Finish:  Cold Ashton

Mileage:  11 miles

After traipsing through the forest and down the hill, we landed in a small hamlet where we accosted two village women who were more than happy to take our picture with the Cotswold sign.  They were not only willing to play photographer for us, but told us all about their town, their little church and what’s what in the neighboring communities.

We really have met so many interesting people along the way, lots of them long distance walkers.  It’s a fairly common practice in the British Isles.  For example, we’ve met two sets of people who do a long walk each year.  The Sisters who we met earlier in the week have done one every year for sixteen years, the longest walk being TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY miles!!

Typically if you have started the walk on the same day as anyone else walking the distance of the entire trail, you will meet up with them once or twice somewhere along the path during the day.  This happened with us with the Californian couple, the Sisters and two women who are close friends who hike together.  After awhile and enough chance meetings either on the trail or at a pub, you get to know them a little more each time.

For example, the two women friends were fascinating.  Margaret is Scotch and Gilly is English but lives in Scotland near Margaret.  They walk a full day every Friday and in the meantime walk a few times a week.  When they say walk every Friday, they are talking walking 10 – 18 miles in the Scottish highlands in snow or rain or wind.  Now, get this:  Gilly hiked to the top of Kilimanjaro 13 years ago as part of a fundraiser!!!!  (look out WW4W  participants!)  She admits she probably couldn’t do it today and even has to stretch before and after walking . . .  now that she’s 77!!!!  Margaret is 75 and had knee surgery last year so they regrettably had to put off doing the Cotswold Way for six months!

Another lady we met was from Australia.  She hikes routinely the Blue Mountains there and was doing the Cotswold Way for her EIGHTIETH birthday.  And, here’s the funny part:  she said that compared to her usual hikes it felt like she was just “pottering” (dawdling) all day here in the Cotswolds.  A thirty year old couple staying at the same place was upstairs practically passed out doing the Cotswold Way because of all the hiking up and down the hills!

Now, for us, we feel like we prepared kinda sorta well.  A better preparation, though, would have been to hike Bishop’s Peak, followed by Dinosaur Ridge at least once a week and then do Johnson Ranch with the extension for a couple of mid-day walks during the week.  All things considered, we are shocked that we aren’t sore or suffering!  Instead, we feel great so maybe our preparations did enough good after all…that or there’s lots of grace to do what we love doing!

Finally, we were able to get a picture with the Cotswold Way “acorn” sign!

churches, churches, churches….

countryside…lower and lower as we get closer to Bath

we even had to cross a “freeway”…

the buzz of bees has been replaced by the present or  even in the distance hum of cars now…

dandelions are growing everywhere!!!

….and, of course, the wild garlic is still flourishing in every wood we pass through.