New boots, and no mud – or so I thought, as we set out on the long climb out of Bath. It has been a lovely sunny day and the gentle rolling Cotswold scenery is stunning. The paths were really good for the first part of our walk, until we reached a building site across our path. The foreman refused us access, and this resulted in quite a detour through muddy fields!

We arrived at Toghill House Farm, our destination for the night, left our bags and headed for the Rose and Crown in Wick for a late lunch (through further muddy fields!) After lunch we were joined by David and Geraldine Dyer. We have known David since our days in the YPF at the church we attended in Bristol before we were married, so it was great to reconnect!

A Backward Glance

I’m a Bristolian so to me Bath has always had far more than it’s fair share of popularity with visitors, but I have to confess that our extended stay there was very pleasant. We left Bath with John Wood the younger’s ‘Royal Crescent’ grand architecture at our backs and headed up the long winding pavements out of the city. As the ground got greener we wandered across football fields, did five furlongs along a horse racing track and went the wrong way down the 19th fairway of a golf course. Then we were out among fields of buttercups again which were turning our boots yellow until horror of horrors somebody was building a house right across our path. Now, I do know something about building sites, it’s what I do. You need full PPE, permissions, passes and purpose before putting one toe onto a construction site. Carol thought otherwise and did get past a couple of minor operatives in tidy dress, and within twenty feet of the gate to freedom, but a bearded guy in scruffy overalls, wearing a blue hard hat covered in snots (hardened lumps of cement) and remnants of a high viz vest, squared up with her. It was like Queen Boadicea meets ‘Thing’ the swamp monster. Carol put up a good fight, but the ‘Thing’ with my help had Carol back to the site boundary from where I took her on a three mile diversion around the fifty metre square forbidden area. For the first time Carol was the grumpy one for a change. By the time we reached our lodgings though, Carol realised her new boots weren’t leaking nor her shoulders aching, so gave the grumpy role back to me again. Food and friends provided a perfect end to a mixed day of trials and trekking.