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Cotswold Way Day 7. Monday 11/9/17. Birdlip to Prestbury Hill. 22km 7 hrs.
It has been a long day so this is a quick blog. Greg gave us another slightly hair raising ride in his Land Rover, from Painswick to the start of the track in Birdlip. The weather was foreboding with a strong wind and grey to black skies, so we were in full walking gear, with waterproof pants and parka as well as our usual boots, pack and poles. Fortunately the terrain was a bit kinder than other days and after a few hard climbs we more or less followed the escarpment in a bit of a horseshoe shape.
We walked past the Air Balloon pub and checked out a high headland that had people living there about 5,700 years ago! It was an amazing area with different groups occupying the site over the years. Jane's right leg and ankle have been swollen and sore, so we stopped for coffee and ankle check at the Star Bistro in Ullenwood. Apparently the college here employs 800 staff to work with the disabled!
As we weren't too disabled, apart from Jane we moved on. Jane's leg isn't too good so we're hoping she can last the distance. The rest of us have various aches and pains but are managing so far.
The path undulated and varied from mud, to rock, to dirt, to mud and nettles and then rock and nettles and back to dirt and nettles. After Leckhampton and Charlton Kings Common we made it to Seven Springs and a great bus conversion known as The Cotswold Diner. They have parked in a truck layby and have a portable toilet for patrons and you can sit in the bus with your coffee and baguette. Heaven!
By now the wind was very strong, with intermittent rain sweeping over us, so with hoods up we plugged along, up, over and around Wistley Hill, through Koloshi to Dowdeswell Reserve. Occasionally we would get a brief bit of blue sky but the wind was very strong and from our altitude we could see the rain showers marching across Cheltenham far below.
Having left Birdlip at about 9.20am we were feeling pretty tired by about 4.00pm.
Fortunately we were in the Prestbury Hill Reserve by now and after a few challenging navigational decisions, we moved uphill off the path and found Paul and Helen at Upper Hill Farm by about 4.30pm. We were pleased to see the place and even more so, when Paul gave us a beer! Our room is nice with en-suite, but once again The Davidson's have a bath! Curses!
Helen drove us, along with two young Aussie girls to the local pub for dinner. It was a very nice dinner, but the fatigue was catching up with us, so we were glad to see Paul arrive to pick us up. He is a character but I suspect hard to live with?
Well it's another long 20km+ walk tomorrow so I'd better say goodbye.
I forgot to mention, Simon the Parrot was a bit more into looking around today, at least he was when he wasn't hiding in Sezza's Pack from the wind and rain. He got talking to a giant coloured rabbit at one place and took awhile to realise that it wasn't a real rabbit. He talked to some cows, but they didn't say much back. However what he really liked was talking to a frisky pony in a field. He sat on the fence trying to talk to the pony, but while he speaks fluent sheep and passable cow he only knows a few words of horse. The few words of horse that he does know, aren't much use either as they're mainly about food, like; "Have you got a cracker for the road?"
Anyway, Simon isn't that patient and so he flew up onto the back of the pony who became frightened and galloped off across the field. You might be able to see Simon on his back if you look carefully! He was shouting something like "Yahoo! Ride him cowboy!" Finally after all the excitement and maybe realising the pony was frightened, Simon came back to Sezza's and Joepie and was happy to go off to sleep in Joepie's back pack.
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