Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Tuesday 5/9/17: Bath to Cold Ashton. 16km in 6hr 30 min.
After the obligatory photo in front of Bath Abbey, Jane, Hett, Rowan and I set off to the Circle and then The Crescent in drizzling rain. Jane was clever enough to spot the first acorn sign, near The Crescent, marking the Cotswold Way. There were a few navigational and physical challenges getting up to Weston and then Dean and Kelston Hills before stopping at Prospect Stile (230 metres) for morning tea, a breather and to check out the view of Bath. It is beautiful rolling green country.
From there, the wind pushed us along the ridge, past a ruined Roman fort to Hanging Hill for a lunch break. The Battle of Lansdown took place in this area, in 1643 between Royalists and Parliamentarians, with each group of about six to seven thousand men being commanded by long standing friends, Sir Ralph Hopton and Sir William Waller. Casualties were high and Waller's Parliamentarians retreated to Bath at night, but they did thwart it's capture by the Royalists.
After a light lunch, with intermittent drizzle, so that our parkas were on and off each hour, we wandered through Lilliput and Hill Farm, finding many hills and cow pats on the way. The slog up Greenway Lane aka Heartbreak Hill seemed to go on a long time in the rain, before we made it to Cold Ashton. From there we had another 1.5km to walk, across two very busy roads to Pennsylvania and our nights accommodation at Swan Cottage. Words cannot describe the joy of a hot shower washing away sweat and dirt. Paul served a great meal that Jo had made and it included wine and blackberry crumble. Yum!
Having washed a few things out, we put them in the boiler room and hope they dry by morning. Overall we're tired but feel we did ok covering about sixteen kilometres in six and a half hours, with two rest stops of about twenty minutes. Rowan's back is a bit sore but the rest of us are ok, apart from Hett's cough hanging on. Tomorrow is a shorter day of about fourteen kilometres that we should finish in about five hours of travel. Time to crash out now at 9.00pm!
- comments