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Cotswold Way Day 5: Middleyard to Painswick. 14km 5hr.
The weather has become wetter. This morning we left Valley View and our hostess Pam about 9.15am. There was intermittent rain and a fairly constant grey-black sky.
I was foolish enough to start in shorts and tee shirt and was attacked by nettles after the first stile. I found that if I watched my feet in the slippery mud, the nettles leapt out and attacked. If I watched the nettles, I tended to do half Christies sliding on the mud. There was much cursing in the lane for awhile, but I did stay upright.
Things became a bit worse when we missed a turn and ended up opposite The Kings Head, but off the trail. After a bit of back tracking we found our way. I even eased the nettle stings with pressure from a Dock leaf, thanks Jane! We moved through King's Stanley, past some Clydesdale horses, over the River Frome and up into Stonehouse. There did seem to be a lot of 'up' in our world for a time, although hollow oak trees and rolling green fields were soothing to the 'savage breast'.
After Maiden Hill we were in forest for most of the Long Barrow, which was pretty flat terrain. From Standish Wood we moved out onto an amazing hill fort and the Haresfield Beacon. As it was a Saturday, there were a lot more walkers and lots of dogs! The sky spat a few drops but looked pregnant with promise, without delivering.
We passed by the Cromwell Stone, commemorating the siege of Gloucester in 1643 and finally down to Edge and the Edgemoor Inn.
We thought about stopping for Saturday lunch but the sky was looking like it was going to deliver those nasty twins, thunder and lightning, so we trotted on, once more in wet weather gear as the rain began to fall. Over the next mile into Painswck, the rain fell and chased us into the outskirts of the town. Then suddenly the sky was clear and I was back in shorts and tee shirt!
We had a quick break for lunch at Oliva's and walked off in rain to an exhibition at Painswick Art Centre. The exhibition wasn't that exciting and as we left, the rain really began to fall heavily. After a wrong turn by Geoff, we finally found St Anne's B&B and rang the bell even though it was before 4.00pm when most B&B's open. Anyway our host, Iris pulled up behind the four bedraggled walkers and then parked and let us in. She was kind and a nice person we decided.
Our room here has a four poster bed and uniquely a shower and toilet in the cupboard! All in all a tight squeeze, but fascinating and good practice for the limbo. I shudder to think what anyone really big, would do!
Love to you all from Hett and Geoff.
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