For a look at all of our photos from our Cotswolds Adventure, click on this link: https://www.facebook.com/natural.trekking.3/media_set?set=a.10154548876146887.1073741940.593681886&type=3&comment_id=10154557882501887¬if_t=photo_album_comment¬if_id=1505935574940324
Today we are having a ‘Margie Walk Day’. I’ve done the easy walk, the medium walk and now the Margie walk which involves lots of photography and meandering.
I have done the easy walk with some of the ladies, the medium walk with other ladies and now today is the ‘Margie walk’ with Margie which involves more meandering and photography.
Margie, Doris and I leave shortly after the walking groups and catch the #855 local bus to Bibury, listed as one of the Cotswolds prettiest villages. It takes very little time to get there as the bus drivers travel at top speed, regardless of the skinny one lane roads. Frightening at times.
Pleased to get off at the right spot, we walk over the the Bibury Trout Farm cafe and inquire if they have a walking map of the town. The woman contained her smile very well as she declared that we could walk both Bibury and its sister village Arlington in under 15 minutes. Well that makes up our decision of whether to head back on the 1:30pm or 5:30pm bus 😂😂.
First things first, a cappuccino and a tea before seeing the town ALL at once. We were hoping for a little more sunshine today, but we are happy that it isn’t raining. Finishing our hot drinks, we head off up a smallish hill towards Arlington and take photos of beautiful old buildings, cottages, gardens and almost every building – it is just so beautiful here.
The Cotswolds area is quite strict with regards to restoring or renovating a house or cottage, you must do so with the honey coloured Cotswolds stone of the area, and the roofs in dark grey/black Cotswolds stone. I am glad they do, as it really makes for a stunning scene. In the smaller villages, like we are in now, most of the buildings are named after what type of business it was years ago. For instance: The Bakehouse, The Old Bakery, The Old Post Office, the Old Mill etc. The postal workers are from the area and know all the names of the homes, as well as all the people along their route.
Retracing our steps we photograph Arlington Row which apparently is used frequently in movies and on calendars, cards etc. While here, we meet a young fellow that was doing telephone repairs and says he lives in Cirencester (pronounced Siren sester). He went on to tell me it was a beautiful town that was one of the first Roman towns in Britain. This intrigued me, so I asked Margie & Doris if they were keen to visit. And just as it happens, we could catch the bus from Bibury to Cirencester at 2:30pm and enjoy its sights for a few hours before returning to Bourton.
Another cuppa tea and decision made, we are off to visit another glorious English town. We arrive in Cirencester close to 3:00pm and wander towards the main square and are taken aback by the beautiful church – absolutely magnificent! It takes us a wee bit, past quaint shops and cafes, before we find the Museum and information centre. We are in search of the few Roman Ruins that are still here in the town. We head to the Amphitheater and after a distance are disappointed to discover it has all grown over and looks like a large green manicured bowl. Regardless, I took a photo and then we walked back to the centre.
Margie & I walked to find the Roman Town Wall in the large park behind the cathedral. After what seemed like forever, we came upon a raised green area and thought ‘oh no, another ruin covered in grass’. To our delight, there were excavated rocks from Roman times, although quite a small area. Photos taken and ready to return to Bourton we make our way back to the bus stop where Doris was waiting for us. In hindsight it would have been much more sensible to wait the hour in a cafe or pub as we were pretty chilly by the time the bus arrived.
Once we arrived back at Harrington House, we made our way to our little pub and Natalia, our hilarious bartender, was incensed that we were late! She is really quite the character.
Our routine of walks description for tomorrow, dinner in the dining room was followed (just like the sheep we see everywhere 😃), and now it is time for the HF Holidays quiz. We are instructed to mix up the nationalities so that there are not all British, or American all on one team.
I was the token Canadian on my team, Doris on hers, and Ellen on hers. The quiz was so much fun and as it turned out, my team won! We were each given a coffee mug that says ‘HF quiz winners are no mugs’ or something like that.
Fantastic evening.