Bike Touring in SW England - Epilogue

Here's our top 15 countdown of things we loved, appreciated and found to be blessings to our wonderful bike adventure, in no particular order (save for #1):

15.  British, Australian and Scottish versions of the English language
14.  Vistas characterized by specimen trees and stone walls
13.  Thousands of really cute sheep, not to mention other wonderful critters (see photos following)

Not only a shot of free-range ducks, but a view of the pack load too!

Peter's sharp eye caught this fox hunting in the fields

The grace of swans in every town stream and pond

Those cute sheep in the amazing sunlight

Gorgeous deer in full flight

12.  Nothing but courteous encounters with autos and farm vehicles, regardless of the road size.

11.  Seeing my cousins in Bath (and soon to see my aunt and uncle in Ealing tonight!)

10.  Still considering each other the best possible traveling companions

9.   Ending every day with a local English ale

8.   Only one flat tyre - and no other mechanical problems (yes tyre, that's the UK spelling)

7.   Evensong at Wells Cathedral

6.   Helpful advice and directions from locals

5.   No illness or injury

4.   Cream teas (which includes clotted cream, amazing stuff!)

3.   Never getting lost despite numerous navigational challenges

2.   "Specky" views in the Cotswolds (as described by a charming local who gave us our fave word of the trip)

AND

1.    Not a single, solitary drop of rain!!!!

Thanks again to all who followed along, and especially to those who wrote comments and sent emails of encouragement and support.  Special thanks to Carolyn and Roger for watching the home front, and Mike and Ruthie for keeping us blogging (and laughing!).

Flying home tomorrow!

Love, June and Peter

The Tour is Complete!

A very short post as my wifi time is almost done - we made it back to Bath easily today - had a wonderful rest stop at mile 30 in Castle Combe, film setting for Doctor Dolittle and one Hercule Poirot feature in July 1999 - such a wonderfully serene and picturesque place!

"Main Street" - Castle Combe

It was the easiest bike day, fittingly - 43 miles, no major climbs and a tailwind - no rain.  Must have set a record there for a 13 day bike tour, not a drop!

Will do a postscript blog in a day or two, now time to sign off - thanks for following!

Our Penultimate Day of Bike Touring - Cirencester

Did an achingly beautiful 25 mile loop east of Cirencester to Bibury and still had time to visit the museum in Cirencester, stroll in the beautiful park (loved watching the dogs at play) and then sip another fine glass of ale and enjoy pub grub at The Crown.  Tomorrow we ride back to Bath, our starting point (oh so long ago on Sunday Sept. 6th).  Amazing to say we never once put on any rain gear!  Here are some photos of today's wonders:

Shades of Brigadoon (Coln Rogers village)

Cotswold cow doing day care duty for 6 calves

Peter admires the oft-photographed and legendary Arlington Row in Bibury

Standing in a cottage dorway for a sense of scale

Back at the rear gardens of our B & B in time to explore Cirencester

A beautiful vista of the church from the park

A happy patron of The Crown pub

The church illuminated in the setting sun as we head back to our lodgings

Forty-two miles left to Bath, it's all ending too soon!

Tales of Tailwinds

Yawn - another day of superlatives, to bore my readers - no trials and tribulations, just more wonderful experiences that encompass the landscape, the people, the weather, the route, the lodgings, the historic sites and the food & drink.

Hard to explain how steep this really is!

We left Stow-on-Wold after another hearty brekkie that included scrambled eggs and salmon - can you tell we are not suffering much? And the coffee has been universally wonderful - always served in a French press and so rich. It is jet fuel for the first 2 hours of biking every day!

We stopped in two absolutely charming towns along the 36-mile route - Windrush and Northleach. Windrush was a total unknown, but when we arrived something just grabbed us about its aura and we stopped to poke around.

Windrush - a great aura

Northleach was the designated lunch stop based on the route itinerary - we had originally intended to visit its "Rural Life Museum" but found out from the locals that it closed in 2002, and subsequent efforts to revive it failed as the funding was diverted to the Cirencester museum. But the town itself was so sweet - I snuck another photo of Peter sketching while seated in the churchyard (which doubled as our picnic area); this is followed by the scene he was rendering. I wandered around and enjoyed the feel of a small village with charm not besmirched by heavy tourism.

The sketcher at work

The scene he sketched

Our next destination was the National Trust's Chedworth Roman Villa site. If this intrigues you beyond my short exposition, go to www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-chedworthromanvilla - lots of great pictures and info.

It is a 1,700 year old site of a Romano-British villa, discovered by Victorian-era landowners who later donated the site to the National Trust. Wonderful mosaics, incredible grounds and so much remaining to be excavated. Apparently the Victorians did the best they knew how in their original efforts, but many of the excavated sites were poorly catalogued and their real purposes were obscured by poor archaeological practices.

When we left the Villa we came upon an incredible number of pheasants (not peasants) sharing the fields with the sheep. They were in the road, in the hedges, in the fields - hundreds everywhere! Never seen anything like it in my life. No wonder "the shooting lodge" was a fixture in this area - so many birds!

Pheasants outnumbering sheep - wow!

The real biker's dream came after some heavy climbing out of the Roman Villa valley (they located the villa at a spring, a low-lying area in the hills) - we crested with about 7 miles left to Cirencester and almost did not turn the pedal cranks again! We had downhill and a tailwind exceeding 15 mph right into the Market Square.

Our B & B for the next 2 nights is called the Old Brewhouse - lovingly and extensively restored to a 10-room inn. We are enjoying the wonders of modern life (like WiFi) along with 17th-century walls! To add, Rose the innkeeper has two (English) cocker spaniels and one is named Bess! Kismet all the way around, and I have had a welcome "dog-love session" already, no extra charge.

Pub dinner again at the Twelve Bells Alehouse, a really "local" spot our Rose recommended. We left stuffed to the gills with fish and chips (bad pun, sorry) and mushy peas. Tomorrow we ride unpacked to Bibury and back, and visit the Corinium Museum locally.

I'm assuming it will be another great day - a safe bet!

Layover Day in Stow-On-Wold

Guess it does say something about increased cyclng fitness when you consider a hilly 29-mile ride without panniers a rest day - woo-hoo!  We decided to do the "short loop" to Chipping Norton to the east, as it was purported to be far less hilly than riding north to Chipping Camden - guess hilly is a relative term in the Cotswolds!

Before leaving town we stopped to visit the Roman Well just outside of Stow - apparently it was the only source of potable water until the late 1800's, when a town benefactor had a deep well dug for the village.  Peter loves this history stuff (and so do I!).

The Stow well - dates from Roman times!

The ride to Chipping Norton was very scenic despite some cool, cloudy weather as a backdrop.  Chipping Norton was not quite as charming as we had hoped, but we did spot our #1 favorite pub name of the trip thus far:

One of the features of the loop was a 4,500-year-old stone circle a few miles outside of Chipping Norton in the corner of a field.  We continue to be very intrigued at all the mysterious sites of ancient times.

Stone Circle near Chipping Norton

We had some easier going on the second half of the circuit with the wind at our backs - I spotted an English Cocker Spaniel in one small village and had to stop and chat with her owner about the wonderful qualities of the breed - and I miss our Bess, so the short "hit of dog" was very welcome.

June meets Sally the English Cocker

The great part about a shorter, unburdened ride is that you have time and energy to visit your home base town a little more in depth - we quickly cleaned up and grabbed the B & B's copy of the Stow-on-Wold walking tour, and away we went!  The next two pictures give a feel of this charming spot:, reknowed for centuries as a market and wool-trading center:

June stands in Fleece Alley - 4 feet wide - to channel the sheep to the Market Square

A feel for the charm of Cotswold stone buildings in Stow

Peter had a chance to sketch both at the B & B and in Stow - hopefully I will post one tomorrow.

We ended our village walking tour back at the Eagle & Child pub, had a pint and a chicken pie (the pub food is so good!) and then back to the B & B to read - and blog!  Tomorrow the packs are back on the bikes as we head to Cirencester for another 2-night stay - only 3 biking days left, can hardly believe it!

Say it in Pictures...

Guess I'm running out of superlatives to describe the biking we've experienced today.  Each day tops the last and I'm simply wracking my brain to come up with prose that even comes close to doing justice to it all.  The highlight of today was meeting a local Cotswold gentleman out walking his Border Terrier "Willow" - he was so warm and engaging, looked at our route plan and totally approved, and after we parted ways he called out "the views will be specky!" (translation - the views will be spectacular - he was not only right, he gave us the favorite phrase of our trip to date).

So, in keeping with the "specky" spirit, I am posting a series of photos I hope will capture, at least in part, the wonders of the Cotswolds.  We did 43 uber-hilly miles and were still smiling right to the end as we arrived at the South Hill Farmhouse B & B in Stow-on-the-Wold.  Hope you enjoy the eye travel!

The climbs were always rewarding!

The sheep have quite the life here

Peter relaxes in front of the hearth after lunch at the Mill Inn

The Mill Inn - charming in every way possible

Cotswold beauty at every turn

June is totally in love with the sheep

We spotted 10 deer in the fields and they took off in beautiful flight

Specky Views, right-o!

Charm of Bourton-on-the-Water

Our dinner destination in Stow-on-Wold- fish and chips, a pint and history!

Off to bed - tomorrow we loop up to Chipping Camden, and if we have the legs and the time we will try to make it to Chipping Norton as well. 

Just another note - I have to say that Peter is the most amazing travel partner - photographer, fixer of flat tires (had our first today, of course a rear wheel so all packs had to come off!, historian, master of navigation AND pretty funny too!  How could I get so lucky.  Never would be here doing this without him - thanks Peter!

Today we cycled from Devizes to Tetbury, which marks the "crossover" from the Wessex region and Wiltshire to the Cotswolds. We departed Rosemundy Cottage via the canal towpath trail we had scouted yesterday - Peter did a lovely sketchof the view from the landing of the B & B along the canal. We were sorry to have to leave so soon.

Canal Bridge from Rosemundy Cottage

The towpath was still teeming with action along the Caen Hill locks - the boats are so interesting and it appears a goodly number serve as full-time housing for their skippers. Don't think I could do that, but it has some appeal for a short stay.

Canal Boat on the move

We biked about 15 miles west and north to the town of Lacock - Lacock Abbey and the Fox Talbot Museum are the main attractions, as well as a totally intact town which has changed little from the 17th century. It was given as a whole town and surrounds to the National Trust in 1944. We loved the Abbey grounds and were in awe of the "specimen trees" and their age and grandeur.

Lacock Abbey - view of south facade

Peter is the tiny red speck to the left of the tree!

The Abbey has an interesting history which includes Henry VIII tossing out all the nuns and granting the Abbey and grounds to private owners. One included Fox Talbot, who was the inventor of the photographic negative process. Loved the museum and learning about the history of photography from one inventor's vantage point.

The ride from Lacock to Tetbury was absolutley lovely with no taxing climbs - there was just one beautiful vista after another and so many gorgeous horses to look at - definitely passing through the heart of horse country with stud farms and equestrian centers.

We arrived in Tetbury at our B & B feeling great - cleaned up and had a marvelous dinner at The Priory in Tetbury - much to admire about their menu, as they aim to source all of their food offerings from within 30 miles of the restaurant. All the food was wonderful, especially the vanilla ice cream! I had a pint of Tunnel Vision ale just because the name was so cool - and it was delicious too.

Tomorrow brings the much-anticipated Cotswold hills to Stow on Wold - should have had 2 desserts tonight!