Are We Nearly There Yet? The Missing Photos.

I've now returned to civilisation and have a passable internet connection once more.   One of the curses of being a wage slave is that if you take any holiday, you just return to work to find that you have a serious backlog to try and catch up with, which is exactly what has happened to me.  What follows here therefore, is a quick selection of photos from the first six days of the sponsored walk along the Cotswold Way that bandwidth restrictions prevented me from uploading with the last blog entry.  Details of the final few days will appear in the next day or two.

Day 1:  Bath -> Cold Ashton

Bath Green Park Station

No fun.... and sadly no trains either

Chris, came along specially to see us off.

Tina and me at Bath Green Park station

Bath Abbey

Royal Crescent

Tina looks back at Kelston Hill from Lansdown

Lansdown Hill, scene of a civil war battle

    
Day 2: Cold Ashton -> Hawksbury Upton

Cold Ashton haunted house?

Butterflies were prolific, but camera shy.

Even Tina had to duck to get under this tree blocking the route

This Peacock butterfly was easy to photograph, it was dead

Dyrham Park, plus some of the many foreigners on the trail, these 2 were Canadians

One of Dyrham Park's herd of deer, we saw several wild ones too.

Crossing the M4 at Tormarton

Horton Folly (built about 2000 for bats and barn owls)

Tina admiring the view just south of Hawkesbury Upton

Day 3:  Hawksbury Upton -> Dursley

General Lord Robert Somerset's monument

Tina and her spare tyre (that's me in trouble.... again)

The dog that adopted us near Wotton-Under-Edge

Wotton-Under-Edge, we stopped for lunch under the tree on the right

Tyndale Monument at North Nibley

The view from the top of Tyndale monument

Tina clambers up the last of the 121 steps of Tyndale Monument

Sign post to "Not Nibley" and "Watery Bottom"

A fridge of chilled water for thirsty walkers, very welcome indeed.

A view from Stinchcombe Hill

A different view from Stinchcombe Hill

Day 4:  Dursley to Haresfield Beacon

Derek, searching for his car keys

15 minutes later...  I spotted them hanging from the look of the boot!

Looking back at Dursley from Cam Long Down

Tina and Derek admiring the view

All roads lead to Rome Springfield Farm

Unable to find a bar, Derek props up a tree instead

Derek checks out the toposcope at Coaley Park

A glider approaches a nearby airfield

And Derek was wearing red!

Direct route or scenic route.... guess which one they chose.

Derek & Tina on the "scenic route's" Selsley Common

Selsley West and its fascinating church

Swans on the tow path... vicious brutes.

Day 5:  Haresfield Beacon -> Birdlip

Haresfield Beacon view point

Tina texting...  yup, my company was that boring!

Approximately half way

Painswick church

There is a high mortality rate amongst walkers on the Cotswold Way

Still a few poppies out, and appropriate as I'm writing this on 4th August

Two of these three golfers got extremely close to incapacitating both Tina and me

Looking down Cooper's Hill, scene of the famous cheese rolling event.

Day 6:  Birdlip Hill to Cleeve Hill

Barrow Wake Viewpoint

Display Board at Lechhampton Hill

Toposcope at Leckhampton Hill

The view across Cheltenham to Cleeve Hill

Very much later, the view from Cleeve Hill to Cheltenham Race Course and station

Somewhere or other on the top of Cleeve Hill

Topscope and trig point on the top of Cleeve Hill

And last, but definitely not least, the photo of Dan having just passed out as a fireman:

Dan (L) being congratulated by Chris (inspector)

Although we have finished the sponsored walk along the Cotswold Way now, (details to follow in the next few days), the online website for sponsoring us will be open for a little while longer yet, so if you haven't so far sponsored us in aid of the Broadway station appeal and you would like to, then please do so by clicking here.