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| Little Rissington |
24.07 Järjekordsed kaheksa päeva olid märkamatult läbi saanud ning ees ootas selle reisi viimane. Hommik algas jätkuvalt jalutuskäiguga, seekord Slaughteritele vastassuunda. Leidsin kaardilt kokku neli Rissingtoni aga distantsiliselt kõiki külastada ei jõudnud.
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| Upper Rissington |
Võtsin sihiks
Upper Rissingtoni, kuhu jõudmiseks läbisin
Little Rissingtoni. Eem. Ilusad kollased majad. Upper Rissingtonis oli palju jäneseid. Ning üks neiu ratsutas kell 6 hommikul. Ja see on Cotswoldsi kõige kõrgemal asuv küla. Little Rissingtonis nägin lagunevat kivimüüri ja St Peteri kirikut.
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| Bourton-on-the-Water |
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| Bourton-on-the-Water |
Hommikupooliku veetsime
Bourton-on-the-Wateris, külastades mudelküla ning linnu..aeda. Oleks ma ainult varem teadnud, et seal on ka üks õige labürint! Selle avastasin alles viimase päeva hommikul ning see ei oleks meil kuidagi enam plaani mahtunud. Kuulutusel oli kirjas, et kiiremad leiavad lahenduse 25 minutiga. Aga ees ootas sõit lennujaama ning teades, kui huvitavaks liiklus minna võib, ei tahtnud riskida. Painswickis oli ka hekist labürint aga see paistis läbi ning ei pakkunud mingit väljakutset. Ugh.
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| Mudelküla |
Igatahes, esimesena käisime
mudelkülas. Olime teised, kes sisse said ja meie taha kogunes korralik järjekord. Mudelküla on 1/9 vähendus Bourton-on-the-Waterist. Tunned seal ennast nagu hiiglane. See on tõesti lahe kogemus. Mudelküla avati 1937 ja selle ehitamine võttis kokku viis aastat. Praeguseks on hoonete nimed kaasajastatud ning aedades hoitakse kõik hooajaline. Mudelkülas on isegi mudeküla, millest on omakorda mudeküla.
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| Birdland |
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| Birdland |
Järgmisena külastasime
Birdland`i 💗 Ma ei ole kunagi varem pingviine näinud. Peaagu sama põnev jälgida kui eelmisel aastal puffineid (lunnid). Peaaegu, sest puffinid said olla vabalt oma looduslikus keskkonnas. Nägime pingviinide toitmist mille juurde kuulus väike infojagamine. Birdlandis on võimalik veeta terve päev või vahepeal ära käia ning templiga pärast uuesti teisi toitmisi vaatamas käia. Birdland avati 1957 ja seal elab üle 500 linnu.
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| Cirencester |
Selle reisi viimaseks Cotswoldsi külastuseks oli
Cirencester, võrreldes eelmise päevaga juba suurlinn oma ca 19000 elanikuga. Aeg kihutas tagant ning pikka peatust kahjuks teha ei saanud. Jalutasime peatänaval (veel raamatuid) ning käisime nuudleid söömas.
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| Mayfield. Foto: Aili Roosa |
Edasi suund juba Gatwicki lennujaama poole, kuhu jäi veel
Mayfield lavendlifarm. Lavendlikülastus on suvel avatud kuni 18.00ni. Silmas pidades kahe esimese päeva liiklust arvestasin, et sõiduks kulub rohkem, kui enne reisi planeerisin. Tomi järgi pidime kohale jõudma kell 16.20. Piisavalt aega. Esialgu kulges sõit sujuvalt😀 Siis kiirus vähenes. Ja vähenes. Ja vurasime jälle 20 km/h. Läbida oli veel 50km. Eeldatav kohalejõudmine 16.40, 16.50, 17.00. Mõtlesime kui kaua oma mõtet proovida, enne kui muudame koordinaadid lennujaama omadeks. 20 km ja kohalejõudmine 17.10. Mõtlesin proovida veel 17.20se näiduni. Aga siis keerasime kiirteelt väiksemale kiirteele ja siis juba maantee ja pooleteistrealine ja lõpuks olimegi kohal! Mayfieldist lennujaama sõidab normaalse liiklusega 20 minutit. Auto pidime tagastama 21.00 ja sulgemine oli kell 18.00 nii, et isegi 20km/h sõidame tunniga ära.
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| Mayfield |
Lavendel oli võrratu. Arvasin, et see lõhnab rohkem. Mayfieldis on külastajatele avatud põllud ning sinna juurde loomulikult tavaline turistinänn - kohvik, istumiala, poekesed. Pildistajaid jätkus iga vao juurde. Esimene osa põllust tundus vanem, tagumine osa alles kihas mesilastest.
Selge, viimased kilomeetrid veel. Jõudsime tagasi linna, fooris roheline tuli.. ja liiklus seiskus täielikult. Minutit jooksid. Aega veel oli aga no, roheline tuli (mis vältas ülikaua) ja kõik seisid. Lõpuks kui liikuma saime selgus, et seisaku põhjuseks oli olnud kokkupõrge ratturi ja auto vahel. Kohutav oli sellist asja näha. Iroonia. Kõik need hulljulged ratturid väikestel piiratud nähtavusega miniteedel ja siis avarii suurel maanteel.
Lennujaamas tagastasime auto. Oranz hüüumärk ei saanudki selgemaks. Deposiidi pidin täismahus tagasi saama. Avise kontor asub Lõunaterminalis, meie hotell
Premier Inn Põhjaterminalis. Seekord oli eriti mugav, tasuta terminalidevaheline rong, umbes 10 minutit jalutamis ja olimegi kohal. Õhtusöök hotelli all asuvas Thyme restoranis ning hommikul vastupidine tee tagasi Lõunaterminali.
Selleks korraks jälle seiklused läbi. Kuidas küll see aeg nii kiiresti läheb? Ootad ning planeerid terve aasta (enamasti rohkemgi) reisi, pilgutad korra silmi ja see ongi läbi. Wales ja Cotswolds andsid 9 põnevat päeva (millest 8 täiesti kuivad), palju avastamist ning mulle osaliselt taaskohtumist. Nii tore oli sugulastega kokku saada. Ja super, kui on selline reisikaaslane nagu Aili.
Järgmise aasta seiklused ootavad😉
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| Little Rissington |
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| Little Rissington |
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| Little Rissington |
24th July Another eight days had passed in a blink of an eye and there was only one day to go. The morning begun with another walk, this time to the opposite direction to Slaughters. I found four Rissingtons on google maps although I didn`t have time to see them all.
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| Upper Rissington |
I chose to go to
Upper Rissington and walk through
Little Rissington on the way.
Erm. Pretty yellow houses. A lot of hares in Upper Rissington. A girl was riding her horse at 6am. And it is one of the highest villages in the Cotswolds at an elevation of 275 m. In Little Rissington I saw a stone wall falling apart and St Peter`S Church.
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| Bourton-on-the-Water |
We spent our morning in
Bourton-on-the-Water, where we visited the Model village and Birdland. If only I had known earlier that there is a proper Maze there! I only discovered that in the morning and there wouldn`t have been time to squeeze it in. As stated, fastest people would solve it in 25 minutes. But we had a long drive to the airport ahead of us and knowing how the traffic could be, I didn´t want to risk it. Well, there was a maze in Paisnwick but it was totally see-through and no challenge at all. Ugh.
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| The Model Village |
Anyways, first we visited
The Model Village. We were the second people who got in and we already had a queue behind us. The Model Village is a one-ninth scale replicaof Bourton-on-the-Water. You can feel like a giant there. This is really a fun experience. The Model Village was opened in 1937 and it took five years to build. The buildings are constantly renovated and are up-to-date. The Model Village has a Model Village that has a Model Village.
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| Birdland |
Nex, we visited
Birdland💗 I had never seen penguins before. It was almost as exciting to watch as puffins last year. Almost, because we got to see the puffins in their natural habitant.
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| Birdland |
We got to see a feeding of penguins. You can spend your entire day there. Or if you have the time to see the feedings, get a stamp and re-visit as much as you like during the day. The Birdland was open in 1957 and more than 500 birds live there.
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| Cirencester |
The last Cotswolds town we visited during this trip was
Cirencester. Unfortunately we a bit rushed for time and we only had a short walk in the city centre (more books) and had a lovely lunch.
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| Mayfield |
And then towards Gatwick airport and
Mayfield Lavender Farm. You can visit the farm until 6pm in summer. Considering the first two day`s traffic I understood it would be a longer drive than I originally had planned. According to Tom we were supposed to reach Mayfield at 16.20, enough time. At first everything was fine😀 Gradually our speed slowed down. And down. And then we were speeding with 12mph. With 31 miles to go. Supposed destination at 16.40, 16.50, 17.00. We already thought for how long should we try to push for Mayfield until we change the coordnitates to the airport. I decided to try until 17.20 mark would turn up. But then we left the motorway for a smaller motorway and then a road and then a one-and-a-half lane road and we were there! It takes about 20 minutes to reach Gatwick from Mayfield. We were supposed to return the car at 9pm so even if we drove with 12mph it shouldn´t take more than an hour.
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| Mayfield |
Lavender was amazing. I thought it would smell stronger. You can visit the fields and of course the usual tourist stuff- cafe, picnic area, tiny shops. The field was filled with people taking photos or just walking around. The first part seemed older, the second part was filled with bees.
That left us with just a couple of miles to drive. We reached a town, the traffic lights showed green.. and everyone stopped moving. The time was ticking. We still had enough time, but come on, green light and no movement whatsoever. When we were finally able to move, we saw the reason for this jam - a collision between a cyclist and a car. It was horrible to see something like that. But the irony. I had seen the brave cyclists during our trip, on the tiny, winding roads with almost no visibility and there is a crash on a proper road.
We returned the car at the airport. Never found out what the orange exlamation sign was about. I was told to get my deposit back. Avis has an office in the South Terminal and our hotel,
Premier Inn is in North Terminal. It was very comfortable to take the free monoral train between the terminals and walk less than 10 minutes to our hotel. We had dinner in Thyme Restaurant downstairs and back the same way in the morning.
That was the end of our amazing trip for this time. How on earth does the time go so very fast? You wait and plan an entire year (actually even longer), you blink your eyes and it is over. Wales and Cotswolds gave us 9 wonderful days (8 of them dry), a lot to expore and some of it to see again. It was waondeful to meet my relatives. And Aili is a great companion.
Next year`s adventures already await 😉
