Wales. Cotswold -> Gatwick

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.

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.

Bourton-on-the-Water

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.

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. 

Birdland

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.

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.

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.

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😉

Little Rissington

Little Rissington

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 😉

Wales. Cotswold

23.07 Üks terve päev Kesk-Inglismaa lõunaosas Cotswoldsis, mida peetakse Väljapaistva Loodusliku Iluga Piirkonnaks (neid on Suurbritannias kokku tervelt 46). Cotswoldsi iseloomustavad selle piirkonna kaunid kollased kivimajad (piirkonnale omane juuaraajastu lubjakivi), mitmed jõed ja ilusad lilleaiad. Olen Facebooki Cotwsoldsi grupis vist enamike külade/linnade pilte näinud ning imetlenud. Piirkonna külad ja väikelinnad on tõesti äärmiselt armsad, nagu väikesed muuseumid, aga omavahel neid eristada.. On kohati natuke keeruline. Kõiki külasid loomulikult läbi käia ei jõudnud. Mul on nii hea meel, et võtsin majutuse Bourton-on-the-Waterisse. Harmooniline kooskõla traditsioonilise ja uue arhitektuuri vahel.

Upper Slaughter, autotee

Hommikul võtsin sihiks jalutada kahte lähikonnas asuvasse külla, millel peaagu sama nimetus (nagu ka järgmise päeva Rissingtonid). Alustasin kaugemale jäävast Upper Slaughterist, mis on üks Topelt tänulikest küladest (kõik selle küla I ja ka II MS osalenud sõdurid jäid ellu). Upper Slaughteri elanike arv on 177. Vaatamisväärsusteks on mõis, kirik ja Eye jõgi.

Lower Slaughter

Kui vaatasite 17.07 postituses olnud videot, panite võib-olla tähele läbi madala jõe kulgevat teed. Minu jaoks jälle huvitav uus kogemus. Miks ehitada sildu, kui saab lihtsamalt.

1.5km kaugusele jääb Lower Slaughter, samuti Eye jõe kallastel. Külas on kaks jalakäijate silda, St Mary kirik ja 19. sajandist pärit vesiveski. 236 elanikku ja peamiseks sissetulekuks turism.

Arlington Row

Esimeseks külastuseks oli Bibury, üks enim külastatud Cotswoldsi külasid (627 elanikku) ja selles asuv Arlington Row, mis on ilmselt üheks enim pildistatud kohaks Cotswoldsis. Arlington Row majakesed ehitati 1380 ja kujundati 17. sajandil ümber kangakudujatele. Tänapäeval on see majade kompleks Ühendkuningriigi passi siseküljel.

Bibury

Uudishimulikke turiste käib seal tohutult, viimastel aastatel palju Aasia elanikke, kellele silt "Private" ei ütle midagi. Nad käisid ikkagi eraaedades ja vaatasid elanike akendest sisse. Sellest ka nende keelsed sildid, mida Inglise keeles kinniolevad Britid tavaliselt ei kasuta.

Painswick. Foto: Aili Roosa

Alustasime Biburyga esimesena, sest nii oli lootus mõni pilt ilma lisanditeta teha. Kui me lahkuma hakkasime, saabus just kaks suurt turistibussi.

Järgmisena Painswicki rokokoo aed, mis on riigi ainuke terviklikult säilinud rokokoo ajastust pärit aed. Rajatud 1740ndatel Benjamin Hyetti poolt. Seal on erinevad lilled ja taimed, lisaks ebasümmeetriline maja, erinevad sopid, labürint ja laste mänguala.

Chipping Campden

Päeva mahtus veel kolm väikelinna. Chipping Campden on tuntud oma kauni 14.-17. sajandist pärinevate hoonetega ääristatud peatänava, turuhoone ja St Jamesi kiriku poolest. Märkasime kahte huvitavate katustega maja, mis osutusid jakobiitide banketimajadeks.  Ca 2300 elanikku.

Moreton-in-Marsh

Moreton-in-Marsh.  Rabas asuvad Moretonis leidsin mitu second-hand raamatupoodi ja sinna kadus mu tähelepanu😄 Natuke suurem ning samuti kaunis peatänav. Kahjuks oli linna keskel olev massiivne turuhoone juba suletud. Ca 3500 elanikku

Stow-on-the-Wold. Foto: AiliR

Viimasena Stow-on-the-Wold (appi kui armsad kohanimed seal on), Cotswoldsi grupis on enim pildistatud St Edwardsi kiriku ust, mida ümbritsevad jugapuud.

Kuninga Mehed

Kauni (ning sooja) Cotswoldsi päeva lõpetuseks kolm neoliitikumi ja pronksiaja kivikompleksi Long Comptoni lähedal. Rollright kivid koosnevad kolmest osast - ühel pool teed uhkelt üksinda seisev Kuningas, teisel pool teed Sositavad Rüütlid ja Kuninga Mehed.

Rollright Stones metsavalvur

Vaatamise eest £1 ja kui piletimüüjat ei olnud kohal, siis jätad oma raha aususekarpi. Kuninga meeste kiviring oli seekord hõivatud.  

Kuna eelmise päeva õhtusöök oli äärmiselt maitsev, siis broneerisime uuesti laua itaalia restorani aga sattusime nagu täiesti uude kohta. Spagetid olid küll mõnusalt tsillised (ja katki murdmata) aga nendel oli tervelt 3 krevetti ja 4 üleküpsetatud kalmaari (yuk) eelmise päeva rikkaliku täidise asemel. Täielik pettumus.

23rd July An entire day in Cotswolds, an area in south central England that is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (there are 46 AONBs in Britain). Cotswolds is characterised by stunning yellow stone houses (made from yellow oolitic Jurassic limestone), several beautiful rivers and gorgeous gardens filled with flowers. I guess I have seen photos of all the villages and towns in Facebook`s Cotswolds group. The villages and towns are indeed gorgeous, like little museums, but to set them apart.. is a bit difficult at times. Of course we didn`t have time to visit them all. I am so glad I had chosen to stay in Bourton-on-the-Water. Harmony between traditional and current architecture.

St Peter`s Church, Upper Slaughter

I decided to walk to two neighbouring villages with similar names that morning. I begun with  Upper Slaughter that is located about 2 miles from Bourton-on-the-Water. It is one of the Doubly Thankful Villages (from which all their members of the armed forces survived WW I and WW II).Upper Slaughter`s population is 177. There is a manor, St Peter`s church and the River Eye.

Lower Slaugher

If you watched a video in one of my earlier posts you might have noticed  a road leading through a low river. A new interesting experience for me. Why build briges? 
  
Lower Slaughter is about 0.9 miles away, also on the banks of River Eye. There are two pedestrian bridges, St Mary`s church and a 19th cenutry water mill. 236 people and tourism as the primary business in village.

Arlington Row

The first visit of the day was Bibury, one of the most visited Cotswolds villages (627 people). One of the most popular sights in Bibury is Arlington Row, probably the most photographed collection of houses in Cotswolds. The cottages were built in 1380 and converted into a row of cottages for weavers in the 17th century. Today Arlington Row is featuring on the UK passport.

Bibury

There are numerous tourists in the village (and area in general) among which many Asians to whom the sign "Private" means nothing. Still they walked into private gardens and peeked into residents` windows. Hence the signs (see Estonian version above) in their language that I have not seen in Britan before.

Painswick

I chose to begin our day with Bibury to have a chance to take at least a shot without others on it. Two huge tourist coaches just arrived then we left.

Next Painswick Rococo garden, that is the country's sole surviving complete rococo garden. Designed in the 1740s for Benjamin Hyett. There are beautiful flowes and plants, asymmetrical house, a maze and children`s play area.

Chipping Campden

We could fit three more pretty Cotswolds towns into our day. Chipping Campden is known for its beautiful High Street dating from the 14th century to the 17th century, a lovely market hall and St James church. We also noticed to interesting roofs that turned out to be Jacobite Banqueting Houses.

Moreton-in-Marsh

Moreton-in-Marsh. I found several wonderful second hand bookstores in Moreton located in marsh and that was the end of my attention😄 A bit bigger but just as beautiful High Street. Unfortuntately it massive market hall was already closed.

Stow-on-the-Wold

The last town of the day was Stow-on-the-Wold. A town I noticed in the Cotswolds group beause of its St Edward`s Church`s door bordered with two ancient yew trees.

King`s Men

A beautiful (and warm) Cotswold`s day was ended by the Rollright stones, a complex of three Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monuments near the village of Long Compton. There are the Whispering Knights, the King`s Men (the stone circle) and a lone King on the other side of the road. There is a £1 fee to see the stones and when the person to sell the tickets isn`t present you can pay the honesty box. Ugh, the King`s Men circle was occupied.

Whispering Knights

And as we really enjoyed our dinner the previous night we booked a table at the Italian restaurant again. It seemed they had changed the chef. Seriously. The spaghetti had the lovely hint of chilli (and they were not broken into pieces but we only had 3 shrimp and 4 totally overcooked calamari (that I couldn`t eat) and that was it. So a plate of pasta and three shrip. A total disappointment.

Wales. Monmouth -> Bourton-on-the-Water

Kymin hill

22.07 Hommikul nagu juba eelmises postituses mainisin vaatasin kõigepeal tõtt eelmisel õhtul kõvahäälselt oma mehega (?) kõnelenud prouaga. Eelmisel õhtul Monmouthis jalutades tegin nalja, et näe järgmisel päeval ronin seal eemal paistva mäe otsa. Õhtul googeldasin ja selgus, et 250meetrine Kymin mägi on ronimisrajaga mind ootamas. Üles ei tahtnud mööda autoteed minna ja otsisin üles jalgsiraja, mida oleks ilma google mapsita natuke keeruline jälgida olnud. Ikka üle heinamaa ja läbi korraliku metsa. 

Queen`s Head Inn

Mina ja minu üliaktiivne kujutlusvõime hommikul vara pimedas metsas. Igav ei hakka hetkeksi 😁Rääkimata sellest, kui üles Round House juurde jõudsin ja minu ees avalduvat vaadet nautisin ja metsast mingeid krõpsatusi kuulsin. No kes see seal ikka veel pool kuus hommikul on kui mingi sarimõrvar? Ratsionaalne mina proovis küll seletada, et no mida ta seal enne kuute teeb ja miks ta nii palju lärmi teeb. Alla minemiseks valisin autotee. Tegelikult ei usaldanud järsku langust.

Lea

Hommikusöögilauas sattusime jutule Belgia mootorratturitega. Majutuse omanik oli pärit Lõuna Aafrika Vabariigist. 

Seekord ma omanimeliste tänavate otsimisega ei tegelenud. Walesis on neid tegelikult üpris mitu. Küll aga tahtsin pilti teha Lea külas. 

Gloucesteri katedraal

Selleks ajaks oli autos mingi hüüumärk põlema hakanud. Ahjaa, kui auto saime, põles sellel õlivahetuse tuli. Käisin Avise mehe käest küsimas, kas kõik on ikka nii nagu peab. Jah, nende tehnikute poolt heaks kiidetud. Aga siis see oranz hüüumärk. Kuna ma ise autoga midagi erilist teha ei oska, mõtlesin et äkki oleks mõttekas lasta Avisel auto üle vaadata. Gloucestersis, kuhu teel olime, oli esindus täiesti olemas. Pühapäeval loomulikult kinni. Fain. 

Parkisime auto peaaegu tühja parklasse ja seadsime sammud Gloucesteri võimsa katedraali poole. Harry Potter 😊Ja nagu fännitüdruk ikka, pildid siin ja seal ja iga nurga peal. Kell 10.15 algas jumalateenistus. Kahjuks lõpuni ei olnud võimalik kohal olla, sest lambad ootasid. Aga istusime ja kuulasime. Täiesti teistsugune kogemus. 

Jalutasime peatänaval ja piilusime sisse paari poodi. Lõunaks tulid seekord saiakesed, sest nagu öeldud, lambad ootasid. Enne tühi parkla oli selleks hetkeks autosid täis.

Meie Swift

Gloucester

Foto: Aili Roosa

Edasi ootas pikem autosõit, et saada kokku Facebooki vahendusel suheldud Reneega, kes elab Henley-on-Thamesi lähedal Paddock talus ja kasvatab ühena vähestest Suurbritannias Valais mustanäolisi pilvepalle😊 ehk siis tavakeeles tuntud lambaid. Ma ei tea, kuidas mul see mõte tekkis aga millalgi uurisin, kas Suurbritannias on Valais lambaid ja kas keegi jääks meie marsruudile. Leidsin Renee kontakti ja ta oli lahkelt nõus meid vastu võtma. Tema talu.. ee.. maja jäi küll natuke meie teest eemale aga no lambad.

Paddock talu

Renee tegi meile pika ülevaate ja tutvustas oma armsaid lambaid, hobuseid ja alpakasid. Ta on palju auhindu võitnud ja on täie südamega oma tegevuse juures.

Alpakade naispere, Paddock

 Ning tal on üks sõbralikumaid koeri, keda ma näinud olen. Nii sõbralik, et ta lakkus minu tähelepanuta mu objektiivi, tekitades sellele heleda laigu mida pilte tehes näha ei olnud. Õnneks vaatasin õhtul pilte ja avastasin nendelt laigu. Muidu oleks lõpuni välja pildid koera poolt ära märgistatud.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Ja õhtuks Cotswoldsi, Erakordse Loodusliku Iluga piirkonda. Kaheks järgnevaks ööks valisin meie baasiks Bourton-on-the-Wateris asuva Chestnuts Bed and Breakfasti. Õnneks oli majutusel oma parkimine, muidu oleksime vist pidanud paar kilomeetrit kaugemale parkima. Väike küla umbes 3300 elanikuga (suurem küll kui osad Cotswoldsi väikelinnad) meelitab oma läbi küla läbi voolava jõe, imekaunite majade ja põnevate vaatamisväärsuste tõttu palju turiste.

Sticky-toffee

Kuna pubitoidust oli selleks korraks isu täis siis proovisime kohalikku itaalia toitu - L`antara Italian Kitchen. Sõbralik teenindus aga kuna mitu inimest, siis küsisid samu asju üle. Jumalik mereanni pasta. Palju mereelukaid, mõnus tsilline maitse. Häiris muidugi, et spagetid olid väikeseks murtud. Kes see siis nii spagette sööb? Ja endast lugupidav itaalia koht toob spagette serveerides kahvli ning  noa kahvli ja lusika asemel? Võtsin siis magustoiduks mõeldud lusika. Magustoiduks lõpuks ometi õige maitsega sticky-toffee.

Round House, Kymin

22nd July As I wrote in the previous post the loud lady from across the street was already at the window at 5am. Walking in Monmouth the previous evening I had joked I would want to climb the highest hill I saw. In the evening I looked it up and it turned out the 250metre high Kymin hill has a lovely track waiting for me to walk on. It would have been a bit tricky to find it without google maps. Over the field and through a thick forest. 

Queen`s Head Inn

Me and my overactive imagination in a dark forest early in the morning when no-one is around. Well, never a dull moment 😁 Not to mention when I reached the Round House and was enjoying the view and heard some funny noises in the woods. Well, who else would it be at 5.30am than a serial killer? The rational me tried to say that what would he do there at this hour and why would he be so loud? Anyways, I took the car road back. Well, I actually didn`t like the steep decent.

Lea

We started talking to a group of Belgian bikers at the breakfast table. And as it turned out our host was originally from South Africa.

This time I didn`t locate Ann streets. There are actuatlly some in Wales. But I did want to photograph a sign in Lea.

Gloucester Cathedral

By that time I saw an orange exclamation mark in our car. By the way, the oil sign was burning when we got the car. I asked the Avis guy about it and he said their technicians said it was ok. And then this orange exclamation mark. Since I cannot do nearly anything with cars I thought I would have Avis look at it. They have at least one office in Gloucester, where we were heading to. But obviously it was Sunday so it was closed. Fine.

Photo: Aili Roosa

Gloucester Cathedrel

We parked in almost empty car park and made our way to the mighty Gloucester Cathedral. Harry Potter😊 And as any proper fan-girl I took one photo afer another. At 10.15am there was a service. Unfortunately we couldn`t stay until the end because sheep were waiting. But we took the time to sit and listen. A totally different experience. We walked on the High street and checked out some stores. Pastry for lunch because as stated, sheep were waiting.

Photo: Aili Roosa. Paddock farm

Photo: Renee

Then a longer drive to meet Renee, who I met on Facebook. She lives near Henley-on-Thames in Paddock farm and is one of the few people in Britain to raise Valais Blacknose cloudballs 😊 a.k.a sheep. I don`t know how I got the idea to search if there are any Valais sheep in the UK and if any would be close to our route. I found Renee and she happily agreed to welcome us. Her farm was a bit off our course. But .. sheep.

Renee gave us an overview of the farm and animals. She showed us her award-winning sheep, horses and cute alpakas. She has won numerous prizes and she thoroughly enjoys what she does. She also has one of the friendliest dogs I have met. 

Bourton-on-the-Water

By the evening we reached Cotswolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. For the next two nights I had chosen Chestnuts Bed and Breakfasti in Bourton-on-the-Water for our base. We were lucky Chestnuts had private parking, otherwise we would have had to park I even don`t know how far. The small village has about 3000 resident (even though it is bigger than some of Cotswolds town) is very popular among tourists because of its beautiful river running through the village, gorgeous houses and exciting things to see and do.

Seafood spaghetti

As we had had enough of pub food for this trip we tried some local Italian food in L`antara Italian Kitchen. Friendly service, but as several people were handling the same table. Delicious seafood spaghetti with lots of seafood and a nice hint of chilli. Though it irritates me when someone cracks spaghetti. Who eats it that way? And a respectful Italian restaurant to serve spaghetti with a fork and a knife instead of spoon? Well, I used to dessert spoon. And had to take someone else`s spoon for dessert. Finally sticky-toffee tasting as it should.