Friday, August 3, 2018

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.

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