Day 22: Leaving Bath

Distance: 17.8 miles (a new record!)
Wifi: none

This post will be a little late, since tonight's B&B has no wifi. I asked our hostess about wifi just after we arrived. "Is that like the Internet? I've got that on my computer, yes". "Is it wireless?" "Well, the Irish guys upstairs were getting Internet on their phone, is that what you mean? I'm not very good at these things." So, anyway, no wifi.

We had a very nice two day stay in Bath. We were reunited with our box o' stuff, which contains the things we need periodically, but not daily: all of our maps, some extra clothes, a laptop computer, my beard trimmer. We exchanged the used maps for fresh ones, trimmed the beard, wore different clothes for a day, then repacked the box and sent it up the road to Haworth, where we'll see it again at Easter. This time, the box weighed about ten pounds more. That's because we identified ten pounds of stuff - mostly clothes - that we've hauled over two hundred miles and never used. We're excited to lighten our packs. We were also excited to see, here at the Apsley House, a Hoover named Henry - just like the engine!


It was weird, but not in a bad way, not to put on packs in the morning and start walking. Instead, we left the packs behind and strolled around Bath. And we took lots of cabs, even when we only had to go less than a mile. We didn't visit the baths, but we did visit the Abbey, a wool shop, and had a cream tea. Clotted cream is so good - I could eat spoonfuls of the stuff.


At the Abbey, there were more of the super creepy effigies like in Truro. I like the kids sitting on either side of this one.


Here's a close up of one of the kids, looking pretty bored to have to hang out with her parents, who have been dead now for over 300 years.



This morning we donned our lighter packs, and set off on the Cotswold Way. It was familiar ground: we walked the whole thing with our kids back in 2006. It was just as beautiful as we remembered.


It was also as up and down and indirect as we remembered. The Cotswold Way is all about making sure you see every vista, even if you need to walk an extra few miles or climb an extra hill. Which is great, except that we want to make it to Scotland before summer, so for most of the day we abandoned the Cotswold Way in favor of the more direct and flat Monarch Way.


The weather forecast when we set off called for rain, so we were very happy with clouds and the odd ray of sunshine. But eventually our luck ran out. The clouds to the west, out over Wales and Bristol, became increasingly dark and menacing, started heading our way, and then overtook us.


With only a mile and a half to go, a rat-a-tat-tat started, and we could see hail pellets bouncing off the lane. We switched to rain gear, covered the packs, and then the rain started up in earnest. Dawn's pace picked way up - look at her go!


Unfortunately, we missed the turn off to the B&B and so needlessly added almost an extra mile, in the rain, to our day's total. Oops. In happier news, here's a really nice cat we met at the pub in Coddington before the rain.


Tomorrow, well be back on the Cotswold Way for the whole day. Our destination is the Black Horse Inn, near North Nibley knoll.

Location:Little Sodbury