Guiting Power and New Friends

Are you ready to walk some more? After my exceedingly good lunch I continued on my way. I had to walk along this stream for a ways and it was a really lovely place to walk...

...and LIVE! Look at this gorgeous cottage right on the stream...lucky sods...

I had to content myself with the luxury of walking in such beautiful surroundings...it was tough...

...but I survived...

 I was taking a wee detour before leaving Naunton - I wanted to see the church...

 ...and I needed a little visit with the local sheep :) ... doesn't it look like he/she is smiling at me?

...well, chewing his/her cud would be closer to the truth!

 After a little climbing I reached the churchyard...

 Some kinds of cedar trees grow to magnificent proportions...here's an example...

 Isn't it huge?!?

I love the shiny golden rooster that sits on top of most churches...

 ...and of course GARGOYLES...my favourite!   Veddy scary!

 EEEEEEEEEEEK!!

AWWWWWWWWKKK!!!

 The walls are about 2 feet thick!

 And off I go again!

It doesn't take long to leave a village...

 ...and once again be out in the country...

 But of course I have to remember to LOOK BACK!! Goodbye Naunton!!

 What's this?

Ohhh, it's a SIGN :) Good thing I didn't miss it! Can you see in the photo above the very paint line of the path heading towards that clump of trees?  That's where I'm headed!

 And lucky me, this is the view when I get there!

This field path was a bit more visible.

And that must be Guiting Power up ahead!

 Getting closer...

 The perfect Scotch thistle!

 Almost there...

 The owners of the next B&B had asked that we not arrive until 4pm. Not the easiest thing to manage when you're walking from village to village.  So, since I was early, I hung out in the churchyard for a little while...

Doing what I do best - taking photos! Oh, and inside the church there were used books for sale so I bought two) - I'll have fun stuffing them in my suitcase in the morning :[

 I also found a cafe in this tiny village and enjoyed TWO pots of tea and discovered a wonderful treat called Flapjacks which are not pancakes but more like an oat scone and so delicious. And they had wifi!! I was able to have a conversation with my friend Jules, back in London, ON.

 Finally it was time to go to the B&B but I had a short wait while other guests (other walkers!) were shown to their rooms. So I amused myself in the garden...taking photos...

And ta da! My room! It was quite nice - the place was called Guiting Power Guest House and it was right across the street from the pub - YAY!

This was the B&B with the dodgy toilet. After I used it it wouldn't flush! I tried and tried and tried some more - even took the lid off and monkeyed around with the innards to no avail.

Finally, when I was going to go to have supper at the pub I told the owner about the problem...his reply - "are you sure?" Sigh...I only tried about 100 times!! Anyhoo he was able to sort it out while I was gone thankfully.

  The flowers were a nice touch!

 I could not believe the CHOICE at this pub of things to eat - inside there was a whole wall of blackboard covered in offerings - I had a heck of a time making a choice - but settled on...

 ...piri piri chicken - it was a HALF of a chicken!!  I was stuffed! Of course I had a pint of the local, and then another pint! :) The other folks who were staying at the guest house came in for dinner too so we all sat together and got to know each other. They thought I was so brave! Especially one of the older women, probably in her 60's, said she envied me being able to go at my own pace and do my own thing. We were to meet up several more times for meals together over the next few days and had a lot of laughs.

It rained a little during the night and was still sprinkling while we ate breakfast by the fire. We had the most delicious omelettes!

Once outside and on my way it had stopped raining but the path was wet. No matter. With my most excellent hiking boots I had no issues.

Off to Winchcombe!