Leaving the village of Longborough and heading toward Stow on the Wold...
What a quiet tranquil little spot...
Goodbye kitty!
Not a soul out and about...
Heading out of town, following the public pathway...
Past a lovely spot where the villagers used to get their water long ago...
The sun was shining and the colours were glorious!
Back out into the countryside once again...
It's a wonder I got to where I was going - there were so many amazing distractions...
and I had to take photos of them all!
dried flowers...
Holly bushes!
and a nice little "stump table" where I sat and had a snack...
at which time I looked back!! and saw Longborough from a distance!!
I learned to ALWAYS LOOK BACK!! Some of the best views were behind me!
Back on the trail after my snack break...
My hard working feet! I LOVE my hiking boots - they are so comfortable which is rather important!! I heard lots of horror stories about people struggling with blisters but not with these boots!
Getting up much higher - Stow on the Wold is on a hill so up up up I go!
The public footpath took me right through people's property, sometimes right across their front lawn or through their back lanes...past their outbuildings...most folks were friendly, thankfully.
A rather large manor house...
Sometimes the path takes you down narrow paved lanes and you'll see the occasional car zipping along fearlessly!
A beautiful bush with large red berries, not sure what it is...
The path is now taking me through this gateway...
and through a churchyard...
there's the church...
and past another manor house...
through another gate...
and I thought I had arrived!!
But apparently NOT!! No, I had the longest, hugest, steepest hill of the day yet to climb!! And I wasn't alone. In a funny incident there was a fellow on a bike following a map for bikes...the hill was SO STEEP that he was in his last gear and he pedalled furiously while I walked along beside him - we were able to carry on a conversation quite easily until finally the path levelled out and turned to the left and off he went...
and I followed along behind...
...the path opened up and there, finally, was my first stop - Stow on the Wold!!
I followed my map which took me towards the town square and the ever present High St.
From there I had directions to my next B & B called The Lime House....
And tomorrow I will share with you what I found in the lovely Stow on the Wold - perhaps my favourite little village of them all???
