Bath * Stow-on-the-Wold * Lower Slaughter *Burton-on-the-water
walked 8 miles today
Back in the 1930's the mayor of Bath himself gave free guided walking tours of the city. That tradition continues today; except that it's not the Mayor, but the Mayor's official volunteer corps that give the tours. We had a great 2 hour walking tour of Bath from one such volunteer. Bath is beautiful because the entire city was developed in about 75 years by the same architect (& his son) using the same limestone. It's a beautiful, light colored limestone that sparkles in the sun. A couple of the unique features are the rounded building fronts on The Circus and The Crescent.
Even though Bath was founded by the Romans - it's natural springs provided water for their baths. Bath was at it's peak during the 1700s as it grew into a place for fancy people from London to see and to be seen. Our apartment is just on the outside of the main town, between The Circus and The Crescent. It's beautifully quiet and a nice change from busy Barcelona
After our walking tour we drove to the Cotswold region of England to wander the cute, story book towns. We learned that thousands of miles of public footpaths crisscross this area and we decided to do a 4 mile walk from Stow-On-The-Wold to Lower Slaughter finishing at Burton-On-The-Water then take the bus back to Stow. The foot paths run through private property, but it is the law that they have to allow public access. We found ourselves in horse pastures, cow pastures, walking down driveways past chickens and house cats and farmers at work. We learned how to follow the path (marked by a round metal marker screwed to a fence post) and how to open and close the gates so the livestock wouldn't escape. We got lost only once and had to back track when the cow pies and electric fences made it obvious we had made a wrong turn. It was fun to watch Stewart and Charlie pick up sticks and have sword flights along the way - nothing like having a big brother around again. It was a lovely way to finish off our day.
We had salmon with potatoes, onions, and asparagus for dinner, mostly prepared by Stewart with help from me and Eric. I'm amazed at what a good cook Stewart has become - and he's also good at improvising. It seems like the Spanish missionaries cook just as well as the Italian ones.
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| Walking tour of Bath |
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| Stow-on-the-wold foot paths |
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| Burton-on-the-Water |
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