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A Nice Walk
May. 13th, 2012 09:08 pmI'd originally agreed to go for a walk with a friend on Bank Holiday Monday, but the weather was so miserable that we decided to postpone. Today, it was much nicer, so we decided to set out.
We were walking to Hailes Abbey along the Cotswold Way, in theory about 2.5 miles each way, up along the hill. Of course, things are never that simple, and about half way there we realised that not only were there cows in the field the path was going through, but a bull as well, and it had decided that across the path was exactly where it wanted to stand. My friend was rather nervous to start with, and I decided that discretion was probably the better part of valour, so we decided to walk through the ploughed field next door. Once we'd retrieved my shoe from the mud it got stuck in (I really must buy some walking boots if I'm going to make a habit of this kind of lark) we didn't get on too badly and fairly quickly reached our destination.
There's a small church at Hailes, with medieval wall paintings, including some very interesting mythological creatures (I particularly like the elephant-headed dragon), as well as the ruins of the abbey, and we stopped there for a while, before going on to the cafe at the Hayles Apple Farm for some excellent home-made cake and tea.
Then it was time for the return journey, and we decided to try and avoid the field with the cows in altogether. This made for an interesting series of detours up and down the slope at the side of crop fields and/or in the tractor tracks. (We were pretty careful not to trample the crops, but quite frankly, the farmer should have kept his bull out of the field with the footpath in.) At one point we wondered if we'd met a road, to find it was the railway track - interesting to see, but an obstacle to progress. Finally we found our way to a gate to the field we needed, only to find it locked and not conducive to being climbed over. (Wire mesh at the bottom.) Fortunately, I'd noticed that a hundred yards or so along the hedge was replaced by a low piece of barbed wire, which we could climb over and we were back on the path.
Finally I was able to show my friend a short-cut up through the houses to our road, and it was home for a long soak in the bath and hope that I'm not too ridiculously stiff in the morning. I think I'd forgotten how long it's been since I was regularly walking a mile to work every day - nearly 6 months - and that was on pavements. Still, I had a good time, and will probably do it again, once my legs will move properly. ;-)
We were walking to Hailes Abbey along the Cotswold Way, in theory about 2.5 miles each way, up along the hill. Of course, things are never that simple, and about half way there we realised that not only were there cows in the field the path was going through, but a bull as well, and it had decided that across the path was exactly where it wanted to stand. My friend was rather nervous to start with, and I decided that discretion was probably the better part of valour, so we decided to walk through the ploughed field next door. Once we'd retrieved my shoe from the mud it got stuck in (I really must buy some walking boots if I'm going to make a habit of this kind of lark) we didn't get on too badly and fairly quickly reached our destination.
There's a small church at Hailes, with medieval wall paintings, including some very interesting mythological creatures (I particularly like the elephant-headed dragon), as well as the ruins of the abbey, and we stopped there for a while, before going on to the cafe at the Hayles Apple Farm for some excellent home-made cake and tea.
Then it was time for the return journey, and we decided to try and avoid the field with the cows in altogether. This made for an interesting series of detours up and down the slope at the side of crop fields and/or in the tractor tracks. (We were pretty careful not to trample the crops, but quite frankly, the farmer should have kept his bull out of the field with the footpath in.) At one point we wondered if we'd met a road, to find it was the railway track - interesting to see, but an obstacle to progress. Finally we found our way to a gate to the field we needed, only to find it locked and not conducive to being climbed over. (Wire mesh at the bottom.) Fortunately, I'd noticed that a hundred yards or so along the hedge was replaced by a low piece of barbed wire, which we could climb over and we were back on the path.
Finally I was able to show my friend a short-cut up through the houses to our road, and it was home for a long soak in the bath and hope that I'm not too ridiculously stiff in the morning. I think I'd forgotten how long it's been since I was regularly walking a mile to work every day - nearly 6 months - and that was on pavements. Still, I had a good time, and will probably do it again, once my legs will move properly. ;-)
