Distance Walked: 10km (approx)
Was toasty warm in bed even without the heating on. The water in the shower was hot too. Almost scalded myself. Not such a bad place really.
Woke at 3:30am and dozed until 4:30am. Decided stuff it and took a pill. Slept through until 7:20am. Hallelujah. Was a bit groggy when I got up but a hot shower took care of that. Maybe I'm finally on the correct schedule. My room here quieter and darker than the one in London which must help.
Meet up with an American girl at breakfast who I'd seen on the bus and in the pub yesterday. Turns out she is also doing the Cotswold Way with Contours, only she is doing it over 6 days and leaving today. She's more energetic than me.
Had the requisite huge breakfast today with good coffee (plunger). A cup of (tinned?) grapefruit pieces followed by the full English - 2 poached eggs, 2 rashers of bacon, 1 tomato, 1 sausage and some mushrooms. Followed this up with a piece of multigrain toast with quince jelly. Could have also had cereal and orange juice. I'm definitely coming home fatter than when I left.
Plan for today is amble about the village. See if I can't buy a compass somewhere and perhaps do a small walk to a nearby village. Bought a map of trails in the vicinity. Might try out the gear with a short mile or 2 hike.
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Spent the morning ambling about the village and reading all the menus for the various cafes and restaurants. NB, no compasses to be had for love or money. Weather cool but OK if moving about. My hands were freezing but no-one else was wearing gloves. They breed them tough here. Everywhere I went there seemed to be tourist sketching or painting, including two perched in the long grass in a field just outside the village. Only their heads were showing which looked very peculiar so I took their photo.
By about 1pm I decided to stop at my chosen tea shop for lunch but being a Saturday and the village such a pretty place it was swarming with day trippers. My chosen place was full. I decided to go and buy a newspaper and then come back in to see if a table was free. One had freed up in my absence but had been quickly snaffled. I waited a while sitting on a bench outside but still no joy. I decided to settle for the other tea shop which hadn't looked so inviting but it was full to the brim too! Wandered about but nothing else appealed so ended up deciding to by a sandwich/roll from the French bakery near the B&B and take it back there to eat. Luckily the bakery had some tables at the rear and they were all free so I ate there. I had the chacuterie platter with fresh baked bread (very good) followed by a coffee and a brownie (average).
After my experiences trying to get lunch I decided it would be wise to book a table for dinner tonight. Selected a slightly upmarket hotel/restaurant called Kings. Initially the waitperson I spoke to was reluctant to set aside a table for just one person (ah, the joys of solo travelling) but then another waitperson pointed out that Table 11 was free and it was a bit cramped for two and so would do for the solo diner so I was permitted to make a booking.
Went back to the B&B to discover someone had thoughtfully opened my bedroom window so now instead of being slightly stuffy it was full of fresh but very cool air. Had a leisurely read of the Saturday papers sitting in the sun in the living room downstairs. There is no heating on in this place. Eventually I finished the papers and the sun had moved so I was feeling rather chilled. Went back to my room and had a hot shower until all the hot water ran out. After this I crawled into bed. Feeling human again now,
Before heading for my room I had a snoop around the place as I was here on my own and all the doors to the unoccupied bedrooms were open. There is another twin room (#4) in use which has its own private bathroom next door, with a bath. Also on my floor are two doubles (#2 and #1). The American girl was in #1 which is a pleasanter room than mine. The best was #5 upstairs in the attic. It has a double bed plus 2 singles and its own full sized bathroom. This suite takes up the whole of the top floor. A party of 5 has just shown up to take the three previously free rooms. Don't know how breakfast is going to work as there is only room for 6 (a table for 4 and another for 2) and there are 8 of us staying here tonight.
Just checked my footy tips. So far have got only 2 out of 5 correct. Fremantle won again! What is the world coming to?
The waiter who so grudgingly allowed me to make a reservation turned out to be very chatty this evening. We talked about walks in the area and Australia. He wants to go there because "it is always warm there". He is Polish and spent several years in Switzerland before settling here so from his point of view he is right. Another waiter chatted to me about the iniquities of his current candle supplier. My Polish waiter moved on from chatty to touchy-feely by the end of the evening. Not sure if he was being flirtatious or just taking pity on the poor woman all on her own. Either way it was a pleasant evening.
I had pork belly on a bed of cabbage and bacon with a potato cake cooked with sage. I also had a side of green beans to up the vegetable content of my diet. This was all washed down with a glass of Spanish tempranillo (sp?). I was tempted to have the Australian shiraz but it wasn't I winery I knew. This was then followed by a pear poached in red wine with a cinnamon parfait (very good) and an espresso (not too good). That makes four cups of coffee today and about 100% more calories than I needed. Still, with the exception of the coffee, it was all very good. Not too expensive. The whole day is (just) within budget and most days have been far less.
Walked 13.5K steps today. Tomorrow I start walking for real.
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