Distance Walked: 22km, Time Taken: 5h 25m, Avg Walking Speed: 4.1km/h
Had planned to look around the gardens at Snowshill but it was heaving with day trippers and I was beginning to develop blisters on both big toes. I had bought super-duper bandaids for dealing with blisters but had thoughtfully packed them in my suitcase. I was feeling grumpy and miserable by the time I reached Snowshill so pressed on to Stanton.
Not thrilled with this B&B. I had trouble finding it as there was no sign outside to let you know where it was. I only found it because the Contours woman who was delivering my bag saw me wandering up and down the village. We went around the house and in through the open kitchen door at the back. There was just a note on the hall table saying which room was mine. I got the twin bed room again rather than any of the doubles (which have tester beds!). Didn't get the twin in the attic either. More suicidally steep stairs to climb to get to it but it has a bath whereas my room only has a shower. Doesn't have a loo. None of the rooms do (except the attic room). Instead the rooms on this floor share several spaced down the corridor. A nuisance if you wake in the night wanting a pee. The rooms also don't have any locks on the door. This coupled with a wide open front door makes me a bit nervous but I guess that's just my city paranoia showing.
On the plus side, the rooms here have individually controlled heating and those instant hot water heaters so you don't have to worry about running out of hot water. There is also plenty of places to hang clothes and I got two sets of towels so I did a big pile of laundry. With luck some of it will have dried by tomorrow.
The weather was perfect for walking. Mild, mostly sunny and not too windy but enough of a breeze that the insects weren't too much of a bother.
A lot of the track was through paddocks full of sheep. They are loud. They don't so much baa as bellow. Also while you do need to look where you were walking, it wasn't to avoid mud. The countryside is picture postcard pretty though.
Not sure what to do about dinner. The pub here apparently doesn't do food on a Sunday, i.e. today. Not sure if that means the restaurant isn't open but they do bar snacks or no food at all. Wandered downstairs earlier to try to find someone to ask about what I could do. There is a man talking to someone in the private office but I didn't feel that I could knock on the door. Not a very welcoming place. Might just wander on up to the pub in a minute and ask there. My hotel for tomorrow night, the Cleeve Hill Hotel, apparently gives you a warm welcome. I'm not too fussed about warm but a welcome will be nice.
Had lunch at the Crown&Trumpet as planned. A ploughmans lunch - big slab of cheese, a bread roll (yesterday's, frozen and still a bit on the cool side), half a boiled egg, half a tomato, some coleslaw and some salad. Washed it all down with a pint of something local. It is easy to drink a lot of beer here as the real ales aren't very fizzy and are cool rather than cold. Not a bad meal.
Tottered up the hill to the pub for dinner. It is called the Mount Inn so it had to be at the highest point in the village, just as this B&B has to be at the lowest. They do serve food every night of the week so no problems there. I had fish and chips (with peas which seem to be the default vegetable here). Unfortunately, the fish was tasteless and the chips soggy. I should have had the pork belly special. I was tempted but decided to pass since it was what I ate last night. A shame because the people next to me had it and said it was delicious. I washed it down with a half of something by Donnington's which was inoffensive.
Another tourist, German I think, also had the pork belly which was served on a bed of beans in a large ramekin. The ramekin was put a plate for serving. The tourist asked the barman if it was okay if he put the food on the plate and ate it off that rather than out of the dish. Bizarre. Why did he need permission?
I tottered back down the hill to the B&B, discovering why my glutes and my adductors (abductors - outer thigh muscles anyway) are so sore. It is from keeping my balance going down slopes. They had loosened up by the time I got back to the B&B which is good news for tomorrow. My blisters are still painful, which is not. I do hope the hotel at the next stop has a bath. I so need to soak in hot water.
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The B&B here has redeemed itself. In spite of the absent hosts (still no sign of them) and the faint, rather unpleasant odour of boiled bacon downstairs, they aren't all bad. They have cats! Two black moggies, one of which condescended to come upstairs and keep me company for a while.
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