Day 16 - Bath to Chipping Sodbury
Yet another gloriously sunny day and after breakfast Caroline (another BJ!) arrived. Tricia decided to stay in Bath for a little bit of shopping and after I had offloaded most of my 'luggage' with Caroline's husband John and therefore feeling so much lighter we set off back down Bathwick Hill into the city centre. First stop for sightseeing was The Crescent which looked stunning in the early sunshine. On the outskirts of Weston Park we picked up yet another long-distance footpath : The Cotswold Way, which was extremely well marked but for the first mile or so, climbed up over Dean Hill and Kelston Round Hill with views both sides of Bath and Bristol. At the top we found not only a viewpoint but also Bath racecourse (unfortunately although I pass several racecourses on my travels over the 10 weeks, I haven't planned it very well to coincide with any race days!). After running round the fort ramparts we ran alongside the golfcourse before crossing into my 4th county (Gloucestershire) and being faced with a lovely monument topped off with a griffin, in memory of Sir Bevil Grenville who was killed in the 1643 Battle of Lansdown that took place in the fields we were about to run through. We met quite a few people early on but the last people we saw were just after this monument! We ran through lovely undulating grassy fields with fantastic downhills (hand-break off time!) although it was a little boggy by the fishing lake (wet feet again...maybe I have to have wet feet each day!). When we climbed back out of the valley, we were amazed to find a seat with a sign 'tea, coffee, cold drinks 50p' seemingly in the middle of nowhere - there was a tiny garden centre so we just had to stop for refuelling on refreshments..it would have been rude not to! Dyrham Woods were simply covered with white star shaped flowers and smell of wild garlic and were a joy to run through. Then, we suddenly came across 2 green plastic chairs...in the middle of the woods...in the middle of nowhere! We just had to occupy them and have a photo stop - it was then that we spotted the message box which contained a notepad and pen in a plastic box - what a fantastic idea! So having added our own comments and names we continued on through the undulating fields before arriving at the National Trust Dyrham Park where we had scheduled to meet up again with John. Unfortunately Caroline was suffering badly from a cold and having downed a cup of tea and slice of cake, decided to call it a day there which was a real shame but totally understandable - I hope you feel better soon. They kindly offered to take my luggage to a rendevouz point of the first junction after the M4. I missed the footpath heading for Lower Lapdown Farm but bck-tracked and soon picked it up : missing signpost. Crossing the noisy and busy M4 I met up with them again and picked up my stuff. I then had a lovely run through a massive private estate of Dodington Park which is apparantely the home of Mr Dyson of hoover fame. Across Kingrove Common to my B&B for the night - unfortunately Mary didn't have any booking for me but luckily did have room! It was a fabulous old farmhouse. Having walked down into Chipping Sodbury for something to eat, unfortunately the Spar was closed for refurbishment and although there are 7 pubs (old market town) none did food in the evening! I ended up getting an Indian take-away and sitting on the market cross like a little waif and stray - this is the only bit of the trip that I don't particular enjoy!
Mileage 19.94 taking 4.36