Day 18 - Middleyard to Charlton Kings
Started earlier this morning : another lovely day weatherwise and the sun was already warm. Didn't stop in Stroud, instead briefly touched the main circular road then headed uphill on the long, drawn out climb out of the town. Stopped at the post office in Gainscross to get another stamp - they're boring but at least it's a register of my passing through. Up through Paganhill, Bread Street (weird names some of these places), Whiteshill and reached the top at Scottsaqua Hill where I then descended via National Trust land into Painswick and back onto the Cotswold Way again. The next 7 or 8 km were through some lovely woodland with a brief emergence onto Painswick golf course : I started to chat to an old guy who asked me where I was running to. He then proceeded to tell me his whole life story in 15 minutes! Apparantely he used to run for Henley Harriers and represented England in the 220 metres (once round the track in those days!) in an international against France at Crystal Palace - unfortunately the French won that day and it was obvious he still isn't happy about that! The path took me through sunlight dappled woodland of beech and fir trees and whilst very easy underfoot was extremely undulating with some very steep climbs in places. Squirrels were everywhere and I've now got used to the bounding sound they make and don't stop dead in my tracks looking for something a bit more exciting in the way of wildlife! I emerged from the woods at The Peak and Barrow Wake just past Birdlip where there were some fantastic views from the viewpoint high up on the hillside. Lunchtime so stopped at the Air Balloon where I had a donation of £5 after chatting to a young family...worth wearing my printed shirts all the time! Decided not to follow the Cotswold Way
back up the steep hill to Crickley Hill Country Park so instead dropped down into Ullenwood and picked up the Way again over Leckhampton Hill. I saw my first deer of the whole journey, nibbling in a plantation - my stalking to get a closer shot with the camera came to no avail as she lay down in the shade! There's an unusual and precarious stack of rocks high on Leckhampton Hill called the Devil's Chimney, quite where it came from and how it was formed I have no idea but it looked impressive. Along the top of the hill but then missed a footpath sign (well it was well hidden in the bushes!) so ran around an extra 1/2 mile in the wrong direction before back-tracking and finding the offending direction to then have a lovely downhill run across another golf course and into Charlton Kings. I was staying at The Studio owned by Geraldine and Frank Smith and within 5 minutes of arriving was sat in the sunshine in the garden drinking a glass of wine! Great first impressions! Later on they took me down to The Langton Arms where they'd already 'prepped' the manager (Dave) that I was turning up and he had kindly told a few people what I was doing and that I was looking for donations - a massive £97.20 was collected including a single donation of £50 from a guy who I think was suffering from cancer himself....it took me ages to get to sleep that night as I couldn't get over how generous people were in giving money to a total stranger on faith.
Mileage 20.51 and time 4.48
Started earlier this morning : another lovely day weatherwise and the sun was already warm. Didn't stop in Stroud, instead briefly touched the main circular road then headed uphill on the long, drawn out climb out of the town. Stopped at the post office in Gainscross to get another stamp - they're boring but at least it's a register of my passing through. Up through Paganhill, Bread Street (weird names some of these places), Whiteshill and reached the top at Scottsaqua Hill where I then descended via National Trust land into Painswick and back onto the Cotswold Way again. The next 7 or 8 km were through some lovely woodland with a brief emergence onto Painswick golf course : I started to chat to an old guy who asked me where I was running to. He then proceeded to tell me his whole life story in 15 minutes! Apparantely he used to run for Henley Harriers and represented England in the 220 metres (once round the track in those days!) in an international against France at Crystal Palace - unfortunately the French won that day and it was obvious he still isn't happy about that! The path took me through sunlight dappled woodland of beech and fir trees and whilst very easy underfoot was extremely undulating with some very steep climbs in places. Squirrels were everywhere and I've now got used to the bounding sound they make and don't stop dead in my tracks looking for something a bit more exciting in the way of wildlife! I emerged from the woods at The Peak and Barrow Wake just past Birdlip where there were some fantastic views from the viewpoint high up on the hillside. Lunchtime so stopped at the Air Balloon where I had a donation of £5 after chatting to a young family...worth wearing my printed shirts all the time! Decided not to follow the Cotswold Way
back up the steep hill to Crickley Hill Country Park so instead dropped down into Ullenwood and picked up the Way again over Leckhampton Hill. I saw my first deer of the whole journey, nibbling in a plantation - my stalking to get a closer shot with the camera came to no avail as she lay down in the shade! There's an unusual and precarious stack of rocks high on Leckhampton Hill called the Devil's Chimney, quite where it came from and how it was formed I have no idea but it looked impressive. Along the top of the hill but then missed a footpath sign (well it was well hidden in the bushes!) so ran around an extra 1/2 mile in the wrong direction before back-tracking and finding the offending direction to then have a lovely downhill run across another golf course and into Charlton Kings. I was staying at The Studio owned by Geraldine and Frank Smith and within 5 minutes of arriving was sat in the sunshine in the garden drinking a glass of wine! Great first impressions! Later on they took me down to The Langton Arms where they'd already 'prepped' the manager (Dave) that I was turning up and he had kindly told a few people what I was doing and that I was looking for donations - a massive £97.20 was collected including a single donation of £50 from a guy who I think was suffering from cancer himself....it took me ages to get to sleep that night as I couldn't get over how generous people were in giving money to a total stranger on faith.Mileage 20.51 and time 4.48
1 comment:
People are very generous, but its people like you Carole who do such amazing things to raise money for these very worthy causes. You deserve every penny!
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