Into the Cotswolds

I'm getting the train travel figured out--I just ask each time. That way I don't have to worry about reading the schedules. Since I'm not on any kind of schedule, it doesn't matter about making connections. Today went really well because there was only a 10 minute wait between trains when I had to make a change. I travelled from Bath to Moreton in Marsh earlier today. I spent the better part of the day in and around Moreton in Marsh. The town is NOT a tourist attraction by any stretch and that's what I liked about it. I checked out an antique fair that just happened to be going on today and then visited the art gallery. They had a new exhibition starting today. The curator is quite proud of the little art shop she has there and rightfully so.

Ok, so my tour of the entire town only took about 15 minutes plus the time in the art gallery. After that I took a walk to the next closest town - Bourton on the Hill. The walk was not what I had hoped for in The Cotswolds. That is to say it was not a nature hike. It was a broken paved path along a very busy road. However, the nature part became available by a short detour into the Cotswold Falconry exhibit. Up close and personal exhibit with live birds of prey-falcons, hawks, owls and eagles including Golden Eagles. I had a close encounter with Henry, a Harris Hawk. The guy giving the program gave me the glove and a chunk of chicken and Henry swooped down for dinner. Way cool but too quick to get a picture of me and Henry.

This is actually being written on Friday now because I didn't get around to posting on Wednesday because I thought I'd get back to it.
After the birds, it was back to Moreton in Marsh and a bus to home for the evening, Stow-on-the-Wold. To paraphrase Dave Barry-I'm not making these names up. The hostel in Stow was the funkiest one yet. I don't know what the building was in another life but right now it's like a rabbit warren. Staircases that almost wide enough to negotiate with a pack, turns half way up, short corridors with steps up on one end and down on the other and 1/2 the beds were on the floor.

Stow-on-the-Wold is a neat little burg. A bit bigger than Morton in Marsh. I did a quick evening walk around when I arrived but saved the rest of the tour for the next day. I was up early and did the 45 minute self guided tour then took the nature walk I had wanted to take the other day. Considering it had rained the entire night, I got a little too much nature in my boots going through one of the fields. Fortunately, the rains had ceased for the duration of my walk so once I reached town, I dried out OK. I think I mentioned before about walking through fields in England before. Farmers here has to allow passage throught there lands and there are designated footpaths to guide you through the fields and stuff. Any fence that crosses a footpath has some kind of gate or stile that allows people passage. One of the paths to Bourton on the Water took me through a couple of horse paddocks and pastures. The ponies ignored me (thankfully. I've heard they can be nasty sometimes) but one of the horses was very curious. I didn't run to the fence exactly, but I did get to there before the horse. I wasn't afraid, really. It's just that he was coming at me like an oversized, labrador puppy! I finally slogged my way through the remaining dozen or so fields (OK, it wasn't that many but it sure seems like more when it's all bog) and into Bourton/Water. I toured the Motor Museum, the 1/9th scale town and did the Maze. I wanted to do Birdland but I gotta start watching my budget more closely.

All of these towns date waaaay back. All of the buildings are made from the limestone that lies just below the topsoil and they are built with common walls, like row houses. Almost nothing has been done to the outside of these places since they were built. A couple of the buildings show a wee bit of quicker craftsman ship that their neighbor and lean or have saggy bits but hey, they're still standing. In Bourton/Water the 1/9the scale model of the town is also made of the same limestone. It's a hoot. The whole town is laid out in miniature including the model which in turn has its own miniature! I gotta figure out how to get the pictures on this site!

OK, I'm running out of time and I'm a day or two behind. When next I log on, I should be able to catch up stuff since Stow. That will be Blenheim Palace (today), Stratford Upon Avon, Warwick Castle and into North Wales.
See ya then.