Sleepy, Comfy, Charming, Cozy, Quintessential Cotswold - Chipping Campden

The day is not yet over but it’s break time - time to organize the gear for tomorrow, time for Kate’s last-minute seamstress alterations on our gaiters/waterproof shoe covers, and time to load the snack packs full of almonds, Satsuma squares, dried mango and ginger chocolate.  We have had the most wonderful morning exploring Market Street and High Street, soaking up the history that one can find only in a Medieval village.   We bounce from century to century - dinner in a pub from the 1700’s, coffee this morning in a shop with stone, post and beam from the 1500’s.  The church of St. James gazes benevolently down on this sweet, cobblestoned village and affords endless photo ops.   As we walked respectfully through the graveyard that surrounded the church the tower bells pealed, sending shivers of delight down our spines.  Despite the photograph below, the bell ringer was not Kate - but not for lack of impulse.

This magical corner of England is exactly as I had hoped it would be, redolent in evocative history, brimming with small town friendliness and surprises at every doorstep, including these sensational door knockers:

Tomorrow we will begin our first day of the walk and a long climb to Stanton, where there are, apparently, absolutely no stores whatsoever and only one pub.  But we’re okay with that.  We’re intrepid, we have our hiking malas on.  Cheerio for today, mates!

And so it begins

As trips go, I’ve got to say that this one deserved an award.  I even managed to sleep from Iqaluit to Reykjavik - how often will I ever get to say that?  A big, beautiful AC 787 jet, comfy seats with extra legroom, smooth air and the entire last season of Downton entertained me through the shortest night of my life, given that dawn lightened the sky at 1 am, somewhere over Greenland.  Heathrow was orderly and our suitcases arrived on time, our driver arrived early and after a rather hair-raising 2 hour drive, we arrived in beautiful Chipping Campden just in time for dinner.  This is the view from our idyllic B&B:

Right now it’s nearly midnight in the Cotswolds and my body is in a state of complete confusion, having jolted me awake with one of the worst foot cramps of my life due to sitting like a statue for 10 hours while hurtling through time and space.  But it’s kind of fun to be awake in the night and not care.  There is no office in the morning, no obligation beyond breakfast at 7 a.m.  Tomorrow (today, I mean) we will explore and organize our gear for the hiking that begins the following day. From what we saw on our short walk to dinner last evening, this historic little village has much to see, and we are itching to begin exploring!  For now though, I am hoping that Captain Gravol at the helm should give me a couple more hours of sleep before the breakfast hour arrives.  I wonder what a "proper British fry-up" is going to look like, vegan-style?  Stay tuned.

Hold on to your knickers!

It has been nearly two years of planning, but here I finally am on the cusp of a two week holiday tromping and traipsing through the Cotswolds, England.  The journey begins in Chipping Campden on September 4, and my intrepid buddy Kate and I will walk approximately 160 km through such bucolic-sounding places as Birdlip, Winchcomb and Old Sodbury, before resting our boots in Bath.  Fortified with faggots and mash, haggis, neeps and tatties, spotted dick and as much Cadbury as we can carry, we plan on absorbing every moment of this amazing journey, and I’ll be blogging along the way as WiFI allows.   Hope you will come along for the fun!