We began our day by grabbing some fruit from the dining room for breakfast. Then we started our trek into town at 7:30 A.M. on a very foggy morning. In such a short time, we have come to really enjoy this walk by cottages, priories, parks, and views into distant green hills. We arrived at Bath Abbey in plenty of time, so we headed to a coffee shop.
As we approached our meeting spot, Ross spotted her first. Then I did. Yesterday on our walking tour, an elderly lady with hair that Ross labeled “flaming orange”, was there waiting for the Cotswold tour. And guess who came running up to greet us as soon as we approached? You guessed it! Before the tour van pulled up in about 7 minutes, we learned that her name was Pearl, she was from southern Israel, she and her husband were university professors, had traveled just about everywhere, thought the U.S. was absolutely beautiful, had both served in the Israeli army (it’s mandatory for every citizen for 2 years), and they had been to Stonehenge yesterday. I loved her already, orange and all!
Sixteen people gathered for the tour from Washington, Michigan, MISSOURI, Canada, Israel, Switzerland, and Taiwan. Amazing! Gary, our driver and tour guide was a middle–aged man and proved to be very knowledgeable of the Cotswold. The sun began to burn off the fog, holding the promise of a lovely spring day.
Off we went! I know I’ll need to be somewhat brief, but the Cotswold is like a fairy land. The word “quaint” should really be reserved for describing these villages nestled amongst grazing sheep, babbling brooks, slate roofed cottages, stone walls, lace curtained windows, flowers of every color, vines and roses climbing ancient stone walls, and just pure loveliness! We walked through sheep pastures where the mother’s number (painted on her side with blue paint of some kind) matched her two little lambs, which romped around her or slept in the warm sunshine. Pairs of mallards paddled in crystal clear streams. We loved this tour! I took so many notes in my journal, but when we get home, I really would like to find a complete book on this area. Of all that we have seen, this area is my personal favorite! And here’s some good news – so much of it resembles Missouri, especially the scenery towards Augusta or Hermann! We completely enjoyed our lunch in an old pub in Stow-on–the-Wold, which consisted of a typical Sunday dinner of beef, potatoes, carrots, and a roll.
We arrived back to where we started at 5:15 P.M. and enjoyed some pasties. We ate them as we sat on a bench in a Bath square as we listened to a street musician play classical music on a guitar. We continued to walk a bit as we were waiting for a service to begin at 6:30 P.M. in the Abby.
We were greeted warmly, handed an Anglican Bible, and selected a seat in a pew close to the marble tombstone of James Montague, who was the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1608 – 1616. A surprising number of people gathered as we began singing hymns, most of which we were unfamiliar. The sermon was delivered by a woman who had a very calm demeanor. She spoke from Luke 15: 1-11 on the Prodigal Son.
Our walk home through the village was nice and quiet as Ross and I discussed, between us, the impact of what we had just experienced in church. It was similar to the fog we walked through earlier in the morning. Nevertheless, it had truly been an awesome and enlightening day!
Sampling of photos from the Costwolds
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