Day 10- Friday travel to Bath

Our day started out by being dropped off by our now quite familiar cab driver Andy in quaint little Tisbury. After sauntering back to Beatons Tearoom for elevenses (awesome term for a drink and snack around 11am), we left our bags there and went shopping. The ladies in the store pictured above (called amorio) not only sold me a beautiful nightie, they got chatting to us about how the river scenes in the film Chocolat were filmed in nearby Fonthill Gifford, which you can see signed above. Apparently they had to burn about 4 boats to get that river scene right! They also said Juliette Binoche threw a hissy fit (well, they used a more colourful British expression we can't remember) and told us that the lake at Fonthill was too pretty to miss.

We didn't have time to see the lake at Fonthill so after taking in a few more shops including an antique/decor shop IN THE TRAIN STATION called The Decoration Station, we finally made it to Bath. This is the view from our B&B room's floor to ceiling windows. Ahhhhh! We can highly recommend Paradise House in Bath. It is Paradise!

After yet more tea, we decided that as we were already halfway up the hill as you can see, and the weather was still clement, we would climb to Beechen Cliff which is just behind our B&B.

The park, now called Alexandra Park, is one of the best spots to overlook Bath and it was so pretty in the late day sun.

This is the view away from the city.

"They determined on walking round Beechen Cliff, that noble hill whose beautiful verdure and hanging coppice render it so striking an object from almost every opening in Bath." Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

And this is the view looking towards Bath, with Bath Abbey visible in the centre of the photo. The new buildings in the foreground are a new shopping area by the train station all made of yellow Bath stone to blend with the old buildings.

We then went down into town and enjoyed the late day sun on the Abbey.

The angels climbing Jacob's ladder were amazing! Here is a close up of one:

The angels climbing to heaven (and a few of them fallen angels) are quite striking, especially late on a sunny day!

Also some of the kitschy shops selling things like teapots in novelty shapes like typewriters, telephones  and Bobby helmets.

Ending up at Pulteney Bridge as it was getting dark, we ended up eating at a Turkish restaurant with a view of the bridge.

The food was pretty good and the Turkish coffee was amazing. More Bath tomorrow!

Only 13,351 steps today.

Cheers!

Day 9- Thursday trail, Thomas Hardy Tales

We started the day in Tollard Royal with a lovely breakfast kept company by the owner of Perry Cottage's lovely little dog Welly (short for Wellington). A very well behaved little old man.

We wisely decided to do a smaller walk today and so were able to start the day in a leisurely manor. The church was all done up for what we thought was a wedding but which turned out to be a funeral. The wonderful clear weather continues!

We gorged ourselves on blackberries/bramble berries again today. Such a shame that no one was picking them. We were dreaming of the jams, pies and tarts that could be made from such a harvest. And growing everywhere!

In this photo you can see that the whole left side of the hedge row is all brambles. It was hard not to pluck one once in a while. The thorns kept catching my trouser leg while walking past which reminded me of the quotation:

"Oh, how full of briars is this working-day world!" - Shakespeare, As You Like It

More lovely Dorset scenery which photos cannot begin to do justice to!

Off to Ashmore, a cute little village with no pub but it did have a lovely spot to rest by a pond in the centre of the village. 

It also had many wonderful spots to photograph including this late hollyhock in the glorious sun.

Mungo (Welly's friend) welcomed us back to the B&B.

And our shorter walking day meant we got to enjoy the late day sun in the garden with Mungo and Welly.

A pot of tea and some glossy English magazines just completed the day. We can highly recommend Perry Cottage in Tollard Royal. We could hear the distant sound of guns from the shooting at Ashcombe. I wonder if Guy Ritchie was taking part? He and Madonna bought the property in 2001 but  he got it after the split. 

Step count only 19,701 today. But there was more relaxation and even a nap!

Cheers!

Day 8- Wednesday trail, Out on the Chase ending in Tollard Royal

Big walk planned today. These delicious berries we have been munching along the way are called either blackberries or bramble berries depending on which part of England you are from. In Canada we call it a Blackberry and my photos for this blog were taken on a larger electronic version of the fruit!

Added later- when I got home, I started watching the ITV series Home Fires about women in England keeping the home fires burning during WWII. The first episode has them making blackberry jam "for the war effort". Wonderful!

Our route took us up the chalk hills in the north of Dorset today. It is hard to see, but the white path you see above is from the chalk. Think of the white cliffs of Dover and you have the idea. It is a bit slippery to walk on (sort of like talcum powder at times) and the Neolithic people even carved pictures out of the chalk hills for gigantic art. The Uffington White Horse of Oxfordshire is over 3000 years old.

Postman Pat kept roaring past in his little Royal Mail truck. The lanes are narrow here but there is time to dive to the side (preferably not into brambles or stinging nettles).

Gillian ran into this adorable bus stop in West End. Would that all bus stops could be this cute and comfortable. Village news inside on the cork board is handy too.

Actually that crossroads was called Sixpenny Handley but we were off to Berwick St. John next. Actually, before we got to Berwick St J, we arrived at an adorable village called Alvediston.

Wandering into The Church of St Mary Alvediston, the light was streaming into the windows and onto the pews. As we were admiring the embroidered cushions for kneeling, we spotted a certain gentleman under the window in the right of this photos.

A recubent medieval knight with two angels by his head and his dog by his feet, is thought to commemorate John Gawen, who built nearby Norrington in 1377. Apparently former Prime Minister Anthony Eden was also buried here but we thought Sir Gawen more interesting.

Another lovely view in Alvediston as we were leaving.

After talking sweetly to these sheep who were collected in front of a stile we had to cross...

and getting some fresh green cow manure on my boot (and laces which had come undone yet again!) we started to get hungry, tired and grumpy. OK, I started to get hungry tired and grumpy. Some expletives were released into the fresh country air.

So how lovely to finally come to this chocolate box village where The Talbot Inn gave us rest and refreshment. Lots of older locals inside having a good old time reminiscing too.

You can just see the tops of their heads in this photo. When we left they were starting to compare ages. Most were well over 80!

The photos of the hills near Win Green we were walking really don't do justice to the scenery but here is one.

And here were some cows grazing on a hill. Behind them in the clump of trees is a Neolithic burial site dating to 500 BC. The history is everywhere.

While walking through Ashcombe Park, where Madonna used to live and where her ex Guy Ritchie still does, we were amazed by the number of pheasants running around. They are hilarious the way they ran away from us (rather in the manner of roadrunners) and so elusive that this was our best photo even though they were everywhere!

When we got to our B&B, the lovely Perry Cottage in Tollard Royal, this tea tray awaited us. Then off to the local pub The King John Inn for a venison dinner. It seemed appropriate as King John used to go deer hunting in Cranborne Chase here.

Steps for the day 27,313.

Cheers! Hope we can still walk tomorrow. 

Day 7- Tuesday trail, The Knight's Castle

We started the day being dropped by our driver Kevin in Ansty. As you can see the ivy is starting to turn here but what you can't see are two goofy boxers who came to the gate to say hello before we started the walk. One was a puppy with the wigglies. Adorable!

Then as we made our way down to the maypole we passed two swans and some ducks, which in Dutch are apparently called meerkoet...but I figured out in England they are called Eurasian coots. Gillian was naming a lot of things in Dutch today! We also saw a REAL robin (not those thrushes we Canadians call robins) and a hawk. Witte kwikstaarts were flying around in a field as well. Any ornithologists who can translate Dutch would be helpful to me at this point!

Thanks to our tour organizer Allison Howell from Foot Trails for telling us that a witte kwikstaart is a white wagtail.

After getting lost (that was my fault) and back on track with the help of a local, we found our way to New Wardour Castle which has been now divided up into flats for some of the well off locals. There was a Bentley parked just to the right of this photo.

Back on track, we had to scoot to make it to the Forester Inn in Donhead St Andrew before they stopped serving lunch! But first, we were making our way across an open field when...

this tree dropped a hunk of wood two feet away from Gillian's head! I was calling it The Whomping Willow, but it was actually a gigantic oak tree. I suppose it was The Ornery Oak then?

This lovely willow by the mill was very well behaved thankfully. And we did not get lost again all day.

Our next stop was The Forester Inn, a very swish "pub" with operatic music playing. We felt slightly out of place with our hiking boots and backpacks, especially when Lady T____ arrived (the local Baron's wife) to thank the proprietor for providing the refreshments at her latest gathering. I kid you not, this place was rather high class. We enjoyed our cheddar and fruit chutney sandwiches and had a chat with Bill, a 94 year old local who had to steady himself on our table before he could make his way out to his scooter. He was adorable!

I bought a bag of "Sunset" apples for one pound from this bench. A lovely lady came out to tell us that the coconuts were left over from a village fundraiser for the church, but I just went with the apples!

She pointed us in the direction of Old Wardour Castle, which was left as a picturesque folly for the new castle. We could have stayed here for hours and we both took wayyyyy too many photos. Here is just one more...

Then we had to hustle off again as our driver Andy was waiting for us. Here is one last shot Gillian took as he was pulling up...

Andy dropped us off at our B&B The Compasses Inn in Lower Chicksgrove which is a lovely 14th century thatched building with a pub on the lower level and rooms on the upper level. It was used as a film location for Morris: A Life With Bells On a wonderful tongue in cheek spoof on Morris Dancing. See if you can spot the front of The Compasses Inn in this clip:

I love the post box in the wall on the right. Our room is under the thatched roof on the left. Off on our really huge hike tomorrow. Wish us luck!

23,818 steps today. 

Cheers!