Day 5 – Chipping Campden, Stow and Hiking

Quick note: Full English breakfasts are quite filling. Wow.

Anyhow, I may have said it in an earlier post, but reiteration here is valid: The English countryside is stunning.

I’m not sure if the busses here have extremely tight schedules to fit or if our driver had brakeaphobia. In either case, it was a swift ride into Chipping Campden (silent p for those keeping score at home) this morning.

We originally planned to hike into Broad Campden but the lady at the TI talked us into hiking up a hill instead. Of course, we did neither. The town was do nice we just poked around it a bit and took photos.

( The above photo was taken in Chipping Campden of an old church and cemetary. )

We took the bus back to Moreton-in-Marsh so we could hop on another coach that took us to Stow-on-the-Wold.

Once in Stow, we peeked around that village before hitting the trail that would ultimately spill us out at Bourton-on-the-Water.

This required passing through several fields. Some maintained, some filled with cows and some with very little evidence of a pathway ever existing.

( The above photo was taken on our hike through the Cotswolds as we exited Chipping Campden. )

( Alex “Felixing” in a field of cows. )

( After this photo was taken we realized we had no idea where the trail marker was. After 20-30 minutes of bonding with these cows we found our way out of this field. – bye smelly cows, nice knowing you! )

We passed through a couple small inhabited areas, likely even too small to be called villages. One house we went by literally had a stream running under it. It was hard to see the front but you could hear the small waterfall going. It was gorgeous.

We passed through a small town called Lower Slaughter. Like the others, it had an old church built with wool money many moons ago. It also had a pretty well groomed cricket club. No game was in process unfortunately.

Finally, we headed down a bit further and reached Bourton. This town is called the “Venice of the Cotswolds,” though this is a bit far fetched. Down the main drag, called High Street, as with all the towns here, runs a river that has been encased with man-made banks. Arching over the river in about five spots are cute little bridges.

After a small bite, a pint and sharing of stories with locals in a nice pub, we’re back in Moreton with our tired feet and eyes.

( Last stop in Bourton-on-the-Water was at a local pub. )

Now a little Geocaching before turning in!