Cotswolds

Pictures Day 1 Stow on the Wold
We left Prestatyn on a blustery raining morning. Our goal the Cotswolds for a look see, from the car. Not enough time to do any walking and we lose our car tomorrow.
The Tom Tom primed for Stratford on Avon and instructed to avoid toll roads. Consequently,  the first part of the morning was coursing through narrow back lanes avoiding mothers taking children to school, white transit vans and the odd farmer or two heading off to work.
Reprogrammed to take us any way it wanted, we soon hit the bigger A roads and progress was more speedy.
The major disadvantage of the B roads are the hedgerows.
Only the driver and front passenger can see anything, the back seat passengers see hedgerow and then the flash of an occasional view as you pass a gate.
The route took us down the border of Wales, paralleling Offas Dyke, so many of the towns we passed were familiar from the last two weeks, albeit in reverse order.
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Street in Stratford

Stratford on Avon, as everyone knows is Shakespeare's birthplace and teeming with people. We were lucky enough to snare a parking place just off the main street.

It very Elizabethen and that made me wonder just how much was real or made to look Elizabethan.
Anyway it's very quaint and all the stores cash in on the Shakespeare idea with Fallstaff Walk, Yorick Way etc.
The Avon is a quiet little river that runs through the lower park of the town, past the Royal Shakespearean Company headquarters and theatre.
It’s all a hurried trip really as Margaret wants to see the Cotswolds, all in an afternoon.
It’s a quick lunch that takes some time, and I finally get to have a curry, chicken tikka, which is just spicy enough to get the nose running.
Then back in the car to Winchcombe, the road to which is blocked so we then undertake a roundabout way via very narrow B roads, which is really much more interesting as we get to see more of the Cotswolds than we had planned.
It is quite beautiful, though flatter and more rolling hills that we are used to in Wales.

Stow on the Wold square

Upper and Lower Slaughter are visited and are really quite lovely villages, Lower Slaughter with a very charming old mill.
We then wend our way to Stow on the Wold and the YHA. Stow is a larger village with a large village square, and we park right in front of the YHA.
It is obviously quite a wealthy area as the town has a number of jewellery shops, antique stores, specialist delicatessens, a number of pubs, quite a number really and even a Michelin rated restaurant.
We sort out our room, quite a stark contract to our usual B and B’s with bunk beds.
Luckily Sue and I are in one of the local pubs for the night, the Unicorn.
We have a delightful final meal together at yet another pub, The Old Stocks, where the owner is quite a funny bloke and gives us plenty cheek.

Friday Day 2 Stow on Wold pictures
The morning sees us packed up, Sue for her departure to Heathrow with the car, later in the day, and my move from the pub to the YHA with the girls.
We’re off to Cheltenham Spa for a quick look whilst we have the car.
Chetltenham is on the edge of the Cotswolds and was a Regency period spa town, where people came to take the waters.

Regency Cheltenham

It is the first day of their Literature Festival which means that the parks and views of the old buildings is masked by marquees and tents etc.
We nevertheless the beauty of the place is evident.
Back to Stow and we farewell Sue who then has the drive back to Heathrow to return the car and the long trip back home.
The rest of the day is spent mostly in the lounge of the YHA, as the weather has deteriorated and rains of and on all afternoon...and it is cold.
Tomorrow London

Saturday Day 3 Stow to London pictures
The night is over and initially hard to sleep. The town clock chimed every hour and I heard them all from 9 PM to 1 AM.
Packed up for the trip to London, that entails a bus to Moreton in Marsh, then the train to Paddington.
This all achieved with little fuss, however dragging the bags is a chore, as mine in particular are unwieldy and wants to fall off my shoulder all the time and trip me up.
At Paddington, it is a short trip to the YHA Oxford Street, paradoxically NOT in Oxford street but Noel Street, by cab, at least for  only15 pounds.
I stayed here 7 years ago and  it has undergone a complete rework.

U-33

Our room looks new, however is pokey, luckily Margaret volunteers to take the upper bunk. .
There is no ensuite which is also a nuisance.
After sorting things out we go for a walk along Oxford Street, down Regent Street to Picadilly Circus  to checkout the area.
Margaret is on a mission to get a trip to Stonehenge, so takes off to organise that.
Eve is meeting a friend of her daughter, so I am on my own. I do a circuit of Hamley's Toy Store, however it is too, too hot and I bail out to get some breakfast supplies and return to the YHA.
Not sure if I'll post every day or just from time to time.
We are in our last week.