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Walking Day One: Bird Songs, Blackberries, and Sore Feet

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What a beautiful day to walk 12 miles from Moreton-in-Marsh to Bourton-on-the Water! Through fields and along streams, serenaded by a myriad of birds (could only name one: a pheasant), in and out of small villages, picking blackberries, enjoying the partly sunny day. The actual walking time (minus the moments spent dawdling, gawking, getting lunch, etc.) was 5.5 hours! There were several steep hills, but manageable. We arrived at our hotel shortly after 3 p.m. Sore feet up, relaxing, and drinking lots of water. Frankly, eight to nine miles would have been ideal, which was the point where fun and play morphed into work, leaving us with joyfully tired feet. But all told, it was amazing. I could dump so many pics, but I'll try to drop only the best. This is us entering the pathway this morning. Monarch's Way - the path we followed most of the day. Not the butterflies (where my mind goes), but the trail followed by King Charles II, pursued by Cromwell in 165...
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Doorways and Stone Circles

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Tomorrow is the day we start walking so today we took it relatively easy, meandering through Moreton-in-Marsh, looking at doors and architecture and enjoying the town minus the Tuesday market madness. Many of the head jambs on the doors are quite low, built for very short people. And the homes had names. Perhaps we should all name our homes. In the afternoon, a delightful taxi driver took us to the Rollright Stones. This is a neolithic (between 3,000 and 2,200 B.C.) stone circle. The societies that erected stone circles left no written records, so the meaning and use is uncertain. They could be religious structures, celestial calendars, burial sites or something completely different.  Rollright Stones is one of many circles across British Isles and France. We've visited Drombeg and Glebe stone circles (Ireland), Callanish (Outer Hebrides), and next week we'll visit Stonehenge. The mystery surrounding them is intriguing...
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Tea and More in Moreton-in-Marsh

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Grateful for on-time flights (not a given these days) and an easy train ride from Heathrow to the Cotswolds in time for the Tuesday Market. Moreton-in-Marsh, where we begin our walk in a few days, hosts the largest street market in England, with a market charter dating back to 1227. It draws people from across the country, making Tuesday a massive, slow-moving traffic jam in this village. We wandered the village and perused the market stalls while waiting for check-in time at our hotel. A pot of Earl Grey tea and some sweets helped buoy our energy despite a lack of sleep. I bought a few things from this woman, mostly for my daughter! The defaced Moreton-in-Marsh sign at the edge of the village reveals some jokester's lack of appreciation for the village's popularity and the market's boost to the local economy. And then there's this:
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London V / Lastly and (a bit more) Slowly

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We met up with Jenny (from Reedley) today for our final, more leisurely day. She was working all week, conducting Peace Games with British college students. Something we need more of in the chaos of warmongering. We spent the morning at the British Library perusing it's magnificent collection of documents and the afternoon strolling through Regent's Park, one of many parks in this city. We're told that the biggest parks, including this one, were once hunting grounds for the aristocracy. Now they are wonderful places to meander through when you want to slow way down and talk and enjoy the great green spaces. Tomorrow morning we'll be on our way. A good week in a great place. We came, we looked, we relaxed. All good things come to an end, as William used to say.  From the Sacred Texts section: The Lindesfairne Gospels -- the four gospels copied in 700 A.D. The Old Testament from 1431 The Four Gospels from the 17th century  ...
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