Walking Day 2: Forest Trails, Bird Songs, and a Brewery Visit

With a good night's rest, the soreness (mostly) dissipated and we set out again. Today we only walked 8.6 miles total. The Windrush Path had nimerous steep climbs, but they were relatively short ones. We didn't walk the entire loop, just walked the part I was most interested in, and returned. Then we walked a mile on the path at the other end of the loop walk -- and returned. The part we missed was the part with long climbs upward of 200 feet and more.

There were more blackberries along the way and lots of singing birds. We set a more leisurely pace, so I took the time to open my Merlin app to identify some trills. I never actually saw them, but delighted in their accompaniment, a soundtrack to our walk.

Merlin identified these bird calls:
Long-tailed Tit
Eurasian Jackdaw
European Robin
Eurasian Green Woodpecker 
Common Raven
Goldcrest
Common Chaffinch

We started the morning following the River Windrush, a pleasant name for a beautiful river. Walking along this river, I half expected to see Mole or Ratty or Mr. Toad or the family of field mice (Wind in the Willows creatures) to make an appearance. This isn't Kenneth Grahame country, but there were plenty of willow trees along the banks and it felt like the stories in his book.

And this pic, once again, is for Barbara!
We crossed some farms, but mostly we walked on forest trails.
Back in Bourton-on-the-Water, we stopped at Hawkestone Brewery. This brewery is run by one of the people connected to Clarkson's Farm. Clarkson's Farm is a British reality TV show set on their working farm.
And then there was this: in Bourton-on-the-Water,  you can send a note to your deceased loved ones. It will be composted.

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