Howzat!

Saturday 12 May – Gurney Slade to Bath – day 18

Well today we woke up, showered, had our continental breakfast, walked out the door of the B&B, turned right, walked for 100 metres, turned left, turned left again……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.. oh here we are in Bath!

Actually it was a bit more interesting than that. While we went through Midsomer Norton (sounds exotic; most assuredly isn’t) and while today wasn’t quite up there with previous days, it was another 26km, the countryside was pleasant, and we went through some interesting villages. One such village was Dunkerton, complete with another book-swap phone box and a cricket match in progress. It would be nice to say “on a village green” but it was actually more of a manicured piece of field with a glorified shed for the clubhouse! Interestingly, it was a mixed team game and, while we were watching, the left-arm female bowler clean-bowled one of the batsmen.

Then it was a slog up a long hill, rewarded with a glorious view of the city of Bath, nestled in the valley below. It surely has to be one of the most beautiful ways to see a city for the first time, as Bath is largely built from a pale Cotswold limestone, giving it a real consistency of appearance as you approach it. The stone has been described as “fossilised sunshine” and in the late afternoon light you could see why.

That completes Stage 2 of our Grand Adventure. It certainly was a long stage – 9 days and 248km and we’ve now completed 429km, some 23% of the walk. That’s nearly a quarter – yay!

We are here for two nights and a wonderful rest day! We’ve met up with Val’s sister Mary, who will be walking with us for the next three days.

Distance: 24km