Cotswold Way Day 5 – Saturday 9th April 2016 Witcombe to Randwick 11 miles

Al, Jan and I finished the first half of the Cotswold Way today by walking from Witcombe to Randwick.

Al was dropped off by his wife Carol as we are just a couple of miles from their house. We couldn’t stay with them as they now have a dog and I’m allergic to dogs, cats, horses, sheep, giraffes, etc.

We left our hotel in Witcombe by 10.30am. It was an 11 mile day but relatively straightforward. Painswick Beacon was our first objective, reached in an hour or so. Should have been good views but the rain came in. We briefly watched lots of golfers getting wet as well as being entertained by a golfer chasing his runaway trolley down the hill. Fortunately for him it hit a divot and fell over just before a cliff, he was nowhere near catching it!

Lunch was in the Royal Oak in Painswick, a tasty home-cooked ham sandwich shared with Jan, washed down with an excellent pint of Exmoor Ale.

Next we headed for Randwick and the Vine Tree Inn, reaching it at 4pm, the end for this half of the Cotswold Way. I ended with a couple of pints of Hobgoblin before Al whisked us back to our hotel.

We walked 52 miles in 5 days managing about 14 miles to the gallon……. of beer!

I took 3 rolls of film in 5 days. Not the best return for a 5 day trip. I try not to take pictures on my film camera unless I think I can sell them so that’s still pretty good. It will add a few shots to my Cotswolds collection. I didn’t take any today, too wet or overcast.

Next year we hopefully finish the trek by walking the 50-odd miles from Randwick to Bath.

The church in Painswick dates back to mid 11th century. It has a hundred yew trees in churchyard; Negative 471004

Painswick church dates back to mid 11th century. It has 100 yew trees and many old tombstones, like this pyramid shaped memorial; Negative 471004