Tag: Travel

Places to go and people to see.

Hiking the Cotswolds – Real Hikers Do it in the Rain

Well, I guess we couldn’t have expected to have a totally dry hike. Our last 2 days of hiking were all wet. But, finishing up the last 6 miles between Broadway and Chipping Campden and then 7 miles between Chipping Campden and Moreton in Marsh made us feel like true hikers.

Broadway to Chipping Campden offered quite a hill to climb to get to Broadway Tower (a folly feature as Jimmy mansplained to me 🙂 ).  But even in the rain it was totally worth it.  Good views, lots of sheep, plus there is a small museum in the Tower so we had a nice place to dry off a bit.

Did I mention that before we even started we had some treats.

All in all it was a pleasant day.

Our final day of the hike was the wettest of all.  We started in Chipping Campden and made it to Blockley before we ran out of steam. We thought we better refuel.

IMG_1729From this point we decided it wouldn’t be wimping out to just call a taxi to take us to our hotel.  However, this was not to be.  No one told us that although there are taxis listed in the area, they all have much better things to do than haul our tea and rain soaked butts to the next hotel.  So we carried on through the muck and mir-rah!

IMG_0444We finally made it to the hotel and warm and dry clothes.  But we do feel our endurance earns us a badge of honor.

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Hiking the Cotswolds – Winchcombe (A Zero Day)

After my neice and her husband finished their hike along the John Muir trail, she told us the story of meeting another couple along the way.  See, my niece and her husband had their 200+ mile journey planned to a T. They had so many miles to make each day and stops they wanted and needed to make, as well as sites to see.

When they met this couple, they started talking and exchanging war stories when the couple asked them,  “So, how many zero days do you have?”  This took them both by surprise.  Zero days?  What are zero days?

According the the website www.rmghadventures.com, a zero day is: A day in which no miles are hiked, usually because the hiker is stopping in a town to re-supply and/or rest. This is opposed to the Power Hiker which is: A hiker who habitually chooses to cover very long distances each day, often hiking late into the evening.

As a side point, here are a few other hiking terms I like and plan to use in the future:

  • Hicker: A person who is still trying to figure out the whole hiker/gear thing while on the trail.
  • MacGyver: To build or repair gear with imagination.
  • Nero: Almost a Zero …in other words, a very short mileage day.
  • PUDS: Thru-hiker shorthand for “pointless ups and downs”, referring to the less interesting sections of mountains thru-hikers encounter from time to time; several PUDS in a row are MUDS, which is shorthand for “mindless ups and downs”.
  • Skunked: Failing to get a car to stop when hitch hiking.
  • Webface: What happens to the first person on the trail each morning – they clear away all the spider webs across the trail with their face.

So, there you have it. We felt that a Zero Day in Winchcombe would be the best for our physical and mental health.  Here is what we did on our Zero Day and we totally recommend all of it!

Relaxed Over Breakfast

Saw some antiques and relaxed again in the tea rooms there.

Visited Sudley Castle. We think this is a must see as it gives so much bang for the buck. Awesome gardens, great tours (shout out to Kirstie – she was cool) , and a very doable site as you can probably cover it in about 2 hours.  Not overwhelming at all.

Then we hopped on a bus to Broadway and met our friends for dinner.

Finally we settled into our cozy room at the Olive Branch Guest House and awaited our next adventure.

For a Zero Day it felt more like a 10+ in our books.