Left Bath at 1100. On the way out took photos near the golf course. At the top of the hill got talking with a lady who has a daughter in Perth. The rain was on/off and she invited us for coffee, but we thought that we should actaully walk more than half an hour before stopping to get to where we want to be tonight. Notice a lot of cyclists on the tracks.
A couple of hours in we pass some scouts going the other way. Spoke with an old codger by his jeep as he was overseeing the scouts. They have to work as a team to get from A to B. Under the trees near there had a late lunch break and a few photos. Katherine found me my first stick, which I was later to break - it was a good stick - just the right hieght with a noticably well positioned rest for the thumb. A mountain biker who had wizzed passed us, we now passed back as he mended his flat tyre.
The scenery was terrific all day - see the photos. Towards the end of the day ~1600 (7hrs walk) we missed a turn-off hidden behind a house. We had gone ~1km down the road we were on before a local boy and father on bikes passed us guessing we were doing the Cotwolds Way and on the wrong trail. They set us right and we arrived in Cold Aston ~1700. Dist: ?
The Cold Aston Pub was closed, so we walked on to Pensulvania - a grouping of about ten buildings around The Swan Inn pub and the service station on the highway.
In The Swan Inn over a beer asked about where we might find some fields to camp in. The proprietor offered the back yard of the pub. There a slight slope but being tired, having an offer right here and now was a good option - so we set the ten up amongst the picnic tables. Grabbed a hot meal from the pub as some exchange. The lasagne I had was good but tiny for �5.' The meal allowed us to use the table afterwards to spend a couple of hours planning the rest of the trip - following the instructions in Kathryn's Cotwolds Way book and marking it on the topographical map.