Oh...Muck!

Defintely the theme for the day.  Slipping, sliding, boot-sucking muck. Splashed up to our knees in it muck. Takes forever to get anywhere muck. Especially when you have to retrace your steps through it because you miss the way-marker.  Or there is no way-marker.  The Cotswold Way is a little more difficult to navigate than the Camino.  But there's something rather freeing about getting that filthy and not caring.

Our 21 km trek today was closer to 30 (according to my Fitbit anyway) and took us from Stanton to Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds. Despite the muck, the scenery was fantastic.  Despite the closed in weather, (notice I didn't say rain) the vistas were amazing.  Another day of promised heavy rains turned into a few light showers early on and a bit of drizzle, but dry from the sky for the most part.

To add some interest to the day, marauding farm animals.  Okay, only the sheep were marauding, charging towards us, young 'uns included, bahhing their fool heads off.  Never heard a sheep growl before.  The horses just stood quietly blocking our access to the gate we needed to pass through and forcing us over a fence.  And the bull from the 'Bull in Field' sign did not materialize.

On a cultural and historical level, Belas Knap, a 5500 year old long barrow, a burial chamber for prehistoric peoples.  When excavated, this one contained the remains of 38 people.

We ended the day in our usual fashion -- beer and food in a local pub.  I'm eating my way through classic English cuisine -- a curry the first night, fish and chips tonight.  Throw in a full English for breakfast and that about does it for the day.  And nothing tastes better than that beer at the end of the day.  It's a little reward for all our effort.  

For all that muck.

Beer du Jour - Jouster, locally brewed in Winchcombe.