Sunday 3rd July

Today we started off in Wiltshire, went through Gloucestershire and ended up in Warwickshire!The day dawned fine again and after breakfast we loaded up the car and set off for Stratford upon Avon. This is a different Avon River from the Avon River at Bradford and Bath. Evidently when then Romans were in Britain in the early ADs they kept very precise records and the Latin word for River is Avon, so when the Romans asked what the river was they got Avon – hence the 10 Avon Rivers in Britain. We drove through the Cotswolds and enjoyed the rolling countryside. We also laughed at some of the names of towns that we either went through or were nearby our route. Mangotsfield, Chipping-Sodbury, Bourton on the Water, Stow on the Wold, Morton-in-Marsh, Shipton on Stour. We were going to stop for coffee someplace but were too early in Tetbury as it was Sunday morning and we did get away early. Still we got to Stratford around 11.00am. Passed lots of cyclists out for their Sunday ride – not so easy on some of the roads we have travelled on but I must say that the way we came today the roads were wider even if they still had the curbing along both sides. Jannie keeps saying that she is sure we are riding hard against it some of the time.

Our first impressions we got when we drove into Stratford was how different this town is to those that we have been in. Lots of houses are made with normal red brick and it wasn’t till we got to our B&B and then walked the three blocks into the centre of the town that we saw the Tudor and Georgian styled buildings. Some of the buildings have been here for 600 years. The walls are crooked and on leans, the roofs up and down all over the place. They wouldn’t be standing if they had been located in Christchurch instead of here in Stratford. They are delightful and didn’t matter which direction we looked there was another photo opportunity.

There was a river fete on today and there were stalls and people everywhere. The river was full on row boats, barges of all lengths, small dinghys with outboards for rent, rowing skiffs and canoes. There was even a walking bridge and this one was for people only and the poor guy in charge had to wind the handle on the side of the barge by hand and the chain was pulled in one end of the barge and let out the other end as it went across the river. Cost 50p per person and that is the cheapest thing that we have paid for. The barge took 40 odd people and a few dogs at a time and there was a big queue on both side of the river. The bridge to walk over was only about 200m away but people just wanted to use the walking bridge.

Was lunch time and we deserved a beer again. Hot and sweaty stuff this walking around fetes amongst the crowds of people. We eventually found a pub and a spare table on the sidewalk and ordered our salads and beers. Had a leisurely time of it and eventually it was time to see William Shakespeare’s house where he was born. Up and down all of the streets in Stratford we went, stopping for the occasional shop and Jannie got a couple of things that she desperately needed – me I bought some grapes. Will’s house was such a dag of a place and the queues were huge. Japanese everywhere and although they aren’t big people they seem to be exactly where I wanted to walk! We didn’t go into Will’s house and just looked at it from the outside. We finally wandered back down to the river and the crowds if anything had got bigger. Jannie’s feet were complaining so we went back to the B&B and took all of our bags from the car to the room which require me driving the car from where it is parked around the back of the B&B around to the footpath.

No messages today - its the weekend and everybody is too busy to contact us - oh well not to worry - maybe tomorrow!