Bonus edition!!

Quick resume of yesterday. Lots of hills, woods, and urbanity...oh and more hills. Deer, blubells, Pygmy pigs, Pygmy goats, bus shelter art, and stunning architecture. Oh, and more hills.

Last night, we stayed at St Anne's B&B in the pretty Cotswold town of Painswick where we were well cared for by our charming hosts in their 'green' establishment. Breakfast was particularly good; with home made organic granola and yoghurt, home- baked bread and croissants and home-made preserves. They are both getting a bit full-Englished up - me- I'm sticking to Burns.

We started the day by going into the village to procure some goods and whilst mum and I were waiting, mum engaged Mr Alan Major in conversation, who then ran home to get her a donation - thank you.

Following the Cotswold Way once more, we walked out of town up a hill! and across Painswick golf course which is laid out all across the remains of an ancient fort. It is so narrow, that on some holes they are playing the same hole in different directions from two tees! No bell either. Mind you they all looked as if they had dents in their heads.

We walked on through some woods where we spotted a badger diving for cover - wouldn't you if you saw these two coming towards you ( yes, the shorts are still on - they ran out of tissues today, you should see their sleeves - I'm at my wits end). As we passed through we spotted a number of small CCTV cameras, so clearly something is being observed, but other than Brock, we didn't see anything unusual.

Until today we have been very impressed with Gloucestershire's performance with their footpaths; they have been well marked, well maintained, and with good stiles (Mostly kissing gates - ugh!) until today......

After we waved goodbye to the Cotswold Way, it has been like walking through Bosnia. Any private property has been surrounded by high security fences, razor wire, large grizzly dogs, CCTV, padlocked gates where stiles should be, and we wouldn't have been surprised to see the odd Gatling gun poking thought the windows (except we couldn't see the windows!)

At lunch time we stopped in a little village called Badgeworth. Dad spotted a farm advertising the Village Experience, a farm shop run by Lesley, selling home produced meat and wonderful home baked cakes. Lesley, is a wonderful lady who was kind enough to make us a cup of coffee and make a contribution - thank you so much. The village sported a very attractive church, that even had its own brand new loo! The sign outside read "1315-2009 relief at last" Bliss.(for them anyway).

From there we lost the high security area, and joined the Gloucestershire Way. This took us round Gloucester Airport where we were treated to some great helicopter displays. Here's an funny thing. We have seen houses employing every security device known to man, and then we have the 3 foot high perimeter fence of the airport topped with a single strand of barbed wire?

At one point a low flying helicopter came right up to the fence. Before we started the walk, we all had a choice of 1 luxury. For a brief nano second, mum and I thought this was dad's. 'Fraid not! So there was mum jumping up and down taking pictures and waving to the crew (shorts!) and the crew were waving back (I think). Turns out they were waiting for her to get out of the way so that they could get on with practising landing on a slope!!!

I have had a day of indignities. First of all, I had to have my breakfast in the boot room, then I've been lifted over countless unkempt stiles and cattle grids, and then to cap it all he put me in the bath to was my legs and paws - just because he saw something on TV last night about 16 dogs dying of some E. coli disease after licking muddy paws! Suppose it's because they love me.

Keep spreading the word.

M
xx