We awoke feeling much better and rested than we had the
previous day. Our friends the cows were grazing around our tent having awoke
earlier than us. There were also a few dog walkers out early up there too. Be
aware of this if you stay here. Don’t go nonchalantly doing anything private
outside your tent without checking for locals first. A casual admin period was
followed by a much better packing of the tent than I had done the previous day.
Festival going regular Bea knew far more about tents than me it seems. We set
off downhill into a series of beautiful Gloucestershire hamlets and golden
fields. This would be a good day, we thought.
We planned on getting supplies and coffee in Huntley on the
A40. Unfortunately the petrol station was closed at this time on a Sunday
morning. No fear. Google showed a post office in the village. This was also
closed. The pub was open for breakfast every day except Sunday. We were low on
water and food and there was nowhere left between here and Gloucester. Oh dear.
Thankfully we weren’t that far from Gloucester. It was just off the edge of the
map but I’d checked before we left and it was just a case of following the
River Severn for a couple of miles so it wasn’t too far surely?
Our friends on top of May Hill. |
We’d taken a slight detour getting into Huntley so we headed
back towards our path. This was the beginning of a long journey across bullock
filled fields. Lots of climbing fences and carrying a wiggly dog over them too.
Every field seemed to be filled with cows that wanted to see if they were harder
than us or not. It was a long morning of shouting and waving our arms to scare
off the bullocks. Thankfully for the most part they left us alone once we
scared them off but it was hot, we were tired and the adrenaline required was
starting to take its toll. This went on for about an hour of slog. Eventually
we hit the end of the fields. We passed through an orchard and hit the main
road again. We finally caught sight of the River Severn. It would be a nice
easy stroll from here wouldn’t it?
No. It turns out we were still many hours from Gloucester
without water. And also we had not had our last encounter with angry bovines.
In fact the angriest were yet to come. The river just seemed to wind and
meander endlessly. We could see Gloucester cathedral on our left, then right,
then behind and then in front again. It was not getting any closer. Every field
looked the same. If I’m being honest this section was boring. I may have
appreciated more if I was fresh perhaps. It wouldn’t stay boring for long
though. We entered a field with what looked like three cows in it. We stayed
low behind a bank so they couldn’t see us but unfortunately their ‘cow sense’
tingled and they spotted us.
It was a beautiful morning. |
They made a beeline straight for us. We held them off up
into the next field in which there must have been fifty bullocks! They
repeatedly made charges towards us. We picked up a stick each and started
waving at them. They were getting closer and closer to us as they gained
confidence. To add insult to injury the fence at the other end had barbed wire
across it so we had to find a gap to climb over whilst fending off bullock
attacks. It’s quite scary having about twenty five tons of angry beef charging
at you especially when you’re tired, frustrated and dehydrated. This was the
worst lot of bullocks but there were more and we were quite rightly fed up that
Gloucester was not getting any closer.
After what seemed like an age we finally spied our crossing
in the distance. It went under the rail bridge and up onto the dual
carriage-way. There was someone parked in the middle of the path up there
having just had a crash. The police were on the scene. It was a good reminder
that there’s always someone having a worse day than you. We had mad
civilisation. I promised Bea she would not see another cow until we were on the
train. However the path did not go towards civilisation. It cut through more
fields. And lo and behold, another cow! However it was just one and it was very
docile but I had broken my promise.
The path came out at a busy intersection of the A417 and
A430. There is an underpass and then….civilisation, well Gloucester, which is
close enough. We went straight in to the petrol station at the bottom of the hill
and bought everything, water, ice cream, fizzy pop, the lot. We waddled into
town and stopped just shy of the Cathedral in a pub called The Dick Whittington
Pub which I think was quite appropriate. We had two big plates of ribs and
chips. They didn’t usually do ribs on a Sunday but they very kindly made them
for us anyway which was great. We thought we’d feel super victorious at this
point but we were just glad it was over to be fair. Chuck fell unconscious on
the pub floor.
Looking suitably tired after three days on our feet. Us 1 vs Cows 0. |
We limped to the Cathedral and had an obligatory selfie. It
isn’t that good but we just couldn’t be bothered and we had a train to catch.
At the station we had our first coffee of the day and waited for the train. We
decided to take a taxi back from the station to home as we could not be
bothered to walk another step. It was great pointing out all the things we had
seen from the train. Now we knew it was definitely all over we could finally
reflect on how good we felt about having completed this self-imposed challenge.
The brief had been to stick to the Gloucestershire Way as much as possible
which we had done in a fashion but it had proved impossible without bringing a
three day supply of food and water. I think to sum everything we learned from
this trip is too much to fill a concluding paragraph so a full blog will ensue
about what to do and what not to do from our experiences. At some points I
think the ‘what not to do’ should have included this walk! But I’m certainly
glad we did it now. Roll on the next challenge.
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