Day 36 Part 2 - The Cotswold Way

(continued from part two)

I found it hard to work out what kind of town Dursley is. It's quite substantial and its setting nestling in the Cotswolds is an attractive one. But I have a hunch, uninformed and unspecific, that something of Dursley's potential is as yet unrealised.

I'd decided at the beginning of the day that the 'easy route' along the A38 and through the broad valley to Middleyard would be dull compared with the hills. Now I revised my route again, choosing to follow the Cotswold Way footpath out of Dursley but skipping an unnecessary detour over Cam Long Down.

The Way is an obviously well-used path. Across grassy fields, the path is bare - a pleasantly smooth and slightly yielding surface on which to walk.

I briefly joined the B4066 to pass Hetty Pegler's Tump, also known, perhaps less prosaically, as Uley long barrow.

The sun was low as I reached Coaley Peak, whose steep western escarpement is perfect launching ground for paragliders. Three of them stood on the top of the slope, taking turns waiting for the wind to strengthen. The breeze was just enough to inflate the brightly coloured canopies but apparently without the power for a take-off. They reminded me of natural history films that record the nervous attempts of cliff-top fledglings.

Coaley Peak offers amazing views across the Severn Estuary and a viewfinding board told me that the distant dark mountains were the Brecon Beacons, some 33 miles distant.

The Cotswold Way led my aching feet through the beech woods down and down. I met Bill, a walker coming uphill and he told me he's begun training for a walk to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro is September. He's 72. Bill has walked in all sorts of amazing places, including the Himalayas. We talked about my walk andzwished each other well.

In Stanley Wood, I saw Amanda, her son Patrick and black labrador Nancy, walking up the path. I'd rung Nick from the top of Coaley Peak, to tell him when I'd be likely to arrive.

It was great to see each other again after about eight years. Nick and Isobella were waiting at their home in Middleyard and I enjoyedxa wonderful home-cooked dinner and Nick's amazingly delicious home-brewed beer. In my previous personal experience, I usually hesitate in response to the question, "Would you like to try my home-brewed beer?" But for sore legs, tired mind and body the brew was a perfect conclusion to a tough nineteen mile day.

My total so far: 371 miles.