Day 1 of 8 Thames Path - Onward to Cirencester

 May 2, 2023  We are going to travel for an hour on the Great Western Train to Kemble. Then  we will take a taxi to our B&B in Cirencester, about 4 miles away.  We need to return to Paddington Station to get to this train line.  By the way, Cirencester is pronounced, [sigh'-ren-sess-ter).

We hope to do a load of laundry before we leave. There is a laundromat up the street, that opens at 8 am.  When we have our train tickets, we will need to call ahead to arrange for a taxi to meet us.

More info coming about how we did at pulling this off!

Well, we did very well! First thing, we walked to a marvelous small launderette about four block up the street from Grace House.

The laundrette was clean with a helpful staff. There is a cafe across the street where locals hang out or stop by. What a kick talking with these folks!

The laundry was reasonably priced, and fast!

We returned to the flat to pack the clean clothes and clear out. We were able to catch an Uber quickly to get to the Paddington Station. He dropped us off at the Paddington Underground, which wasn't the same as the station. It took us a about 15 minutes and help of Google maps, to find the station. We quickly purchased two tickets to Kemble on the Great Western Railway (GWR). Then we waited for it to arrive. And grabbed some pasties for lunch. There was some construction work slowing all the trains on this line. We were on our way by 1:25pm.

We arrived in Kemble about 3pm and found that it was little more than a train station - no town. But the sign, shown below, indicates we are at the right place to begin walking the Thames Path.

There was a cab waiting in the cab rank, we hailed him to go to Cirencester.

We soon arrived at our Inn, the lovely Ivy House. Paul and Sue run the inn. They are charming, interesting people who like to chat! We finally had to be rude to break away to get underway with our own needs, finding lunch was the top priority. We were well fed at The Fleece, which was recommended by our taxi driver.



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