May 12, Cotswold Way - King's Stanley to Dursley

Yesterday, I walked from King's StanIey to Dursley. It was geographically 7.5 miles. Short, I thought. I started walking at 9:15. But the ups and downs were very challenging. I was quite behind in time, and I needed to meet a taxi at the Old Spot Inn at 5 pm. 

I panicked about 3 pm. My hiking directions said a tarmac road was coming up. When I got there, I checked in with the Google Maps app. It responded with a walking route to Dursely on back lanes 2.3 miles - less than an hour. Yes! I can walk faster on tarmac, and there were no steep slopes. I arrived at Old Spot with enough time to enjoy a pint of dry cider and a packet of roasted peanuts.😁

I am taking today (Sat, May 13) off. I need to rest, and do some laundry. The hills are ghastly on the Cotswold Way. The next hike to Sodbury 12.6 mi down the trail, also starts with a corker of a hill. I've consulted Google Maps and, yes, I can walk to Wortley on a back road and avoid that first big climb up and over the escarpment. There will be other climbs, but not as steep. 

Onward to find a coffee shop!

Here are some pictures from yesterday 's walk. Enjoy! It rained last night, so the path is quite wet.

Gorgeous woods. With sunshine filtering through.

Roots were coming up to the surface, making it difficult to walk through here quickly.

Here is another kind of style. Notice the yellow arrow in the middle of the white circle.

Humans have been in this area for a long time. Here is a burial site.

This explanation of the view corresponds with the photo below it.

This was not a fun section. Besides mucky mud, notice the step steps some with large vertical distances. I had to get on all fours to get up on one of them.

This is the remains of a yellow sandstone quarry, where stones for the Cotswolds buildings were cut.

This was my first glimpse of Dursley. Notice the manikin in the second story window of this building? That's different!

I waited for my transfer at the Old Spot Inn on the right side of this photo.

I was transferred to The Swan Hotel in Wotten-Under-Edge. This bedroom was one of the nicer ones I've had.

This is the view out my window. I stayed here two nights.