B2B Day 28 Frampton Mansell to Chedworth: Ken Got Nettled!

For an OS map of today's walk (12.22 mi; 19.67 km; 1,321 ft total ascent), click here.

 

The Crown Inn provided a generous and delicious breakfast, with noteworthy "house-made" baked beans that I really liked. The staff there were friendly and kind. We set off from Frampton Mansell around 10:00 a.m.; our destination was twelve miles away in Chedworth, where we'd stay two nights with plans to visit nearby Chedworth Roman Villa on our "rest day." [I had not wanted to do such a relatively long walk on only our second day, but there wasn't any accommodation between Frampton Mansell and Chedworth—only a succession of small hamlets and villages as we headed generally northeast, crossing the "grain" of the land in and out of valleys along the way. At least we'd have the rest day there to recover.—Ken] 

 

Ominously, the weather forecast was for rain all day. When we set out, it wasn't too bad—most of the day was either overcast or drizzly rather than all out rain, which was good. We began with a short walk to Sapperton where we visited the church, which had some striking memorials inside. Then things got interesting. . . .

 

On leaving Sapperton we encountered a very muddy bridleway which had been churned by horses and humans into a shallow trough or "U" shape with four inches of mud & water in the centre of the path and a thin skim of mud on the higher sides. We watched a female jogger just slop right through the middle of the path, but we tried to walk on the edges rather than right through the watery mud. I was walking in the lead, and I heard the horrible sound of a slip, a cry, and a thud behind me. Ken had lost his footing on the edge of the path and had fallen face first into nettles. His left cheek, left hand, and leg were covered with white welts from the nettle stings. (He was wearing shorts because he had reasoned that by doing so he would avoid his pantlegs getting muddy on a wet day!) A short while later I heard the same sound. This time, Ken emerged with more nettle stings on the other side of his left hand, nasty bramble scratches on his legs . . . and his whole side—and backside—was caked with mud! [I'll be honest and say that the moment after my second fall in the mud was without doubt the lowest I've felt on any of our walking trips. And let's just say that faceplanting in nettles is not a recommended course of action! Here we were, not even two miles into day two of our walk; and it was raining, I was covered in mud, and my face, hand, and left leg felt like a thousand needles were dancing on every surface. But what could we do except go on? It makes a good story now, but it felt really, really dreadful at the moment.—Ken]

 

Shortly afterwards a couple of walkers passed us, and after telling his tale of woe Ken said, "How am I going to present myself to my B&B host looking like this?" They laughed kindly and responded cheerfully, "Don't worry; your host will love it!" It was all meant in fun and did actually make us smile. What surprised me was that people who clearly knew the area and the swampy state of the path had willingly chosen to walk on the bridleway—some with their dog, no less. In any event, in order to avoid another fall, Ken gave up trying to avoid the muddy middle and just walked down the centre of the path. Just once did the water overtop his right boot, and that not too badly. After his initial dejection at his falls and the pain of the nettle stings, he didn't complain much and just kept going. We passed some people who said the bridleway would get better, and it eventually did.

 

The Saxon church at Duntisbourne Rouse

We enjoyed some of the wildlife on this walk: we heard our first skylarks singing, saw some deer springing, a rabbit, and some hares. We did some road walking and then headed northeastwards on a series of footpaths down into the little valley of the River Dunt. We liked the Saxon church at Duntisbourne Rouse, and the beautiful assortment of old and new houses grouped around a ford over the Dunt. It was simply lovely.

 

As we climbed out of the valley through a pretty woodland our path continued to be muddy, but rather than being treacherous, the mud transformed into a texture that Ken said looked a bit like chocolate oatmeal—the leaves and nuts that were mixed into the mud helped it to be less slippery. Further on we enjoyed seeing a farm with purple beech trees, and bluebells and wild garlic in the woods. 

 

On the chocolate oatmeal path (most of the mud on Ken was hidden "round back"!)

An interesting thing we also noticed along the way was that even though the day was dark grey and overcast, when we passed a rapeseed (i.e. Canola) field, the yellow blossoms were so bright that it felt as though it were sunny . . . even though it wasn't. We were able to walk around the soaking wet rapeseed field rather than right through it, for which we were grateful given past experience. We saw a white horse at Drayton farm, crossed a river, and passed through a wood full of wild garlic before coming to Woodmancote. There, at a short footpath heading out of the village, Ken was so sore and tired that he could barely make it over the stile. Once over that obstacle, we went downhill on a little lane, crossed an A-Road and the river Churn and appreciated a cool water feature there.

We then did a short but vicious walk uphill to Rendcomb, which had fantastic and historic school buildings. It was a disappointment, though, to arrive at the hoped-for shop in Rendcomb only to find it closed for refurbishment as of March 31. We were too tired at this point to see Rendcomb church and the day also began darken and rain harder, so after a few minutes rest on a picnic bench outside the empty shop we pushed on and walked hard to get up onto the long plateau that was the home stretch of our walk. Ken jokingly asked a farmer driving by on a quad if he'd give us a ride, and the man actually might have done so—but we did walk the entire way today.

Heavier rain began to fall for the last one and a half hours of the walk on the plateau. It took much longer than Ken thought it would [I misread the map and thought we were one big field further along than we really were, which was kind of a crushing realization at the end of a very long day!—Ken] and the fieldpaths were a muddy mess, but we finally got to the road that eventually led down to Baldwin House, our B&B at Chedworth. Our host Caroline was amazingly welcoming, especially since we were both covered in mud (especially Ken). A rather pitiful or pitiable sight! Nevertheless, Caroline kept telling us to come on in, that it was a country house and they were used to muddy boots. So we did. We left our boots at the door, carefully went upstairs so as not to get mud everywhere, changed out of our muddy clothes, and Ken had much needed drinks of cold water and a hot bath. [The bath was great even with the nettle stings!—Ken] Caroline brought us tea, put our clothes in the wash, and adjusted our dinner reservation for a slightly later time. The whole suite was lovely, but the bathroom was particularly so, with a fantastic tub and a separate shower. The towel rack seemed to heat the whole room, and it was airy and bright—definitely a great place to relax after a challenging, nettlesome walk!

Of course, to go the the pub we needed footwear, and packing light as we do, we didn't have any options since our boots were slathered in mud. So . . . Caroline loaned us some! Ken wore a pair of her husband's shoes, I wore a pair of her daughter's, and thus kitted out Caroline drove us to The Stump, which specialized in uniquely flavoured pizzas. We ordered a side of crispy potatoes and pecorino cheese, and a lovely pizza with chorizo & nduja sausage with rosemary honey, tomato and mozzarella. Ken isn't always a huge fan of mixing savoury and sweet, but we were both surprised by how well the honey worked with the other flavours. We shared tiramisu for dessert. It was absolutely delicious and one of the best meals of our entire trip—all amidst a warm and lively atmosphere. Caroline even picked us up when we were done, and we went to bed in our lovely room. It was so nice to end the day feeling clean, dry, warm, well-fed, and most definitely well cared-for.

Our bedroom at Baldwin House—a comfy way to end the day!

 

 

B2B Day 27 Stroud to Frampton Mansell: On the (Tow) Path

For an OS map of today's walk (6.05 mi = 9.70 km; 449 ft total ascent) click here.

 

The frustration and anxiety over being cut off from Google and all our trip reservations definitely affected Ken's sleep, but the lack of sleep was no reflection on our lovely room in Stroud. In the morning we had another enjoyable conversation with Richard and Chris as well as another excellent breakfast with more muffins to take away when we set off down the hill around 10:00 a.m. Frampton Mansell, just over six miles away eastwards up the Golden Valley, was our destination.

 

On the way down the hill we stopped at a Waitrose supermarket to buy lunch and a battery for our travel alarm (always good to begin a trip with no alarm!). Our lunch choice was a special "King's Coronation Chicken Sandwich," which made me particularly happy. I knew that Coronation chicken was a recipe invented for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953. I was curious as to whether a new dish had been invented for King Charles III's coronation, but I didn't hear of one.

On the towpath above the canal, with railway viaduct and river also nearby

Our valley bottom route along the disused Thames & Severn Canal was lovely. This canal linking the two great rivers was opened in 1789 but closed in the mid-twentieth century. However, parts of the canal are slowly being revived and re-opened in piecemeal fashion by volunteers—much to the excitement of industrial history and canal boat enthusiasts but not to everyone, as we would discover. We witnessed several sites of this restoration work and some were very impressive indeed, including the stretch just as we joined the towpath after leaving Waitrose, where river, railway viaduct, towpath and restored canal all came together in close proximity. 

 

It was a bit cool and overcast in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. The recent weeks of rain were evident. For example, we went through a corrugated metal tunnel and had to step on bricks inside the tunnel to avoid the water. For lunch, we paused at a roundhouse before Chalford, sat on a bench, and enjoyed our lunch. There were also several information boards regarding the history of various points along the canal and also the local wildlife—a type of thing that we always appreciate when we travel here.

 

The Dappled Towpath after Chalford

The stretch through the valley in and around Chalford was gorgeous, with the canal and the river Frome flowing next to each other at many points and the sun now dappling the scene. There were lovely houses and gardens canalside, together with treed and more open sections where we could see the houses dotted along the hillside as well. We were interested to read posters outside one home that had quite a "wild" garden, advocating for the canal to be left disused in order to support the wildlife rather than restoring it for use by watercraft. We had seen some of the heavy machinery being used to restore the canal and could definitely understand that there are pros and cons to restoration. If my home were on a disused canal, I'd probably prefer to have it more peaceful with a population of wildlife rather than boat traffic going by looking into my garden. It was interesting to think about a different perspective given that initially we had thought it was really cool that the canal was being restored.

When we were at the point of leaving the canal for the road, we met a group of walkers who confirmed the road to Frampton Mansell for us. They asked us if we were going to the Crown Inn. We were. They said it was a good pub but they were going to the Daneway Inn (further up the valley) today. From that point on, we were road-walking for the last 3/4 mile, with about three steep climbs. We stopped to rest after the last climb only to realize that the Crown was right around the corner behind us! This first day of walking was, as planned, fairly short: we finished our walk shortly after 2:00 p.m. It felt great to have had a beautiful and not too strenuous first day's walk—except for the climbs at the end, of course! While we waited for our room to be made ready, we enjoyed our first lemonade of the walk at a picnic bench in the garden of the Crown Inn.

 

The excellent Crown Inn, Frampton Mansell

We checked into our room, and I had a nap while Ken made the unpleasant discovery that after recovering access briefly in the morning, he was again locked out of Google. Nevertheless, we had a lovely dinner, which we had booked at 6:00 p.m. The weather made it cold enough indoors that I asked the server if the fire (which we were seated next to) could be lit, and she kindly and cheerfully did so. Our Sunday roast and Yorkshire pudding came with an incredible variety of vegetables: parsnip, carrot, potato, green beans, snap peas, and kale. Ken also enjoyed a side of cauliflower cheese and a half (pint) of a local cider. It was a warm and welcoming conclusion to the first day of walking.

 

Overlooking the Golden Valley

 

 

 

B2B 2023 A Jetlag Day in Gloucester

We left the curtains open all night to let the moonlight shine in, and slept extremely comfortably—likely more soundly than King Charles III, whose Coronation Day it was. This was our "jetlag day" where we could take our time and adapt to the new time zone. We woke up early but had plenty of time to lay in bed and just relax before breakfast, which was lovely and filling—so much so that we took away some homemade muffins with us when we went out. It was raining, and we wandered through the Stroud Saturday market stalls before catching a train just before 11:00 a.m. for Gloucester and its beautiful cathedral. Ken in particular has been looking forward to seeing this cathedral for many years and has joined me in writing this post!

Gloucester Cathedral from the southwest

It was a short walk to the cathedral from the rail station, hearing the church bells playing the tune for "Rule Britannia" on the way. Because it was Coronation Day, the Cathedral was open for touring but there were only two staff, so unfortunately we were unable to buy a guidebook. How does one describe a cathedral apart from using the words inspiring and amazing? Here are three highlights, two aesthetic and one practical:

The choir vault

The Great East Window

The aesthetic highlights were both old and new. As for the old, the Choir and Cloisters at Gloucester are some of the earliest examples (14th century) of "perpendicular" architecture in England. This is a style typified by an emphasis on verticality with immense windows and a "walls of glass" feel as well as flambouyant architectural features such as "fan" vaulting. At Gloucester this was exemplified by the outstanding verticality of the east end as opposed the the older, Norman style of the west end, the intricate vaulting of the Choir and the amazingly large East Window, which basically is the entire east wall of the building, as well as the beautiful fan vaulting in the Cloisters. (For more on the cathedral's architectural heritage, click here.) It was all simply stunning and a pleasure to experience on a unique day with so few people touring the building. 

 

Fan vaulting in the cloisters

As for the new highlight, we were captivated and deeply moved by the modern stained glass windows created by Thomas Denny in memory of the poet Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) and the composer Gerald Finzi (1901-1956). We generally aren't fond of modern art and modern stained glass windows, but these windows were breathtakingly beautiful and well-conveyed a sense of both men's difficult, often troubled lives. (See some pictures of the Gurney windows at the end of this post, but the best pictures are those on Denny's website here for Gurney and here for Finzi.)

The Lady Chapel, another perpendicular masterpiece

The practical highlight was in the also-stunning perpendicular gothic Lady Chapel at the far east end of the building, beyond even the great East Window. It had stone benches against the wall, and beneath the benches were radiators that were turned on. It was a cold, rainy day, so I certainly enjoyed sitting on a bench with a radiator pumping out heat by my legs. One radiator was so close that I worried I would scorch my new hiking pants, so I switched benches. 

 

We took a late lunch break at 2:00 p.m. at the Comfy Pew Café and Bistro, almost next door to the cathedral. The food was good: I enjoyed a carrot and coriander soup, and Ken had a ham and cheese omelette.

The Comfy Pew

It was indeed comfy there, and the people who served us were friendly and kind. And respectful. There was a man who sat outside in the drizzling rain in order to have a smoke and a cup of coffee. He looked like he might not have a home. Near closing time, the young man who had waited on us carried out a carton of chips and gave it to the man sitting outside. The owner also kindly chatted with the man. It was one of those places that just felt welcoming.

A fun angle in the Norman nave

 

Choral evensong was at 4:30 p.m., sung by a girls' choir. It was a good service. Afterwards as we were leaving, the attendant asked us what we thought of the organ. Ken said it sounded "pretty good." The man told us that the organ was currently broken, and they were using an electronic organ with high-end speakers located behind the organ pipes. It was quite good, though lacking in some of the depth one would expect of a real live pipe organ.

 

We caught the train back to Stroud, picked up a spinach and ricotta canneloni from an Italian restaurant, and made our way "home" to eat dinner. After a quick visit with our hosts who were watching the Coronation Ceremony after the fact, we retired to our room to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be the first day of our walk!

 

 

 

 

The Ivor Gurney Memorial Windows in Gloucester Cathedral,

by Thomas Denney 

Windows 1 and 2

Windows 3 and 4

Windows 7 and 8

Windows 5 and 6

On a panel in the chantry chapel where the windows were installed, Gloucester Cathedral excerpted two poems to illustrate windows 7 and 8, which give a sense of the pain that Gurney's WWI service had caused. 

 

For window 7:

"Gone out of every bright thing from my mind, 

all lost that God ever designed.

Not half can be written of cruelty of man, on man,

Not often such evil guessed as between man and man."

 

– From: Collected Poems of Ivor Gurney

For window 8:

"Out of my sorrow I have made these songs,

Out of my sorrow;

Though somewhat of the making's eager pain

From Joy did borrow.

Some day, I trust, God's purpose of pain for me

Shall be complete,

And then – to enter in the House of Joy...

Prepare, my feet."

– From: "Severn and Song" (1917)

The complete Ivor Gurney panel is below, though somewhat hard to read and a bit blurry given the extremely low light levels in the chantry chapel:

B2B Part Two 2023: Arrival Day

After a three-year postponement because of the pandemic, we felt very good about travelling to England again, but we also felt very strange. Because of Ken's suppressed immune system, we had continued to live cautiously for months longer than most people: we avoided large public gatherings and eating in restaurants, and we wore masks right up until the trip. We decided that after the flight and the public transit to our first B&B, we would re-enter "normal" life during and after our travels in England.

On the morning of our departure day (May 4), we had breakfast at McDonald's (drive-thru, sitting in the car, as we had done for the last three years), and then met with Pastor James at Walnut Grove Lutheran Church for a prayer to send us off, which was encouraging. As usual, we had a few last-minute things to take care of before we left, but for the most part everything had been taken care of--at least, we thought so at the time. 

Perhaps we could say that just like our walk along Offa's Dyke (see B2B Day 57), our travel began with a series of ups and downs, some more steep than others:

Down: We received a message that our British Airways flight was going to leave an hour late. 

Up: The delay ultimately didn't have any impact on our travels. Our friends Peter and Joan picked us up at 5:15 p.m. and drove us to the airport in plenty of time with no traffic trouble. 

Down: At the airport, we had a surprisingly disappointing dinner of vermicelli and a spring roll. 

Down and off the edge of a cliff: While waiting at our gate, Ken tried to sign into Gmail and because of the different IP address, Google required verification to be retrieved from a code sent to our landline phone at home. Without the code and after much confusion with multiple codes being sent, Ken ended up being locked out of his Gmail account, locked out of the blog, and worst of all, locked out of Airbnb because his sign-in to Airbnb was partnered through Google. It was frightening and frustrating to lose access and have no way of contacting a human being to help. Even though we don't watch the series, we had recently watched a random Star Trek: Enterprise episode entitled "Dead Stop," which intriguingly illustrates the helplessness of humans trying to deal with a technological system that doesn't care, has no morals, and exists only to serve itself. We definitely wished we could have talked with a human being about our situation, since it was incredibly stressful to wonder how we were going to manage this trip without email and the ability to commuicate with our Airbnb hosts, e.g., to get lockbox key codes to enter! [This experience really threw me: post-pandemic, I felt nervous and anxious about travelling, period, and also wanted to get away from technological life and just enjoy walking in the beautiful UK countryside. So to have our ability to communicate taken away right at the start was about the worst way possible to begin a trip. (Hey Google, how about implementing travel notifications like banks and credit card issuers do!) Seriously though, I already felt rather "fragile" emotionally coming out of the pandemic so it was very, very difficult to have this happen.—Ken]

Up: They fed us well on the flight, which was uneventful, though at times a bit bumpy.

Down: Bumpy enough that a young woman needed to use an airsick bag. I don't think I've been on a plane recently where that has happened.

Up: We landed safely at Heathrow on Fri. May 5 around 3:15 p.m., later than scheduled but well within the "buffer" Ken had built into our itinerary, so there was no stress about making our scheduled trains to London Paddington and then to Stroud, Gloucester (our arrival night's destination).

It still felt strange to scan our passports and walk through the "nothing to declare" exit so swiftly and easily. We were early enough that there was a Heathrow express train to Paddington that left before the express train we had booked via advance purchase for a significantly reduced price. Our understanding was that we had to take the later train we had booked in advance; we talked to a couple of different workers at the station who said that we could take the earlier train, so we did. I think our interpretation of the advance purchase terms and conditions was the correct one, because our tickets didn't work at the Paddington ticket gates and we had to have the gates opened by a train official. 

 

A lovely view from our Airbnb room in Stroud

Happily, we had no issues with the second leg of our train journey from Paddington to Stroud. It all went smoothly and Ken had fun identifying places along the way, particularly disused bits of the Thames & Severn Canal, the towpath of which we'd be walking along on our first day's walk (see B2B Day 27).

 

Our stellar Airbnb hosts Richard and Christine met us on the platform at the station just as we were taking our masks off—Richard looking at us as if he thought we were probably the right people to meet, and Chris holding a sign that said "Welcome Ken & Sara." It wasn't like they were that much older than us, but it was so sweet to be met and it felt like Sara's parents picking us up at the ferry terminal in the old days! They drove us to their place, with its excellent arrangement for guests. Our room was lovely and had an amazing view across the valley, with cattle and sheep grazing on the hillside opposite. Stroud is a town surrounded by the beautiful Cotswold landscape; it felt so good to be back and nestled in the English countryside.

 

 

Introducing the B2B, Part Two

Finally! 

Four years after winding up our Barnstaple to the Bay, Part One walk at Stroud Rail Station, Sara and I are ready to pick up where we left off with Part Two: a very long* winding road of a walk from Stroud, Gloucester to Church Stretton, Shropshire. Two occasions make this B2B Part Two walk extra special: First and foremost, 2023 is our 25th Anniversary year, and what a wonderful adventure it has been! And second, ten years after she joined us in 2013, my sister and kidney donor Susan will again join us to walk the last 16 days of this walk. 

Part Two mixes old and new. We'll begin by looping around the Cotswolds for the first two weeks, so much of this part of the walk will be revisiting favourite places like Kelmscott and Farmcote (a tiny hamlet near Winchcombe). We'll visit Farmcote just a bit before the halfway point of our walk and stay at our favourite B&B, North Farmcote for a three day "anniversary special" stay. After that we'll head north and then westwards towards territories unknown to us: Susan will join us on our way to Tewkesbury and we will then walk most of the Malvern hill ridge, then head further west to the beautiful countryside and "black and "white villages" of Herefordshire. The last leg of our journey will turn north along the Welsh border on Offa's Dike for a couple of days, with a final couple of days walking to Clun, Lydbury North, and then a final, hopefully lovely day along the high moorland plateau of the Long Mynd to All Stretton and Church Stretton.

For an Ordnance Survey map of the entire route of our Barnstaple to the Bay walk, Part Two from Stroud to Church Stretton (253 miles; 407 km; 23,606 feet total ascent), click here. Once at the linked OS map, take note that if you tick the "Add key waypoint labels to route" box lower down in the left hand margin, you will be able to see our stopping points for each day of Part Two of our walk; namely, days 27 to 61.

Here is a detailed itinerary

Day 27: Stroud to Frampton Mansell (6.03 miles; 9.70 km)

Day 28: Frampton Mansell to Chedworth (12.22 miles; 19.67 km)

Day 29: Rest day in & around Chedworth: A Walk to Chedworth Roman Villa (3.2 miles; 5.15 km)

Day 30: Chedworth to Bibury (7.81 miles; 12.57 km)

Day 31: Bibury to Whelford (8.21 miles; 13.21 km)

Day 32: Whelford to Kelmscott (8.53 miles; 13.73 km)

Day 33: Rest day in Kelmscott

Day 34: Kelmscott to Burford via the Eastleaches (12.64 miles; 20.34 km)

Day 35: Rest day in & around Burford

Day 36: Burford to Bledington (9.67 miles; 15.56 km)

Day 37: Bledington to Longborough via Chastleton (10.41 miles; 16.74 km)

Day 38: Longborough to Bourton on the Water (8.01 miles; 12.89 km)

Day 39: Bourton on the Water to Ford (Farmcote) via the Windrush Valley (10.18 miles; 16.38 km)

Day 40: Rest day in & around Farmcote

Day 41: Rest day in & around Farmcote: a loop walk via Winchcombe

Day 42: Rest day in & around Farmcote

Day 43: Farmcote to Stanton via Snowshill (7.50 miles; 12.07 km)

Day 44: Stanton to Mount Pleasant via Broadway (8.04 miles; 12.94 km)

Day 45: Mount Pleasant to Eckington via Bredon Hill (12.0 miles; 19.31 km)

Day 46: Eckington to Tewkesbury (6.83 miles; 10.99 km)

Day 47: Rest day in Tewkesbury

Day 48: Tewkesbury to Birtsmorton/Malverns South (9.5 miles; 15.29 km)

Day 49: Malverns South to Great Malvern (7.45 miles; 11.99 km)

Day 50: Great Malvern to Bromyard (11.87 miles; 19.10 km)

Day 51: Bromyard to Rowden Abbey via Brockhampton (6.77 miles; 10.89 km)

Day 52: Rowden Abbey to Kimbolton (9.91 miles; 15.95 km)

Day 53: Kimbolton to Luston via Berrington Hall (5.50 miles; 8.85 km)

Day 54: Rest day in Luston: A Tour of Croft Castle

Day 55: Luston to Pembridge (9.60 miles; 15.45 km)

Day 56: Pembridge to Kingon (9.65 miles; 15.53 km)

Day 57: Kington to Knighton (13.39 miles; 21.55 km)

Day 58: Knighton to Clun (9.45 miles; 15.21 km)

Day 59: Clun to Lydbury North (8.02 miles; 12.91 km)

Day 60: Lydbury North (Plowden) to All Stretton (9.25 miles; 14.89 km)

Day 61: All Stretton to Church Stretton (1.4 miles; 2.25 km)

(After we finish, Sara and I will take our final weekend of the trip—a second little 25th Anniversary celebration—in Eyam, Derbyshire, where we finished the Peak Pilgrimage [link] in 2018 and stayed in our first shepherd's hut, a lovely experience hosted by lovely people. In the years since, Eyam and especially Eyam Church have become a very special place of blessing for us, especially through the church's online presence during the pandemic.) 

 

*I want to thank Caroline Ahn & Darcy Gullacher at Trinity Western University Library, and the HR department at TWU for granting me two weeks leave beyond my usual vacation days to do this a long walk with Sara to celebrate our 25th Anniversary year.

Sara's Post on Packing

Sara's pack

We have always traveled with everything we needed in our packs, carrying them with us as we walk from point to point. For the first time, for one day on this trip we had our packs transported from Porlock to Luxborough, and it was actually rather nice just to share a day pack between us for the walk.

On our walk this time, several people we met commented on the fact that we seemed to be carrying little with us, and I could tell that people were curious about how we managed to keep our packs relatively light. Before we left, I weighed the packs--Ken's was 13 pounds, and mine was 12.5.

I thought people might find a post about packing interesting, so here it is!

My first comment is that packing is a really personal thing--what is essential to you will not be essential to someone else. I think the important thing is determining what is essential, and getting rid of the rest. Go through your list multiple times, and keep pruning it down. Learn from experience--if you didn't use something this trip, don't bring it on the next.

A second comment is that some of the things we include will be different from your packing list because we have chosen to live without a mobile phone. So you likely wouldn't be travelling with a laptop, paper notebook, camera, travel alarm, or paper documentation (and perhaps not even with the maps) that we include because we don't have a phone. On the other hand, our paper maps and notebook mean that if there is no Internet/wifi/phone reception, we're never stranded or at a loss.

A third comment is that I took the photos quickly before unpacking, and I didn't organize the items well according to the categories I use. I also included some items that I don't plan to take next time (like ear plugs). Sorry about that!

A fourth comment is that I admit I am a bit proud of packing light and carrying all of our stuff with us (though sometimes I wish we weren't). However, there will always be someone who packs lighter than you do, so you can't get too proud about it! It was humbling to meet a couple who were on a month's holiday wild camping. Their packs were about the same size as ours, and they were carrying their tent, their sleeping bag, perhaps a change of clothes, and the food for their dog. We are a long way from living that simply--our four changes of socks and underwear are quite luxurious in comparison.

My pack isn't large, and fits as carry-on on the plane. We like that we don't have to deal with checked baggage--everything we need is in our two carry-on backpacks. For the flight, I transfer anything I'll want during the flight (hand sanitizer, a book) into the daypack which I have as my "personal item." Both of our packs came with a pack cover for rainy days, and these covers have been invaluable.

My packing list is organized into categories. It's going to look like there are a lot of items, but many of them are small and light and pack down well. Think about the various compartments of your pack and find where things fit best and are easily accessible when they need to be.

Another tip is that you should distribute the weight throughout your pack rather than having all of the heavy things at the bottom. Usually I have dirty laundry at the bottom, then clean clothes, then perched on that my laptop (which is the heaviest item), and toiletries/travel items that I'll want to access. Having the laptop kind of "floating" in the middle of my pack seems to distribute the weight well and to create less drag on my shoulders. But the pack shouldn't be resting on your shoulders much anyway--the waist band should help the pack to rest on your hips and waist as you walk.

1. Travel documents and paperwork. This could include

• some kind of pouch/wallet to carry money and government documents (I also bring a change purse)
• passports and other necessary ID
• whatever monetary items you need (cash, credit card, etc.)
• any cards used for transit (e.g., Oyster cards for London transit)
• printouts of plane tickets, train reservations, etc. (though we've reduced the amount we now print out and take with us)

[clockwise from top] Toiletries, pouch for money, change purse, notebook, comb

2. Toiletries. Since I don't wear make-up and use few cosmetic products, my list is going to be more minimal than the list for many women. The picture above shows my toiletry bag, but the list below includes everything that Ken and I bring (I mean everything, so that you have an idea of how we pack light). There will be some things, again, that you would decide aren't necessary, like Q-Tips (but they do have the virtue of being light!). You could probably not bring shampoo and use whatever you find at B&Bs, but I like to have my own shampoo and hair conditioner with me.

• toothbrush
• toothpaste
• razor
• shaving cream
• dental floss (I tried dental flossing "picks" this trip but I think floss is better, and more versatile if you need string.)
• deodorant
• shampoo
• hair conditioner
• comb
• nail clippers
• manicure scissors (sometimes you need scissors when traveling)
• cleaning cloth for glasses
• Q-Tips
• sanitary products
• a hair elastic

 3. Medication/First Aid. Obviously dependent on if you have medical prescriptions. In this section, there are some things you bring that you hope you won't need to use, like the bandages and blister plasters:

• bandages
• blister plasters
• pain medication
• antihistamines (for allergies)
• antacid
• any prescription medications
• hand sanitizer--can also be used as a disinfectant
• [for next time, I'd like to buy one of those light plastic tick removal tools]

[clockwise from top] bag for "travel" items, plastic bag, hand sanitizer, travel alarm, kleenex, pain medication, hair elastic, earplugs, bandaids, blister plasters, compass, glasses cleaning cloth

4. Clothing. All of our clothing is quick-dry technical fabric except for our socks, which means that if you are disciplined and wash out a pair of underwear each night, you won't run out of fresh clothing during the trip. Unfortunately, I'm not that disciplined! There will usually be a B&B along the way that has laundry facilities or will do laundry for you for a fee. If a place has a heated towel rail, I'll just wash a few things in the sink using whatever hand soap has been provided, and dry them on the towel rail. A two-night stay means that drying the socks is possible if they're washed the first evening we're there. Here's everything that I bring as clothing:

• three T-shirts
• one long-sleeved fleece
• two pairs of trousers (one with zip-off legs so it can be converted into shorts)
• four underwear
• two bras
• four pairs of socks
• ball cap
• runner's gloves
• rain jacket
• boots

My strategy is to keep one pair of trousers as the "dressy" pair for the entire trip. I wear one pair for walking during the day, and it can get as muddy and disreputable as it needs to. I can zip off the legs and night and wash them out, while wearing my "good" pair to go to the pub or whatever. Since the good pair never gets really dirty, it lasts the whole trip without washing. Ditto for the second bra, worn only as the "good" one, while the other one can get sweaty and be washed out periodically. One shirt to sleep in also doubles as a "clean" shirt to wear when the others are dirty.

The ball cap has a brim that keeps rain off of my glasses, and also works as a sun hat/visor. The gloves are always a debatable item for me (should I bring them or not?), but when it is cold on a walk, they do help to keep you warm.

I noticed that I just listed the rationale for why I bring each item, which is probably a good thing to do. Every thing should have a compelling reason to be included (like the ball cap) and ideally it would have multiple functions (the cap keeps rain off my glasses and keeps the sun out of my eyes, so I don't need to bring sunglasses).

Ken's clothing list is similar to mine, except he has one more t-shirt and one more long-sleeved shirt.

The compressible day pack, a ball cap, and light runner's gloves

5. Travel Items. My catch-all category for everything else.

• backpacks
• a compressible, light daypack (NEW! for this trip, and it worked well)
• a water bottle (Ken carries a Nalgene water bottle, while I use a water bottle from a B&B which I refill a few times before using another one. Yes, I know you're not supposed to re-use disposable bottles, but I figure a couple of re-uses won't kill me.)
• camera
• travel alarm
• paper notebook
• pen
• travel guides (like the book on the Cotswold Way)
• Ordinance Survey (OS) maps. Ken always carries the maps: eight of them this trip!
• a plastic waterproof map case
• dry sacks (waterproof sacks for the maps and the laptop)
• a compass
• sunscreen
• a plastic fork/spoon (super light, comes in handy if you buy salad)
• a plastic grocery bag to sit on. This item is actually brilliant--it's light and folds up easily. You can just put it on the grass and sit down confidently even if it's a bit damp outside. The bag can also be used to hold dirty laundry or as a waterproof sack for items inside the backpack. If the bag gets really dirty, it's easy to get hold of another one.
• laptop computer, power cord, and converter plug (because UK electrical outlets are different from North American ones)
• the seals (because we wouldn't be walking with seals, otherwise)

That's all we take. This trip, I was not going to take a notebook and pen, but at the last minute I threw it in, and I'm glad. It's easier for me to pull out the notebook on a train, or at a picnic table, or hold it in bed and write down notes about the day, or to note down a book title Ken wants to find, or to keep addresses we need without having to take out a laptop and power it up. Again, most people would use a phone, but I really like my notebook and pen!