Cotswold Sightseeing

Today we went for a drive in the Cotswolds with Diane as our guide. On our last visit to the UK we drove through Bourton-on-the-Water but didn't stop as we couldn't park...not surprising really as it was the Sunday of a Bank Holiday weekend...so we decided to have another try.

Our route from Radley took us out through Witney where we left the major roads and took to the real country lanes...single track with passing bays...going through such wonderfully named places as Swinbrook, Shipton-Under-Wychwood, Fifield, Idbury, Upper Rissington and Little Rissington before arriving in Bourton-on-the-Water. Today we found somewhere to park so we left the car and strolled in beside the River Windrush. It was late morning by now so we settled down for Cream Tea at one of the many tea rooms.

Diane & Anita by the River Windrush

The River Windrush running through Bourton-on-the-Water

Cream Tea by the River Windrush

Bourton-on-the-Water

 After finishing our stroll through Bourton-on-the-Water, we returned to our car and set off for Lower Slaughter. Just a mile or so away on the other side of the A429, we should have been there in a matter of minutes...but instead, we managed to take most of the afternoon to get there. Between Diane and I, we got a bit confused leaving Bourton-on-the-Water and I turned the wrong way...and not for the last time this afternoon. By the time we sorted out where we were going, we were quite a few miles of course. Rather than turn around, we decided to head off "across country" using more country lanes.

First we drove through Cold Aston and then on to Notgrove and Naunton before coming to Guiting Power. We stopped in Guiting Power to visit its rather fascinating Norman period St Michael & All Angels Church...actually, we stopped because Diane wanted to know what a geocache was and there was one at the church...and this happened to be one of those really great caches that takes you to a really interesting location. 

St Michael & All Angels Church, Guiting Power

Continuing on with our theme of going in the wrong direction, we left Guiting Power and went through Barton and Kineton before turning at Temple Guiting to head over to Upper Swell and then Lower Swell to finally arrive in Lower Slaughter. We park and went for a stroll, this time along side the River Eye. We stopped off for an ice cream at The Old Mill and then afterwards went through the rather modest but interesting museum on milling and bread.

Bridge over the River Eye

The Old Mill

While the weather had been good all day, by now rain was threatening. As it was also getting late, we headed off through Upper Slaughter and Lower Swell to Stow-on-the-Wold and then back to Radley. That evening I went off up the M40 to Gaydon to have dinner with Simon and Elaine, a couple of geocachers I had met a little while back through the Internet to co-operatively find a pair of caches...one in England and one in Australia.