Arriving in Southampton ready to welcome Bob into the UK (ETA 15th May), we were disappointed, but not really surprised, to be advised that his ETA had been put back to 12th June.  Although frustrating, it was not too much of an inconvenience as it gave us more time to explore the UK.  Extending the car hire was quick and easy and it wasn’t long before we were heading to a cottage in Thorncombe, a small village in the north-west corner of Dorset.  The cottage was situated on the grounds of a beautiful Georgian farm formerly part of an Abbey and we enjoyed a few days walking around the area and planning our next move. 

We had originally intended to stay in London once reunited with Bob but decided instead to drive up to the Cotswolds where a couple of long-time friends, visiting from Australia, were staying.  The Cotswolds is England’s largest area of outstanding natural beauty (as marked by AONB on Google maps) and, after the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks, is the third largest protected landscape in England.   A soft, green, rolling countryside of almost 800 square miles characterised by charming small towns and villages built in the underlying, honey-coloured, Jurassic limestone.  The name is thought to be derived from “Cots” – sheep enclosure and “wolds” – gentle hills, the sheep introduced by the Romans over 2,000 years ago as a wool source.  Of course, the Romans left but the sheep remained and passed into the hands of local landowners, first the church and then farming families.  The wool was extremely high-quality and many fortunes were made, which explains the grandeur of many of the country estates and churches.  After a period of trading the fleeces, local commerce began to weave the wool and “By the 18th century, every gentleman in Europe wore a coat made of West of England cavalry twill” (Richard Martin, local wool trade expert). The local weavers were utilising power derived from the water mills until the industrial revolution in the north of England saw steam power triumph and the center of textile production moved farther north leaving behind a piece of rural quintessential English countryside that escaped modernisation and redevelopment, retaining a timeless, traditional charm. 

Wanting to make the best use of our unexpected extra time, we mapped out a circular walk of the Cotswolds and, after a fun couple of days catching up with our Aussie mates, grabbed our rucksacks and set off on a five day, 75 mile (120 km), hike.  The novelty of access to a never-ending web of footpaths and bridleways had not worn off and we mostly* loved tramping over the green fields and along narrow, hedge-lined country lanes.  As on our Coast to Coast path, we rarely came across anyone else walking and were able to enjoy much peace and quiet broken only by the musical birdsong and occasional farmyard sounds.

*Despite its sheep farming history, we rarely saw any sheep in this area, most of the fields were being used to grow a variety of grain and vegetable crops.  Apart from a couple of fields …..  We entered a large field aware that there were a number of cows in the far corner.  Great, plenty of time to get to the exit gate, or so we thought.  The stampede was started by one young curious cow which started running towards us, soon to be followed by the rest of the herd.  Unfortunately, the size of the field meant that we were only half-way across and, to make things more interesting, two young girls on horses had caught up to us and were now also very much in the mix.  One of the horses had only just been broken in and was out for the first time and spotting the cows approaching was jumping up and down on the spot which was agitating the other horse and had Leroy in a state of high excitement.  The girl on the young horse seemed to be expecting us to do something and so Ian leapt into action and, with arms outstretched, did an amazing job of holding the cows back long enough for the rest of us to eventually make it to the gate.  Not easy when both horses were more interested in going backwards rather than forwards and Leroy had no intention of coming calmly with me when the option was to stand on his hind legs straining to get amongst the horses or cows or possibly both.  It never sounds like much of a deal when you hear of someone’s experience with cows but I promise you it is one of the more challenging aspects of countryside walking and although amusing in hindsight, not terribly funny at the time.

One particular bonus of spending additional time in the UK, is that we are here for the Platinum Jubilee, a celebration of HM’s 70 years on the throne and whilst this on its own is worthwhile add in the annual Gloucester Cheese Rolling and we couldn’t have timed it better.  This unusual world-famous event takes place on Coopers Hill, Gloucestershire where, according to local family recollections, it has been held since the mid 1700’s.  The race is started with the words…

"One to be ready!", "Two to be steady!", "Three to prepare!" "and four to be off!"

…at which point a weighty 8lb Double Gloucester cheese is rolled down the steep hill.  With a brief head start, the daredevil contestants hurl themselves after it at breakneck speed aiming to be the first person to cross the line at the bottom of the hill.  Whilst most of the field tumble head-over-heels down the slope, the few that do manage to stay on their feet hope to be caught by one of the “catchers” as they cross the line, as their speed is such that stopping of their own accord is not an option.  Not surprisingly, some competitors don’t make it all the way down, with the highest injury toll in recent years occurring in 1997 when 33 competitors required medical attention.

We arrived and parked in the small town of Brockworth before joining the thong of spectators on the muddy, mile long, walk up to Coopers Hill.  It was a good turnout and a real party atmosphere as everyone waited for the first event to start.  There are seven events in total, two men’s races, two women’s races, one open race and two uphill races for the kids.  A bit away from the start line we were made aware of the off by the huge cheer that went up, quickly followed by the appearance of the cheese with the crazy competitors close behind.  Watching in disbelief as bodies were thrown down the ridiculously steep slope, we then witnessed about two-thirds of the field making their way from the finishing line to seek assistance in the first aid tent.  The remaining third, suitably bloodied and covered in mud from head to toe, jubilantly made their way through the crowd to be met by equally jubilant friends and family.  What type of person participates in such events?  This one was only too happy to pose for a photo.  What an excellent way to spend a Sunday afternoon although it is a shame that previous events such as shin-kicking are no longer on the schedule – can’t think why!

As we made our way once again towards Southampton, we briefly reflected on our time and observations whilst in the UK.   Travelling through Wales, and Scotland in particular, we were struck by the number of wind farms dotted about and were interested to learn that there are now more than 11,000 wind turbines on and offshore that produce nearly a quarter of the UK’s electricity.  This figure puts the UK as the 6th largest wind energy capacity country behind China, USA, Germany, India and Spain.  Renewable, sustainable and with zero emissions hopefully another step in the right direction to protecting our environment.

Rather more iconic symbols of the UK are the red double-decker buses, post and telephone boxes, all designed in the 1920’s by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.  In their hey-day there were over 90,000 of the distinctive red telephone boxes and surprisingly, in this age of the cell phone, it is estimated that around 10,000 are still in use.  Some of them are still being utilised as originally intended but a scheme run by BT in 2021 saw 4,000 boxes up for grabs at £1 each.  Many local communities took advantage of the offer and we saw numerous phoneboxes used in a variety of new and ingenious ways.  Many now house defibrillators as well as mini librarys, mini art galleries and mini museums with some more unusual ventures offering coffee, salad and sandwich bars, cocktail bars, an iPhone screen repair shop and a very enterprising double kiosk in Brighton selling hats, sunglasses and beachwear. Not too sure what the one in the picture is offering???!

And, talking of British icons, possibly the best of them all…..  we have at last been notified of Bob’s arrival at the Port of Southampton.  Woo-Hoo, here we go!