Monarch's Way Walk 2022

  We had a lovely sunny morning for our last Monarchs Way walk; a short, easy but triumphant stroll into Cirencester. There were six walkers (Deborah, Jacky, Andy, Chris, Rod & Di) plus of course Lily the dog to round us all up. A short uphill stretch out of North Cerney led us to a field where we admired a buzzard circling in a clear blue sky, before taking a straightforward, and gently downhill, walk across fields, and through some woodland, following the course of the River Churn.   We went under a massive flyover carrying the A417, and arrived in the village of Baunton. Three very convenient benches in the churchyard were ideal for our lunch stop,  and suitably fortified, we continued through Baunton, across a couple more fields, and into Cirencester.   We took a slight detour round Cirencester as some of our party had never visited the town, and arrived at Jack’s Tea Room for tea and cake to celebrate the half way point of our Monarch’s Way challenge. Some statistics ; over

    There were eight of us on this, our penultimate walk of 2022. The regulars, Deborah, Alison, Lily the dog, Rod, and Di, were joined by our neighbours Alasdair and Louise, as well as Melanie and Steven.   The first part of the walk was a steady climb through Chedworth Woods; lovely autumn colours but the occasional shower.  Then along the top of the valley, looking down on Chedworth. The path took us steeply down into the valley, and steeply up the other side. We passed some lovely Cotswold cottages, and crossed a series of fields. One of the fields contained two large, beautiful, but over-friendly horses which caused consternation for some of our number. Melanie became chief horse whisperer and enticed the animals away from those who were not so keen on getting up close and personal with them.  After that little drama we were ready for some lunch, and the rain began again but only a light shower.   Di did well (with her fractured wrist in plaster) negotiating some rather high